Thought I'd make one of my favorite foods with leftover pork chops. I don't remember making a bad sauerkraut, but while this one was cooking I feared it would be rated as the worse ever. Fortunately it came out good in the end.
I threw the ingredients in the crock pot to cook over several hours as usual. I got started a bit late so I planned on 4 hours on high to do the job. Since the pork chops were already prepared I threw them on top of the sauerkraut for the last hour.
Here's where the "almost worse ever" fear came in. When I tasted the liquid 2 hours in I discovered it was incredibly tart! I didn't taste the Hannaford brand sauerkraut at the start, but I'm sure it was fine. The problem, I think, is that instead of adding the can of beer I added straight apple juice. Weird result if that was the case!
To deal with the tartness I removed as much liquid with a ladle as possible and replaced it with boiling water. I also added some MSG for an unami counterbalance. I tested baking soda in the tart liquid I removed but it had little effect. Next time, beer instead of apple juice!
Ingredients for the next time:
I threw the ingredients in the crock pot to cook over several hours as usual. I got started a bit late so I planned on 4 hours on high to do the job. Since the pork chops were already prepared I threw them on top of the sauerkraut for the last hour.
Here's where the "almost worse ever" fear came in. When I tasted the liquid 2 hours in I discovered it was incredibly tart! I didn't taste the Hannaford brand sauerkraut at the start, but I'm sure it was fine. The problem, I think, is that instead of adding the can of beer I added straight apple juice. Weird result if that was the case!
To deal with the tartness I removed as much liquid with a ladle as possible and replaced it with boiling water. I also added some MSG for an unami counterbalance. I tested baking soda in the tart liquid I removed but it had little effect. Next time, beer instead of apple juice!
Ingredients for the next time:
- 3 small (14.5 oz) cans sauerkraut
- 1/2 apple diced
- 1 medium onion sliced very thin as rings
- 1/4 c packed brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp fennel seed
- a few dashes of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp of MSG
- 16 oz domestic (low flavored) beer like Budweiser or Coors
- water to barely cover sauerkraut
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