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The Soup That Is Christmas

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Kapustnica

Kapustnica, courtesy of Dobre Jedlo (Good Food) magazine

The American Christmas table is different from the Slovak one: no fish, no potato salad, no bobaľky, but, most importantly, no kapustnica. Early on in my life as a transplant, I realized I could live without all the traditional Christmas dishes except for the sauerkraut soup.

The holiday connotes a lot of things—the tree, presents (socks!), snow (if you’re lucky), family, old movies—but what really makes Christmas for me is, indeed, kapustnica. As the first course, it brings the family together at the dinner table. It’s the ultimate comfort food. You can have it any time of the year, but Christmas is when you must.

The soup is a mainstay of Christmas in Slovakia and every year my contribution to the Christmas table here in the new country (this year, I’ll be making it twice, for each of my parent-in-laws’ families). My Slovak cookbook lists seven different recipes from different parts of the country, and every friend or relative I have back in the “old country” makes it slightly differently. I, too, have been altering my parents’ recipe to make the soup my own.

Kapustnica is Christmas. Kapustnica is family. Kapustnica is home.

Merry Christmas!

How to Make ‘My’ Kapustnica

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 quart sauerkraut – I get mine at Otto’s Sausage Kitchen and Meat Market. Try to get home-made sauerkraut, rather than store-bought one in a package or a can, as it’ll be more flavorful.
  • 8 oz crimini mushrooms
  • 3 lb Russet potatoes
  • 1 lb or 4 links smoked sausage
  • 1 large white onion
  • Spices: smoked paprika, black and white peppercorn mix, bay leaves, caraway seeds, fine flour, salt

Boil sauerkraut in 4 quarts of water, cook on low for 20 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms and sausages, peppercorns wrapped in a cheese cloth pouch, bay leaves, and caraway seeds. Cook on low for 20 minutes. Cook cubed potatoes to al dente. Fry flour in oil until light brown, add chopped onions and paprika, fry some more for a total of 20 minutes. Add rue to the soup, bring to a boil, and let simmer for 90 minutes. Add potatoes, turn off and let sit. Best the next day.

Dobrú chuť!

Notes

Image credit: Dobré Jedlo magazine

Update 12/25/2011: I made the first kapustnica of Christmas using the above recipe. With the second one I made the following adjustments: use 3.5 quarts of water; include among spices a table spoon of dried juniper berries (though I’d only use a tea spoon next time); sauteé onions and mushrooms and add to the soup with the sausage and spices; bring potatoes almost to a boil, then add them to the soup 10 minutes before turning the soup off.

The post The Soup That Is Christmas appeared first on American Robotnik.


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