The Sauerkraut Argument (subtitled: Expectations are Everything)

[Ginevra]

When my mother would occasionally make sauerkraut (which I never liked much), she would open a can of sauerkraut, pour it into a small saucepan and serve it six minutes later. DH has asked me a dozen times if I would please, please make pork and sauerkraut; he misses it, he always loved it, etc. (I should also mentioned that I'm not a huge fan of pork, either. I'll eat it, but it's low on my list of foods I can't wait to eat.)

 

So, I was in the grocery store and saw a pre-seasoned pork roast and some Boar's Head sauerkraut and impulsively decided I would do something nice for dh and just go ahead and make it. I'm also assuming Boar's Head 'kraut is bound to be better than the canned stuff my mom always made. On top of that, the pork roast had crockpot directions on it - right up my alley!

 

I put the 'kraut in the crockpot, set the pork atop it and added a little water. Voila! We shall eat dh's meal tonight! And he will be so pleased!

 

So I thought. DH saw the meal cooking in the crockpot and asked what on earth I was making. Where were the carrots? The onions? The potatoes? Well, now I'm just completely :confused: Apparently, in dh's mind, there is one and only one meal that goes with sauerkraut and it isn't the one I am making. :glare:

 

In my defense, I will say I was going to make potatoes and a vegetable as well, but it never occurred to me that sauerkraut is an ingredient, part of the whole Pork-And-Sauerkraut Dish and not merely a side dish of it's own.

 

I'm really just annoyed with the whole thing. Maybe I'll make it a poll and see how people are used to eating sauerkraut and if I was totally out of the loop. :glare:

[Momof3littles]

I grew up in an area where pork and sauerkraut was popular. My mom often roasted the pork with some potatoes and veggies, but it wasn't part of the kraut itself.

 

My favorite sauerkraut is Bubbies. No vinegar, just cabbage and salt, so milder IMO. WFs carries it in my area.

 

BUt yes, I think sauerkraut is the shredded cabbagey stuff. If he wanted the other things, he should have specified that IMO! ;)

[jrn]

I've only ever eaten sauerkraut with brats. Never heard of it being used any other way.

[SJ.]

I voted you are right. I grew up eating sauerkraut. It was served as your dh would like and as you cooked it and as your mother cooked it. He should be touched that you even thought about making it and volunteer to do the dishes tonight as well as do all the bedtime activities. :D

[dirty ethel rackham]

If he wanted that meal, he should have made it himself so you would know what he was talking about. Criticizing your efforts was uncalled for. That said, I can't stand sauerkraut!

[KristinaBreece]

I voted donuts. :tongue_smilie:

 

My maternal grandma used to make pork and sauerkraut in the crock-pot with potatoes and onions and carrots, while my dad's mother would make a plain pork roast and warm and serve the kraut at the last minute like you grew up with. I detest the stuff and make it only as a side or brat/hot dog topping for the kidlets, who inexplicably love it.

 

Soooo.... I see why he thinks he's right, and I also totally see why you think he was wrong. IOW, I'm no help at all.

[creativish]

You're right. I'm a fan of sauerkraut but I've NEVER had it mixed with potatoes and carrots!!:001_huh:

Yes, kraut as a side with pork-- brats and chops, etc

but my fav is kraut on pizza :drool5:

Sauerkraut + Pineapple pizza = :001_tt1: the perfect mix of sweet, sour and salty loveliness.

[Parrothead]

Mmmmm... donuts.

 

 

Oh, sorry. Got sidetracked with the thought of donuts. :D

 

Sauerkraut is that yummy stuff one puts on hotdogs or brats. It isn't an ingredient or a side dish. It is a processed meat topping. :D

[Abigail4476]

I buy sauerkraut in a [refrigerated] jar or at the Amish store because it's so much better than canned, IMO. For the sauerkraut, I rinse it well and sauté it with celery seed, salt and pepper until it's not wet anymore.

