The versatility of sauerkraut as an ingredient in Polish cuisine cannot be overstated. I’ve already written about the hunter’s stew (bigos), this time I’ll be focusing on sauerkraut soup, known in Poland as kapuśniak. I’ll present two variants of the soup: one that is simpler but less filling and another one that’s more complicated but also heartier, ideal as a standalone meal.
Recipe 1: Simple Sauerkraut Soup
The ingredient amounts given below are enough for 1.5 L soup (four servings).
Ingredients
- 1 L meat or vegetable broth
- 500 g sauerkraut
- 3 medium sized potatoes
- salt, pepper to taste
- optionally: dried lovage
Method
Slice the cabbage roughly to get rid of long strands. Peel and roughly dice the potatoes. Place both ingredients in a pot, pour the broth in. Simmer for an hour. Season with salt, pepper and lovage. Serve with chopped parsley.
Recipe 2: Hearty Sauerkraut Soup
The ingredient amounts given below are enough for 1.5 L soup (four servings).
Ingredients
- 1 L meat broth (pork rib broth works best)
- 500 g sauerkraut
- 25 ml tomato purée or 1 tsp tomato paste
- 3 medium sized potatoes
- 1 medium sized onion
- 50 g smoked bacon
- 1 heaping tablespoon wheat flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- optionally: dried lovage
Method
Peel and roughly dice the potatoes, boil them in salted water.
Dice the bacon and fry until golden. Finely chop the onion and fry until soft and translucent. Use the same pan to deglaze it. When the onion is ready, add the flour to make a roux.
Roughly slice the sauerkraut to get rid of long cabbage strands. To a separate pot, add the broth, tomato purée, sauerkraut, fried bacon and onion with the roux. Simmer for an hour.
When the soup is ready, add strained boiled potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and lovage. Serve with chopped parsley.
Video Transcription
One of the ways to use sauerkraut in a recipe is to turn it into soup. In Polish, it’s called Kapuśniak. There are also Slovakian and Ukrainian versions. There are several ways to prepare it. I’ll focus on two. The full recipe can be found on the blog.
My first kapuśniak is as simple as it gets. It’s not filling on its own so I serve it as part of a two-course meal. The second one is thick and filling, ideal as a standalone meal.
For the first variant, I’ll only need some broth, sauerkraut and potatoes. I peel and dice the potatoes. I also give the sauerkraut a rough chop. The idea is to avoid long strands of cabbage. Finally, I combine all the ingredients in a pot and set it to simmer for approximately an hour, until the sauerkraut loses its crunch. It’s worth noting that the potatoes, while cooked, never become soft. The acidic environment prevents pectins from breaking down under the influence of heat. Off-camera, I season the soup with salt and pepper.
Here’s the other variant. Sauerkraut is the base again. I also need broth. Ideally, pork rib broth, but any will do. Potatoes make an appearance again. My additional ingredients include a bit of tomato purée, some flour, an onion and a piece of smoked bacon. I start with the bacon. I remove the skin and dice the meat. Next, I chop the onion. As with the simpler version, I also give the sauerkraut a rough chop, as well as peel and dice the potatoes.
I boil the potatoes separately. The lack of acid lets the pectins break down easily. This results in softer, creamier potatoes. I pour broth into another pot. I also add the tomato purée. Then, I toss in the sauerkraut and top the pot with some water if needed. It’ll simmer for an hour until the cabbage is soft.
Then it’s frying time. I fry the bacon in a bit of oil. Fattier bacon would have provided enough rendered fat on its own but mine is very lean. When the meat has browned, I add it to the soup. Then, I fry the onion. It deglazes the pan in the process. When it’s soft and translucent, I toss in the flour to make a roux. I toss everything into the soup. Again, I season the soup with salt and pepper off-camera.
Here’s my light and simple kapuśniak. I like to serve it with a bit of parsley. It smells mostly of sauerkraut. The soup is on the thin side, but it’s very tasty. As a first course, I think it’s perfect.
This is what the heartier soup looks like. I add the boiled potatoes. This version is notably thicker, more opaque and has a bit of an orange tint from the tomato purée. The smoky notes from the bacon dominate the aroma. The fried onion is also there. The sauerkraut is more of a background. The taste is rich and complex, slightly sour, with a hint of sweetness from the onion and a ton of umami. I love this one.