I used to hate this stuff, but since my taste buds have matured, I am now really loving sauerkraut.
My mom used to make it much too often for me, but my dad loved it, so we had to have it occasionally. Mom's recipe was quite simple. No, she didn't make her own kraut. Wait! I think she tried to make her own one summer, but we all couldn't stand the smell and at that time our family/TV room was in the basement, and that's where she was brewing the kraut.
Anyway, I can smell it now. I'm making it for dinner tonight because my husband loves it as well.
Before I give you my recipe, let me tell you when I really started to enjoy eating sauerkraut. It was the first time I went to Izzy's (a sandwich shop in Cincinnati). In Philadelphia if you ordered a corned beef on rye you got a side of cole slaw to put on the sandwich. Yummmm.
But in Cincinnati, each table had a large tub of sauerkraut and a large tub of sliced Jewish pickles. So when you ordered a corned beef on rye you got sauerkraut to go with it, or you could just eat the sauerkraut as a side. It was so much better on the sandwich than the cole slaw.
Tonight I'm making sauerkraut. Whether it's the way my mom made it exactly, I'm not certain, but it will taste really, really good.
First, I brazed three medium sized pork chops (I usually use left-over pork roast) and let them cook for 15 minutes so there was a lot of pan drippings. I added 3/4 cup of water to the pot and let it simmer for 15 minutes, then I thickened the drippings (plus the water) with some cornstarch. I added 1 tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet. Then I spread the sauerkraut over the top of the chops and gravy. I used Bavarian style canned kraut. It's a little sweet, but Alan prefers it to the regular canned stuff. After it simmers for about two hours, it will be ready and the meat will fall off the bones of the chops and I can pull the meat apart.
Anyway, that's it. Hope you can convince your family that the awful smelling stuff really does taste good.
ttfn
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Meatloaf
I do not particularly like meatloaf. At least none that I've tasted other than my mom's. I haven't had good meatloaf in any restaurant, diner, drive-in, or dive, mainly because I'm not particularly fond a tomato/ketchup topping or infusion in the loaf. Alan often orders meatloaf and I at least try a bite or two of what he received, so I have tasted many meatloaves.
My mom made one kind of meatloaf and when I had children I made another kind, one that they all loved, and so did my husband. I tolerated it.
My mom's meatloaf was just plain. Ground beef, seasoned bread crumbs, chopped onion, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and that was it. All that got mixed together with one egg for moisture, I suppose. And then it was shaped into a loaf.
She did not bake the loaf, but rather browned both sides on top of the stove using a small bit of olive oil so the loaf wouldn't stick to the pan. Then she'd cover the pan for about 1 hour, turn the heat on low and wait. It made quite a bit of au jus which was made into gravy. A nice dark brown gravy.
That's my preferred method for making meatloaf and Alan wolfs it down, but smothers it with ketchup. I smother it with gravy.
The kind of meatloaf I made by children when they were growing up was made with Lays Bar-B-Que potato chips, smashed into small pieces, onion, Bar-B-Que sauce for moisture, salt and pepper. That was it. Mixed all that together, and shaped it into a loaf. That meatloaf WAS baked in an oven for about 1 hour at 325. It always turned out really nice. Slicing it was a breeze -- no crumbling. And the children and Alan liked it especially if they could add more BBQ sauce. I tolerated it, but filled up on the sides, which were usually mashed potatoes, peas, and some sort of salad.
If you're wondering what made me think of Meatloaf today. There's a new freebie on Kindle -- 25 Ways to Make Meatloaf. I don't think I'm going to get that book.
ttfn
My mom made one kind of meatloaf and when I had children I made another kind, one that they all loved, and so did my husband. I tolerated it.
My mom's meatloaf was just plain. Ground beef, seasoned bread crumbs, chopped onion, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and that was it. All that got mixed together with one egg for moisture, I suppose. And then it was shaped into a loaf.
She did not bake the loaf, but rather browned both sides on top of the stove using a small bit of olive oil so the loaf wouldn't stick to the pan. Then she'd cover the pan for about 1 hour, turn the heat on low and wait. It made quite a bit of au jus which was made into gravy. A nice dark brown gravy.
That's my preferred method for making meatloaf and Alan wolfs it down, but smothers it with ketchup. I smother it with gravy.
The kind of meatloaf I made by children when they were growing up was made with Lays Bar-B-Que potato chips, smashed into small pieces, onion, Bar-B-Que sauce for moisture, salt and pepper. That was it. Mixed all that together, and shaped it into a loaf. That meatloaf WAS baked in an oven for about 1 hour at 325. It always turned out really nice. Slicing it was a breeze -- no crumbling. And the children and Alan liked it especially if they could add more BBQ sauce. I tolerated it, but filled up on the sides, which were usually mashed potatoes, peas, and some sort of salad.
If you're wondering what made me think of Meatloaf today. There's a new freebie on Kindle -- 25 Ways to Make Meatloaf. I don't think I'm going to get that book.
ttfn
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