 

Usually we pair it up with new potatoes, grilled or fried brats and sautéed onions+green peppers. I've never had it with carrots--that doesn't really sound good to me. I don't mix the veggies with the kraut, either. Everything is served separately because my ds doesn't like kraut. Even if he did, I wouldn't mix it.

[mom2scouts]

I have never heard of sauerkraut with potatoes, onions and carrots, although I like to make it with mashed potatoes and let the juice flavor the potatoes. We do always have brats or some kind of pork with it. I guess your dh was just expecting what he grew up eating.

[Alte Veste Academy]

Mmmmmmm...sauerkraut! Love the stuff! I think your DH should have been touched that you made it for him, however you prepared it. You're not a mind reader. I get that he was disappointed because yours didn't match his idea of what it should have been (and we do all have those expectations, of course) but to point it out without profuse thanks for your very sweet gesture was impolite. (I am sure his taste buds temporarily took over control of his brain and that he is usually the nicest guy you would ever want to meet! :D)

[freeindeed]

I voted for "Who eats sauerkraut anyway." Yuck!!! Seriously, when I was a little kid, I actually thought it was called "sour cr@p.":tongue_smilie:

[Bluegoat]

I might do any number of things with sauerkraut.

 

I think this is one of those things where someone makes an assumption based on their own individual background, but it really has no logical basis. Like assuming before you have kids that you will all eat supper as a family while your dh assumes you will eat in front of the tv, and it never gets discussed beforehand because no one really thinks about another possibility.

 

I'd say not a big deal, but your dh could maybe have been a bit more sensitive. It should, IMO, be pretty self-evident that a food that has been around as long as sauerkraut would have a lot of different recipes and ways to serve it.

[In the Rain]

My family eats a fair amount of sauerkraut, and we've never had it with potatoes and carrots. It sounds yummy though. :001_smile: IMO, if your dh had something very specific in mind, he should have filled you in on the specifics.

[gardening momma]

My great grandma used to make sauerkraut (from scratch), and she'd combine it with some sort of ring sausage (sliced & fried with the kraut, I think). I remember having it at their house, but I don't remember what she served with it. I just remember the sausage & sauerkraut. She and my great grandpa were both German. I could ask my mom if she remembers what else was served.

[SJ.]

My great grandma used to make sauerkraut (from scratch), and she'd combine it with some sort of ring sausage (sliced & fried with the kraut, I think). I remember having it at their house, but I don't remember what she served with it. I just remember the sausage & sauerkraut. She and my great grandpa were both German. I could ask my mom if she remembers what else was served.

 

Was it possibly kielbasa? We had this often. My family also cooked it in one pot with potatoes, onions, sauerkraut, and caraway seeds.

[gardening momma]

Was it possibly kielbasa? We had this often. My family also cooked it in one pot with potatoes, onions, sauerkraut, and caraway seeds.

Probably. I just emailed my mom.

[mommaduck]

We usually have it one of three ways. On the side (like your mother did), cooked in the pan after frying sausage (same pan, so it takes in the meat flavour), or as a topping added to a brat on a bun (with mustard, of course).

 

And you are not his mother. You could probably used everything his mother used and you would most likely still do it differently somehow. Unless, you can call his mother?

Edited May 6, 2012 by mommaduck

[Unicorn.]

Sauerkraut is simply pickled cabbage, (sour cabbage) and is usually served w/ sausage. Where was your dh raised?

[Spy Car]

I vote: The Man is always right :D

 

Sure to be the popular option:tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

[Unicorn.]

I vote: The Man is always right :D

 

Sure to be the popular option:tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

 

I bet Mrs. Spy Car would beg to differ! :D

[Julie Smith]

I vote: The Man is always right :D

 

Sure to be the popular option:tongue_smilie:

 

Bill

 

What if the MAN decided to dump the left over sauerkraut soup down the toilet and the meat hunks in it get jammed, the ONLY toilet in the house is clogged. He then keeps flushing and the water overflows on the floor. :glare:

 

Good think declogging toilets is a hobby of mine. :p

 

 

I would not like it here or there.

