Anyone here like or make sauerkraut or other fermented veggies? - General Discussion Discussion

[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

I like kimchi. But not actually DIY. I just get them from Asian shop.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I've heard homemade kimchi is better, but since I didn't like what I tasted at all, I'm betting homemade isn't going to make a different to my taste buds.

Are you partial to spicy foods?

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

I can handle a little spiciness. I lived in South Korea for a while back when I was in college, I was on a student exchange program, so I grew fondness of Korean food in general.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Had my first kimchi in Seoul, '69.

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[–] actionkamen (23176) 5 years ago

Oooh I like '69.

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[–] Who (5146) 5 years ago

Yum, I looooove kimchi

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

I like sauerkraut. Especially with mashed potatoes, sauteed onions, bacon and a bratwurst. Kimchi is also good.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Except for the bacon, that sounds good to me. Also, I'd need something green with it, like a salad. Not a combo I'd have thought of.

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

It's a typical winter dish over here, so a salad sounds kind of weird!😆 Sometimes people add apple and the real weirdos add pineapple and curry.🤢🤮

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

No salads in winter over there? Not even Miracle Whip???

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

Good lord no!!😖

Of course you can eat a salad, but it doesn't really seem to fit with a typical winter dish like sauerkraut mash.🤔

I also have a recipe for sauerkraut casserole somewhere, with minced meat instead of bratwurst.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I have to have some green veggies. It's a must! Good thing where I live we can have greens and salads all year round.

I love brat, so that would work for me and so would the minced meat. Either one. The casserole sounds slightly like a shepherd's pie. Have you ever had that? I love it. Probably also a winter dish, but I'm such a rebel there's one in my freezer and I just may eat that soon 👨‍🍳

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

Well, you're supposed to eat a big full plate of it, so there isn't even room for anything else! Same goes for kale mash. I guess the sauerkraut counts as the daily veggie intake.

I think diced ham could be used instead of bacon. Adding gravy and little mustard also tastes nice. Whatever you do, don't eat it with pineapple!😖

Shepherd's pie is good, I like those hearty winter dishes. But I prefer to eat seasonal. Right now it's white asparagus!😋

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I guess it does but because it's that pale straw colour, for me it doesn't qualify. Never heard of kale mash before either. There is no way in or out of Hades I'm putting pineapple in that 😆

I just eat less of them so they're not so heavy. Everything that's in either of these two dishes are available here year-round, so it's still seasonal!

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

You should go with white wine sauerkraut if they have it. That's even better!

Kale mash (our national dish!) is SOOO good. And since kale is a superfood, it's healthy as well (just ignore the carbs in the mashed potatoes!😉)

I love pineapple, I really do. But it belongs in sweet dishes. Putting it in a savory dish is just absolutely revolting to me.😖😖😖

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Like so? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blfc2toDcxU

I would like that. I'd use fresh kale, and maybe add in some cream cheese instead of butter. I like that it's got all that nice green kale mixed in! (Potatoes? What potatoes?)

I also like pineapple. Fresh pineapple is delicious and very refreshing. But there are very few things I can deal with mixing sweet and savoury. Pineapple in mashed potatoes? 🤢

I'm not even wild about sweet and sour Asian food. It's ok, doesn't make me turn green or anything, just, why do it? Pineapple on pizza? No, no. No.

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[–] Stratego (30582) 5 years ago

Lol! That video was fantastic, especially with the national anthem playing!😆

Maybe creme fraiche instead of butter? I think I've seen that in some recipes.

I always like to add a little vinegar for some punch and flavour.

Yeah, sauerkraut and pineapple is a thing over here, don't ask me why.

I like Asian sweet and sour, but why do they always have to add pineapple? Just no! Pineapple has ruined many a dish.

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[–] Keelai (34983) 5 years ago

I love sauerkraut. I used to eat it all the time on my franks, but then I became a vegetarian. Baked beans is a second choice, but I don't eat that anymore because of the sugar.

I need to find another food for it.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Have to say I do like sauerkraut on a dog! Haven't they come up with any good vegetarian dogs yet?

I wonder how it'd be with Stratego's mashed potatoes and sautéed onions? Sounds good.

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[–] Keelai (34983) 5 years ago

I'm not into faux meat. Sauerkraut with potatoes sounds good. I'll try that.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

The only fake meat I've liked, and buy regularly, is Morning Star's bacon. OMG I love that stuff. More than I ever liked (greasy, fatty) real bacon. It makes great BLTs, which is mostly what I use it for.

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[–] Keelai (34983) 5 years ago

I notice that American food companies and chefs try to recreate fake meat while cuisine in some foreign countries create an entirely new vegetarian recipe. For instance, a falafel isn't trying to be a hamburger.

