Judy’s Sauerkraut

The very BEST sauerkraut recipe ever!

I made this, but, my family are the ones to eat it as I myself am not very fond of sauerkraut, however I did taste it and it had a very good flavor, but it’s just not “my cup of tea” so to say. SO with that being said, The family absolutely LOVED this and I have been asked to make this again and again for them So thank you so very much as this is definitely a KEEPER!

Love this recipe!! I have made this multiple times for family and friends. I get rave reviews!! I have made different recipes over the years and YES it does make a difference. I will now ONLY make it this way!!!

This is the closest recipe I have found to the recipe given to my mother by a French girl while they were stationed in France. Mom’s recipe is made in a skillet over medium heat. I use 4 slices of bacon, chop, brown then remove the bacon leaving 1/2 of the drippings in the skillet. Saute onion in the drippings until translucent. Squeeze the brine from an 8% sodium/serving, 32oz jar of Sauerkraut. Do not rinse the sauerkraut! Add it to the onion. Throw the bacon pieces, clove, juniper (I get mine from nuts.com) and bay leaf in and add about 20 oz Chicken broth. Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer for no less than 1 hour, 2 is best. Your goal is to simmer out the broth while adding in more to keep it simmering for the 2 hours. Don’t simmer it dry. You want it a little wetter than moist. I brown bratwurst in the oven at 350 turning frequently and add them to the skillet before serving. If you want the bratwurst to knock your socks off then cook it outside on the grill. I never add sugar or caraway seeds, that is more Bavarian than I like mine. But in all fairness the bratwurst is made with sugar in it and probably makes up the difference. Serve on Kaiser rolls with Dijon mustard and you will think you are wandering through the streets of an Alsace Market.

9-2-2018 ~Whenever we have sauerkraut, there’s always a debate/battle in this house. Hubs prefers it cold, straight out of the can or package, while I prefer it mellowed out, usually with a little brown sugar, onion and bacon grease. I won this time. This recipe was right up my alley, and what I noticed about it immediately was that it seemed to call for less sugar (I used brown) than other recipes. I also liked the additions of juniper berries, cloves and bay leaf, which gave the finished sauerkraut more complexity. What I did differently, and I’m glad I did, was add less than half the beef broth called for. Even with that reduced amount, the sauerkraut was plenty liquid-y, and would have been swimming in liquid had I not. I also omitted the caraway seeds – Hubs doesn’t care for them and I didn’t want to push my luck. The biggest takeaway from this for us was that Hubs loved it. Imagine that! I can only surmise that since it had such a small amount of sugar that the sauerkraut still had the “sour” he loves.

Very good. I added 1 Granny Smith apple sliced. I did not peel it. I also used pork broth (homemade) instead of beef. After it was cooked in the slow cooker, I made a bed of it in my roasting pan and put a half pork loin on top. My sauerkraut lovers loved it! Will make again. Next time I might try some Polish Sausage in it.

Not sure why everyone raved about this sauerkraut. Not too flavorful, quite wet, and a bit too much on the onion side. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t inspiring the taste buds to go for seconds. Hopefully day two it will be better . . . .

This is how I will be be making saurerkraut from now on !!! Super Super Super !!!

Awesome Recipe – thank you for wonderful sauerkrayt!

Very easy to make and very delicious! Didn’t change anything. It’s a keeper!

This is an excellent dish….just like my mother used to make, complete with the juniper berries. Very German…warm comfort food. Sometimes Mom would throw in a diced apple and as you said bratwurst or polish sausage.