I would not like it anywhere.

I do not like it on a plate.

I would not eat it on a date.

 

I do not like sauerkraut.

It will surly make me pout.

Take it back or I will shout,

I do not like sauerkraut.

 

I do not like it when it floats,

In the toilet like a boat.

I do not like it when its stuck,

In the toilet full of muck.

[SJ.]

What if the MAN decided to dump the left over sauerkraut soup down the toilet and the meat hunks in it get jammed, the ONLY toilet in the house is clogged. He then keeps flushing and the water overflows on the floor. :glare:

 

Good think declogging toilets is a hobby of mine. :p

 

 

I would not like it here or there.

I would not like it anywhere.

I do not like it on a plate.

I would not eat it on a date.

 

I do not like sauerkraut.

It will surly make me pout.

Take it back or I will shout,

I do not like sauerkraut.

 

I do not like it when it floats,

In the toilet like a boat.

I do not like it when its stuck,

In the toilet full of muck.

 

Did that really happen!? Oh my! :smilielol5:

[Kathleen.]

We always made ours by sauteing onions and apples. Then throw in very rinsed sauerkraut and let it sit for a while. The apples and onions give it a very sweet flavor. And we always call it kapusta. My grandma was Polish.

[SJ.]

We always made ours by sauteing onions and apples. Then throw in very rinsed sauerkraut and let it sit for a while. The apples and onions give it a very sweet flavor. And we always call it kapusta. My grandma was Polish.

 

We make something similar but we throw in bratwurst and beer. Yum!

[nukeswife]

I voted EWWW, who eats it...

 

My mom used to make it once in a blue moon but only with Ox tails. We never went near the stuff. Then again my dad used to make Kizka and Czarnina, which are both polish food that involve blood, and we wouldn't eat those either. My brother and I always called those Stinky food night and usually meant we were having a frozen pizza or chef boyardee.

[Guest]

Mmmmmmm...sauerkraut! Love the stuff! I think your DH should have been touched that you made it for him, however you prepared it. You're not a mind reader. I get that he was disappointed because yours didn't match his idea of what it should have been (and we do all have those expectations, of course) but to point it out without profuse thanks for your very sweet gesture was impolite. (I am sure his taste buds temporarily took over control of his brain and that he is usually the nicest guy you would ever want to meet!)

 

True on all counts. Totally nice guy. Momentarily forgot that I am neither his mother nor Professor Treelawney. We did just discuss it further. He owns that he should have spoken about it more fully and not have assumed that I would do what his mother alway did.

 

I vote: The Man is always right

 

Sure to be the popular option

 

Bill

 

The man is always right to the man. And you'd better be careful. Estrogen rules at the Hive.

 

What if the MAN decided to dump the left over sauerkraut soup down the toilet and the meat hunks in it get jammed, the ONLY toilet in the house is clogged. He then keeps flushing and the water overflows on the floor. :glare:

 

Good think declogging toilets is a hobby of mine. :p

 

 

I would not like it here or there.

I would not like it anywhere.

I do not like it on a plate.

I would not eat it on a date.

 

I do not like sauerkraut.

It will surly make me pout.

Take it back or I will shout,

I do not like sauerkraut.

 

I do not like it when it floats,

In the toilet like a boat.

I do not like it when its stuck,

In the toilet full of muck.

 

:smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5: Sorry to laugh at your expense, but BWWWHAHAHAH! Nice poetic spoof as well. :D

[BakersDozen]

If he wanted that meal, he should have made it himself so you would know what he was talking about.

:iagree:

 

Me: "Here's a pot, here's the stove. Have fun." That's the way it works here if my dh really wants something made. ;)

[LaxMom]

Chalk up another one who's never heard of sauerkraut with potatoes and carrots... In fact, I'm rather wondering if you husband actually has sauerkraut in mind or something like a New England boiled dinner. Maybe someone up the line in his family just called any cabbage "sauerkraut" and it got passed down, like breaking spaghetti or cutting the ham bone because or a too small pot or pan.

