Hi All,

My wife and I belong to an organization which is having an Oktoberfest Party. When my wife volunteered to cook the committee told her they'd like kielbasa and sauerkraut. She's never made it before and I told her about our fantastic site and that I'd probably be able to get recipes for her. I do know a little about it and the committee head said that she'd like potatoes, (apple - she said optional) and onions in it. No sugar please as there are members who are diabetic. Help please!! Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Barry

Kielbasa & Sauerkraut is so easy to make... My Mom use to get the homemade Kielbasa from the polish market on our street... As far as Sauerkraut most stores carry packaged or you can get freshly made...
Apples and onions can be sauté separate and added as a side dish... You really don't need to add sugar as the apples and onions has enough of that.

Thanks Darleen, but I believe they want the actual German recipe where all the ingredients are cooked together.

Regards,

Barry

The German style of Wurst and saurkraut is served as a single dish. You can use Kielbasa which is more of a garlicky Polish sausage or a traditional Bratwurst. There are as many different recipes as there are German cooks! I did a Google search for 'recipe kielbasa and sauerkraut' and got tons of hits. I would tell your wife to peruse them to see which one she likes the best.

This is one of them... Grandpa's Kielbasa and Sauerkraut

When our German family visits every summer, they want to eat more traditional "American food." But we do make our own home-canned sauerkraut every year that is the best ever... we got 50 quarts of the stuff this year!

Hey Barry,

Coming from a family with German, Austrian and Jewish roots (among others ) I can tell you that there isn't any specific recipe for that dish, it's a family thing and the only two constants are Sauerkraut and Sausage of some kind. It can be Kielbasa, which is Polish Sausage, but we commonly used smoked sausage, the kind that looks like ring bologna and the Bavarian style Sauerkraut with caraway seeds.

Cooking it all together is one way, but it's much healthier and just as tasty if you brown and drain the sausage separately while you are heating the Sauerkraut up in a sauce pan or stock pot depending on the amount you are making.

We typically use 1 1/2 14oz. cans (or 1-14oz and one of the smaller ones, can't recall the size) of Frank's Bavarian Style Sauerkraut to one "ring" of sausage and one medium sized yellow onion. That's good for about 6 or so servings, I'm estimating because we cook for two and just have left overs for the week.

Coin the sausage into thicker pieces say 1/2" thick or so, doesn't have to be perfect. Sauté it in a frying pan with a little canola oil, that helps draw the heavier fats from the sausage, lessens the chance of it burning and sets you up for the next step. I also add some ground black pepper, it's something my grandmother used to do.

Take the sausage out of the pan and set it to the side on some paper towels to drain. Drain the grease out of the frying pan, but leave a bit to fry the onion. Cut the onion up into decent sized pieces, do a rustic cut, don't try to be fancy. Sauté those in the oil/fat you left in the pan until soft. Then just add everything together into the Sauerkraut, I add more black pepper at that point too. You can simmer it for a bit to let the flavors meld, but that's all there is to it. Goes really good with some nice heavy rye bread on the side.

Drac, holy cabbage! That's a lot of sauerkraut! My Grandmother used to have crock pots of the stuff in her basement. As a kid I took the "lid" off one and the smell knocked me on my butt.

We do the whole 100+ year old crock thing too. We put it in the basement and when the fermentation really gets going, the smell resembles... well, a REALLY bad gaseous emission, shall we say!

Too funny Draclvr! I love sauerkraut. For me I love bratwurst and sauerkraut cooked in beer with onions! Yummy!

Yeah, for a couple of weeks there, we wished we had a house dog to blame it on!

My mom made sauerkraut in those huge crocks too. Unfortunately, after she gave the crocks to me and I put some indoor potted palms in them (not directly, just over the real pots so as not to ruin the crocks) I discovered years later (after my first divorce) that my dear departed hubby had sneaked back when I was out of town and taken the crocks and the trees. I never noticed for YEARS until I saw a picture in my scrapbook and was reminded that I used to have some awesome crocks! Amazing how that happens.

BUT all this sauerkraut and kielbasa has me hungry for REAL homemade stuff. I must find somewhere that makes fresh sauerkraut now. No idea where to start because it's not 'popular' in my area. I'll do some research. OH and I always add a little beer to my sausage while cooking. Gives it just a bit of interesting flavor. Dark beer is best. It cooks down with the onions and makes it so yummy!

Draclvr

The fresh sauerkraut in bags in the deli section might be out where you are. It's pretty good.

Hi all,

Thanks for the recipe suggestions. We'll probably use yours Trail-Mystic, increasing all the ingredients as we expect around 50 people. Someone else I spoke to suggested adding cut up potatoes and preparing them like home fries and adding them in, which we'll probably do (maybe adding some beer also).
Yes Draclvr the fresh packaged sauerkraut is what we're going to use (usually get that when we're planning a barbeque for the hot dogs.) Thanks again to all

Regards,

Barry

The most important tip I can offer is to rinse the saurkraut before cooking if you're using canned or the kind that comes in a plastic bag. Otherwise your dish will be too sour, no matter what else you add.

You don't need to do that with the Franks canned Bavarian style, it's actually a fairly mild kraut. Rinsing it would remove a good portion of the flavor. Although, you can drain some of the juice so there's less liquid.

I don't normally rinse sauerkraut either - the brine is the best part!

You're right about the Bavarian style, Trail Mystic. It's already partially prepared and seasoned. But my mom always rinsed the other packaged and canned sauekrauts. She also added caraway seeds and brown sugar. Of course, measurement was a matter of experience rather than a recipe.