Polish Sauerkraut Soup

Rebecca Forstadt Olkowski

Polish sauerkraut soup can be made with bits of smoked meat and bacon or strictly vegetarian. It's your preference.

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Course Soup

Cuisine Polish

Ingredients

Broth

2 lb small rib pieces of pork fat trimmed
Water
2 carrots
1 onion with peel
2 ribs celery
Sprig of parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste

Soup

1 onion chopped
2 cups of sliced brown mushrooms dried imported wild mushrooms are even better - soak 20-30 mins and then and boil them in a small amount of water before adding them to the soup
4 cloves of garlic minced
2 lbs of fermented sauerkraut German sauerkraut is the best drained.
2 cups of boiled and sliced potatoes Since they will simmer in the soup they don't need to be completely done
6 strips of bacon optional or substitute 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil
1/2 of a 2 foot smoked Kielbasa sausage cubed optional
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp of ground allspice

Instructions

Broth

Brown the small rib pieces of pork.
Add the rib pieces to a large saucepan and cover with water.
Add 2 carrots, 1 unpeeled onion, 2 stalks of celery, parsley, salt and pepper to taste
Bring to a boil and simmer for several hours.
After the broth has cooled put it through a sieve and set aside.
(if you don't want to make homemade broth, use 48 oz store-bought meat or vegetable broth.

Soup

Fry the bacon strips in a skillet until the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon and set them on paper towels. Leave the drippings in the skillet. (If you prefer not to use bacon, simply heat the olive oil in the skillet instead)
When the bacon is cool chop it into bacon bits.
Saute the onions, mushrooms, and sauerkraut until the onions are translucent.
Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute
Take the onions, mushrooms, sauerkraut and garlic off the heat and set the mixture aside.
Add the broth, allspice, and pepper
Add the boiled and sliced potatoes
Add the Kielbasa and bacon bits (or leave out if you prefer vegetarian)
Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it cook on low for about 30 minutes or more.
Lastly, add the onions, mushrooms, sauerkraut, and garlic back into the pot and cook until heated.

Notes

I didn't use salt because the sauerkraut is fairly salty. Taste before you salt.
Also, I originally added a sprinking of caraway seeds but was told that caraway was more Czech than Polish. However, according to a reader, caraway helps cut the gas. Add it if you like. I personally love it.