[The Girls' Mom]

Kraut is a condiment..lol. I've only ever had it on a dog or brat, and MAYBE at a German restaurant once.

[Julie Smith]

Did that really happen!? Oh my! :smilielol5:

 

Yes.

 

Oh, the stories about me and sauerkraut. My FIL had the tradition of it to be severed for Christmas. I do admit that one day when he is no longer around we are going to do away with that tradition so quickly. Till then I smile and eat my soup.

 

He always make way to much of it. It is meant as a appetizer. I think that year he made 12 litres of it. For 9 people. 4 of them kids. Well then it went in the fridge since we couldn't throw it out in front of him. We then went away for 2 weeks.

 

When we got back dh dumped the soup in the toilet since it would be funny. Well some of the meat chunks got so jammed in that it took me 2 hours of toilet snaking and what not to get all the hunks out. I must admit I had to have my arm in that toilet. Good think I have little hands.

 

I thought I would have to remove the toilet at one point.

 

....

 

The other story is the first Christmas dinner with in-laws he made me vegetarian sauerkraut soup. Meaning that he just made sure he didn't give me any of the meat hunks that cooked in the soup all day. ... After one bite I very quickly ran to the bathroom and ....

 

Second Christmas with the inlaws. I had my own truly vegetarian sauerkraut soup. Well my friend had just given me the flu. I smelt all the meats cooking around me and it was to much for me, I ran to the bathroom and ...

 

Third Christmas with the inlaws... I was pregnant with Eldest. I was puking once to twice a day regardless. Well I didn't make it past the passing out of the soup to everyone.

 

Fourth Christmas with the inlaws.... My MIL (Who I got along great with and saw the humor in it all) made me sit beside two barf buckets. I suppose I had it coming to me. I have made it through every meal since then. But I still really really dislike sauerkraut soup.

[SJ.]

Chalk up another one who's never heard of sauerkraut with potatoes and carrots... In fact, I'm rather wondering if you husband actually has sauerkraut in mind or something like a New England boiled dinner. Maybe someone up the line in his family just called any cabbage "sauerkraut" and it got passed down, like breaking spaghetti or cutting the ham bone because or a too small pot or pan.

 

I am pretty sure it is a German/Polish/Eastern European thing. Sauerkraut paired with potatoes and sausage or pork was common fare in my family. From what I understand it was a common meal in the neighborhood where my mom grew up in Cleveland. This area was teaming with Germans, Polish, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, etc.

[Matryoshka]

My mom always made sauerkraut with onions and served it with pork, applesauce, and mashed potatoes. No carrots, though.

 

I never liked her version much, but when I lived for a year in Germany, the woman I lived with made the sauerkraut cooked all in one pot with onions, apples, juniper berries and caraway seeds. Then she served it over spaetzle, a homemade egg noodle that's a regional dish in that area (Swabia/Black Forest). I grew to really love it and still make it that way today (even bought what I needed to make my own spaetzle). No potatoes, no carrots.

 

Amusingly, my college roommate (who I introduced this version of sauerkraut to) went on a trip to Germany and visited her friend's relatives who were Swabian. She told them of the sauerkraut/spaetlze combo, and they laughed and said those two items are never served together; spaetzle is strictly a side dish for pork cutlets. Turns out the woman I lived with was born in raised in East Prussia, and when she moved to Swabia she combined these two things, but no Swabian would have ever done it!

 

I still make my sauerkraut that way, though. :D Yummmmm.

 

Any of those ways, though, imho sauerkraut is an ingredient in the dish 'sauerkraut', not a condiment. :) But I agree that most Americans not of German/Eastern European heritage wouldn't have known that and he should have given you a recipe if he wanted it the way mom made it.

Edited May 6, 2012 by matroyshka

[SJ.]

Yes.