Bacon used to be my favorite meat.

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[–] 102000 (6282) 5 years ago

I love sauerkraut - hot, cold, in things like sauerkraut balls. We have a sauerkraut festival here in Ohio in the early fall - it probably won't happen this year.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Never heard of them before. Here's a short video recipe for anyone else who doesn't know what sauerkraut balls are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxfT1whT3m0

There's such a thing as a sauerkraut festival! Of course, and why not? Yeah, may not happen this year :|

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

funny you should bring this up...i was just chatting with my sister yesterday, & she brought up how the smell of sauerkraut used to take over the laundry room of our home when we were kids. my mom & dad used to make a vat of it, then put it in a little space under the stairs by our laundry room where it would stay sealed for months. i don't really recall it smelling up the place when it was sealed - that really only happened the day that we made it. that was a family activity we all did when the cabbage was ready to be picked out of the garden.

it was something i didn't really enjoy as a kid, but i definitely like it a lot now.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Your parents made vats of it? What nationality are they? I admire them for having a garden. Yeah, the first day things would be smelling vinegary.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

my parents were german, both children of immigrants. i suppose we were fairly comfortably middle class types by the time i came along, perhaps on the lower end of the middle but still in the middle, but they definitely both grew up poor & had a lot of the habits of people who grew and made their own food.

we had, by a lot of people's standards, a very big garden. our property was about 4000sq meters, and about 40% of it was for our vegetable garden. i hated it as a kid, cuz it meant hours in the summer weeding & tending to it, but i wouldn't mind having access to a resource like that now.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Wow, whoa, really? I had to find a converter and your childhood garden was 13,123 square feet! That's huge! 40% of that is still huge so I can understand why you weren't thrilled with weeding and tending to it during summer. I'd love to have a garden like that, but wouldn't be able to manage it by myself, so mine will have to be considerably smaller.

The only veggies we had were what I planted to see what would happen. When I was little I bought a pea shooter, eventually became bored with it, decided to plant the rest of the peas, and ended up with a little crop of them for dinner, much to my parents surprise. I still enjoy watching things grow, and harvesting what does.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

oof, sorry...that was a typo! that was supposed to be 1000sq meters, not 4000, lol.

but it was still a lot!

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Ha ha, but still, that's 40% of 3280 square feet. My tiny pea garden was probably 6 square feet 😃

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[–] Padeen (6459) 5 years ago

Yes! I've fermented pretty much every vegetable under the sun, but sauerkraut is my favorite, especially garlic-dill. Carrot sticks are a close second...

I bought this set and the self burping lids make things so much easier. I didn't want to spend the money on them at first, but I figure they've already payed for themselves since I'm not buying $10 jars from the store anymore.

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Fermenter-Wide-Mouth-Lid/dp/B0789QYV52/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=sauerkraut%2Blids&qid=1588625930&sr=8-2&th=1

As a rule of thumb, many use 3 tablespoons salt (non iodized) per 5lb vegetables, however most people make smaller batches, so think of it as 2 teaspoons salt per pound of veggies. This is obviously just a suggestion, so you can play around with ratios and see what works best for you. You should also take into consideration the temperature, as it will ferment fast the higher it is. I usually shoot for 3 weeks when making kraut.

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Yum, garlic dill sauerkraut sounds delicious. You use vinegar too, right?

This all started because the mesquite chicken place I love and it turns out there's one near me, has pickled red onions. Which I'd never had before and love. Figured how hard could they be to make? Turned to YT. I will try making my own. They sound easier than sauerkraut. Have you ever made or tasted them?

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[–] Padeen (6459) 5 years ago

Nope, not needed and it would kill the probiotics. Pickling and lacto-fermentation are very different things. I've never made pickled red onions, but know exactly what you're talking about and yes they are delicious. I always used to request extra at this Mexican food truck I went too.

Here's a quick explanation on fermentation.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/how-lacto-fermentation-works-1327598

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Well that was educational. Thanks! The lacto part of the lacto-fermentation threw me. I thought somehow milk or lactose got involved 😄. I think I'm going to have to try those 2-hour smashed pickles.

Yum, I love those pickled red onions. I always get extras too.

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (77577) 5 years ago

We make pickles in late summer...dill, jalepeno
It's fun and eventually tasty!

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Do you grow your own pickling cukes? Sounds like you might.

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[–] ShogunofYonkers (77577) 5 years ago

Yeah, we'll do 2 4x4 boxes and get enough to fill the cellar shelf each year

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I just saw this video on the page Padeen posted. Smashed pickles in 2 hours! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJ_IJQrK1l0 I may have to try this.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

It's food, right?

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

So I'm putting you down as a yes.

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

How'd you guess? 😀

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[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I have speshul majik powers 😄

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[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Kewl!

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