Elbe Fishing Club Sauerkraut

Dad worked in Leipzig in the 1990’s, just after German reunification. The Elbe, which flowed sluggishly nearby, was the most polluted river in Europe, so his Elbe Fishing Club would meet instead at bars around the city. Sauerkraut wasn’t served, as Dad is not a fan; but I loved it when I visited, served with smoked pork, crispy fried potatoes and decent beer. It’s easy to make and keeps for ages in the fridge – tasty with cheese too, or even better, in a Rueben.

• 1kg white cabbage, cut into chunks then sliced into 5mm shreds
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon juniper berries
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1.5 tablespoons salt – coarse salt is fine

Mix the shredded cabbage with the spices and salt in a large bowl with your hands – or a willing accomplice’s – for ten to fifteen minutes. After a minute or two of massaging, the salt start’s to draw water out of the cabbage until it ends up looking a little cooked.

Pack it into a clean Kilner jar (without the rubber seal, to prevent pressure building up); or a fancy ceramic one like I bought from bakerybits, complete with weights. If you don’t have fermenting weights, then a cabbage leaf cut to fit the jar and weighted down with a small freezer bag full of water will do just as good a job of keeping the shredded cabbage submerged beneath the salty liquid.

Keep the jar in a cool, dark spot and after a day or two the cabbage will start to ferment. If your jar doesn’t have a pressure valve, you’ll need to open the lid every day or so to ‘burp your baby’. After a week or so, the saltiness will have been replaced with the characteristic sour fermented taste of sauerkraut, which gets stronger over time unless you arrest it by storing in the fridge.

For a Rueben, toast some rye bread or sourdough. Spread with Russian Dressing (3 parts sour cream/mayo, 1 part ketchup, 1 mustard, 1 horseradish) and fill with thinly sliced Pastrami; sauerkraut; some sliced cheddar or swiss cheese; and more Russian Dressing. Spread a little butter on the top slice and bake in a 200°C oven for 6-8 minutes until the cheese melts and the top is golden. Enjoy with a large pickle and raise your tankard to the Elbe Fishing Club

I’m delighted to report that the Elbe is now clean. Indeed the Times reported on September 7th 2020 that “an east German river has been closed to bathers, anglers, walkers and cyclists after two sightings of a crocodile said to be at least 2m long.”