 

Oh, the stories about me and sauerkraut. My FIL had the tradition of it to be severed for Christmas. I do admit that one day when he is no longer around we are going to do away with that tradition so quickly. Till then I smile and eat my soup.

 

He always make way to much of it. It is meant as a appetizer. I think that year he made 12 litres of it. For 9 people. 4 of them kids. Well then it went in the fridge since we couldn't throw it out in front of him. We then went away for 2 weeks.

 

When we got back dh dumped the soup in the toilet since it would be funny. Well some of the meat chunks got so jammed in that it took me 2 hours of toilet snaking and what not to get all the hunks out. I must admit I had to have my arm in that toilet. Good think I have little hands.

 

I thought I would have to remove the toilet at one point.

 

....

 

The other story is the first Christmas dinner with in-laws he made me vegetarian sauerkraut soup. Meaning that he just made sure he didn't give me any of the meat hunks that cooked in the soup all day. ... After one bite I very quickly ran to the bathroom and ....

 

Second Christmas with the inlaws. I had my own truly vegetarian sauerkraut soup. Well my friend had just given me the flu. I smelt all the meats cooking around me and it was to much for me, I ran to the bathroom and ...

 

Third Christmas with the inlaws... I was pregnant with Eldest. I was puking once to twice a day regardless. Well I didn't make it past the passing out of the soup to everyone.

 

Fourth Christmas with the inlaws.... My MIL (Who I got along great with and saw the humor in it all) made me sit beside two barf buckets. I suppose I had it coming to me. I have made it through every meal since then. But I still really really dislike sauerkraut soup.

 

Wow, that is really awful but too funny!

[Rosie_0801]

Sauerkraut should never come out of a can. It should come from the fridge section of the supermarket unless you are some kind of domestic goddess who makes her own.

 

It can be served with rabbit, because it's the only way to make rabbit a tasty dish.

 

Rosie

[gardenmom5]

saurkraut is one of those things that have multiple recipes/uses.:tongue_smilie: I'm not much of a fan - but I've found some recipes that are okay. (personally, I prefer austrian-style rotkhol that dh makes.) I don't think I could ever stomach some from a can/jar :eek:. I made saurkraut from scratch - and it included sliced apples and no carrots or potatoes - so there :001_tt2: to your husband.;)

 

I think your dh should have been more precise in his definition of what saurkraut means to him.

[TammyinTN]

We love it here...and we had it for the last 7 years in Germany. I can eat it alone or with meats....to me potatoes and carrots are optional. ;) Men. ;)

[Wheres Toto]

I always think of sauerkraut as something you eat on top of processed meats. It's very popular on hotdogs around here, sometimes with onions and sauce mixed in. We make it sometimes with kielbasa, in which case we may cook it in the crockpot along with some potatoes but the potatoes and kielbasa aren't part of a meal called sauerkraut, the sauerkraut is an enhancer to the meal of kielbasa and potatoes.

[catz]

I like high quality sauerkraut (Bubbies is great) cooked with like caraway and a few other things like apple and onion. I never eat the cheap stuff plain. It could be side dish or a topping for sausages in my world.

 

My husband is 100% Polish and introduced me to bigos which is a Polish hunter's stew with sauerkraut. It has become one of my favorite ways to eat kraut! Yummm ...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigos

[SJ.]

I always think of sauerkraut as something you eat on top of processed meats. It's very popular on hotdogs around here, sometimes with onions and sauce mixed in. We make it sometimes with kielbasa, in which case we may cook it in the crockpot along with some potatoes but the potatoes and kielbasa aren't part of a meal called sauerkraut, the sauerkraut is an enhancer to the meal of kielbasa and potatoes.

 

I don't think the OP's dh wanted sauerkraut that included potatoes as the sauerkraut recipe. I think he was looking for a pork roast cooked with sauerkraut, potatoes, and carrots. Right?

