Piggage!
Upon learning that my girlfriend loves sauerkraut, I knew that I had found someone really special. The fact that she is also a huge fan of soup in general, was also a blessing, because I love to cook soup, I love to feed other people soup, and I always cook way too much soup.
But still, one problem remained, if I was ever to take the relationship to the next level: how could I make her love my homeland? What could possibly convince her that Door County is the absolute best place on the planet? I had tried showing her pictures of the islands and lakes. I had tried to entice her with tales of high adventure, usually involving some beach and the company of other esteemed people, such as Mr. Zambezi, Frank Maloney, and the Notorious P.I.G. It was all in vain. But there remained one way that I hoped would work...
Through her stomach.
I wanted to recreate the taste of summer bratwursts, but in soup form, for I know that is her greatest weakness. After a couple of trial runs, I found my attempts to be rather far from bratwursts, but nonetheless convincing enough for my girlfriend to devour it with fervor.
The main flavours I tried to go for were taste of grilled pork, sage, marjoram, kraut, and spicy mustard. I know that pickles don't go on brats, but why the hell shouldn't they? And they may seem odd in soup, but when you consider a number of Russian soups contain them, their addition here was a sneak attack on my girlfriend's Achilles's heel. I don't think she's any more interested in my homeland than before, though, so all I've got is this silly recipe.
Ingredients:
1 pound of boneless pork, cut into large cubes*
1 tablespoon cooking oil
3-4 pieces of pork fat back, or bacon, cut into matchsticks
2 large bay leaves
8 peppercorns
8 juniper berries
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cups sauerkraut
4 large pickles, diced
3 large potatoes, peeled and cut into big dice
1 teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
1 ½ teaspoon dried sage
1 heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard
8-10 cups of water**
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Chopped green onion for garnish
the assembled ingredients.
Heat your pan over medium high heat. When it's hot, add the oil and pork fat. Render it down, and remove the cracklings.
Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, juniper berries and onion. Fry the onion until translucent.
Add the cubed pork, and brown on all sides—ideally, you want the meat to seared on the outside and tender inside. You might need to add more oil at this stage.
Return the cracklings, add the sauerkraut and pickles. Stir well.
Add the spices, potatoes, and mustard.
Add water until it covers the mixture by about 2 inches.
Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to low, and cover. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Finally, throw the garlic in and stir well.
Garnish with chopped green onion.
*Ideally, you should get pork chops, and grill them. Cut the meat off the bones and dice it. As you leave that aside to cool, add the bones to the soup right after you brown the onions, then add the meat at the very end. That gives it that charred taste of a summer grill.
**If you're not using pork bones to make a stock, you should add some of those beef or chicken bullion cubes, unless your meat is nice and fragrant. Don't use ham bullion cubes, though—they're overpowering.