[Lilymax]

That sounds good to me, though I've never tried it that way despite having an Austrian grandfather. But yeah--your hubby should've told you what ingredients were in it.

 

I make sauerkraut (well-drained and rinsed) sauteed with sliced hot dogs or kielbasa and a huge sliced onion, then I add some apple juice, a little brown sugar and lots of black pepper and just let it simmer uncovered until it's almost dry.

 

I could seriously eat the entire pot by myself!

[Audrey]

You are correct. One may create a dish using sauerkraut as an ingredient, but generally when someone serves X and sauerkraut it is X on a bed of sauerkraut! And, if it helps any, I live in an area with TONS of Mennonites! They should know what the heck to do with sauerkraut!

 

If there was a certain dish your dh wanted, he really should have been more specific, or more correctly... he should have eaten what you served him, complimented your thoughtfulness and then next time asked to have that with carrots and potatoes in it.

 

Because really... I do not care if you are a guest or you are everday family... when someone cooks for you, be gracious, and when they go out of their way to make something special for you, be extra gracious.

[justamouse]

The best pork roast I ever had was cooked in a crockpot with all kinds of good stuff in it and man, I'm drooling just thinking about it. Carrots, potatoes, I think they used red kraut so it was this sweet/tangy zing and the roast fell apart.

 

Your Dh should thank you. I think tomorrow you should serve cereal. :001_smile:

[Tap]

I would prefer a donut please!

 

I have had sauerkraut both ways, so I guess they are both right to me.

[fraidycat]

The many ways we enjoy sauerkraut:

 

~Roasted in the oven with pork ribs.

~Open jar or bag, pinch some out, eat. :D Or in DS's case, poor in bowl, eat the whole thing.

~On hotdogs, polish sausage or brats.

~In omelets with potatoes and polish sausage.

~On pizza.

~Drained, squeezed, fried in with sauteed onion and some oil, mixed into cooked seashell pasta. Sometimes we add bacon.

~In/on sidepork cabbage rolls. (Holidays and special occasions).

[momofkhm]

When I do pork and sauerkraut in the crock-pot, I put the pork on the bottom and the sauerkraut on top. But then yes, the potatoes do get cooked on the side. Usually mashed for this meal. It turns out to be really bland looking on the plate. And never carrots- usually something green.

 

But if he wanted the others, then he should have told you!

[aggieamy]

I'm going to have to vote other because you fixed it correctly with just pork and saurkraut but there should have been mashed potatoes also because saurkraut is best served on top of mashed potatoes. (Also hot dogs!)

 

As a random aside I thought about voting donuts because I love them but that didn't seem appropriate. Then DH just walked in the door from running errands and gives me a Duncan Donuts bag. Yeah!

[Sputterduck]

Um, I've only ever in my life seen sauerkraut on a hotdog.

It is neither a side dish or an ingredient. It's a condiment just like sweet pickle relish!

 

I can't imagine eating it alone. I mean... that's like serving ketchup as a side dish.

[Julie in CA]

I've never heard of that stuff in sauerkraut. Maybe prepared alongside it as part of a meal, but *never* as a part of sauerkraut itself.

 

If sauerkraut were meant to have potatoes, onions, & carrots, Costco would be serving it that way on their hot dogs. :tongue_smilie:

 

Voila! Proof that it wasn't meant to be that way, and your dh is wrong, wrong, wrong! :D

[creekland]

I never grew up with sauerkraut, but since moving to south central PA, have been introduced to it and absolutely love it.

 

The sauerkraut is just the cabbage part.

 

BUT, we've had it served (pork and sauerkraut) with pork, potatoes, and green beans (no carrots) all in a crock pot together. It's awesome and now my mouth is watering... Will have to make some soon.

 

We've also just had pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and veggies on the side and that's good too.

 

And we've had it as a side or topping to hot dogs or other sausages.

 

It's all good.

 

I didn't vote... either choice was correct. I'd have enjoyed what you made (but the pork goes on the bottom with the kraut on top).

 

I detest most donuts.