Ah, Montreal…
<Channeling Liz Lemon>
“I want to go to that place.”
Can you please post the ingredient list for us?
Where I am, the refrigerated stuff in bags can be raw or cooked. It’s also local cabbage, instead of being imported from another country.
Looks like the raw just has two more ingredients that the jarred stuff, and juniper berries don’t count.
Raw: white cabbage (Switzerland), sea salt, acerola powder with maltodextrin, juniper berries 0.1%
Cooked: (white cabbage (Switzerland), sea salt, onion powder, vegetable stock (salt, rice flour, vegetables [carrots, onions, parsnips], sugar, olive oil, spices, herbs), acerola powder with maltodextrin, rapeseed oil, caraway.
Jarred (from German): White cabbage, salt
Interesting thread! To utilize it, though, I need the answer to a question or two.
Is all Sauerkraut equal? If I buy a bag of Sauerkraut off the shelf, or get it in a deli, is it all the same? If not, suggestions for getting the best? Is it best served cold or warm, or does it depend on the context?
I get the feeling that most Americans either don’t eat it at all or really don’t understand the stuff.
I think these questions have been pretty well covered in this thread, but I’ll try to summarize:
Generally speaking, if the sauerkraut you buy is shelf-stable (in a can or jar) it’s been pasteurized, so it’s essentially pre-cooked, and it has no probiotic benefits, though it still is full of nutrients in general.
If it’s refrigerated in the store (generally the bagged stuff), it’s raw, and does have probiotic benefits.
No idea about ‘deli sauerkraut’. I suspect it could be any kind of sauerkraut. It appears to be cooked, at least from the reubens I’ve gotten.
Different brands or styles seem to have varied ingredients, from simply ‘cabbage and salt’ to extra flavorings and possibly preservatives or stabilizers, I’m not sure on this account. I myself plan to read the ingredient list for a more informed decision in future.
Personal preference? In raw form it’s sharper or more sour, and crisper. Cooking mellows out the flavor. When I was younger I liked sour tastes better, and could eat a bowl of raw sauerkraut by itself. These days I like to cook it and mellow it out some. Cooking it with any kind of pork- sausage, bacon, boiling it with some pork shoulder, etc., is just a killer combo IMO.
Thank you! 
I like sauerkraut now, but did not when I was growing up. Probably because my parents only bought the canned kind.
When I got married (to a Korean), I learned to love kimchi, which is another kind of pickled cabbage. It’s always bought in big, unsealed jars because it’s uncooked and still actively fermenting.
It turns out that it’s the raw part that matters. Not only is it healthier, with live cultures and more vitamins, it is much tastier. Since then I’ll get uncooked sauerkraut and I like it. Not quite as flavorful as kimchi, but it has it’s place.
By the way, if you like sauerkraut on a hot dog or bratwurst, try some kimchi on one. It’s even better!
The brand is Cleveland Kraut, and the listed ingredients are white cabbage, kosher salt, and caraway seed. The canned is just cabbage and salt.
I can live with caraway but I’m pretty certain I’ve never purchased it already in there. My kapusniak is heavy on the caraway and canned kraut is sometimes seeded, too. I could easily see fresh caraway sauerkraut being a local delicacy. Still, it’s not loaded with preservatives or … anything. I wonder what ATK tested and found objectionable.
And the first experiment has been conducted! How did it go?
I started the mirepoix, about a third of a cup’s worth, in the melted garlic and herb butter and sauteed it till the onion bits had softened, gone clear, and edges of the carrot and celery bits were beginning to brown.
I’d rinsed and squeezed the liquid out of the cabbage while the mirepoix cooked, and stirred the shreds in, then cooked it, stirring frequently for about ten minutes over medium heat, while I chopped the braunschweiger into bits not much bigger than the mirepoix. Stirred in the braunschweiger and cooked it for another ten or so minutes, then plated about half of the results. As a last-minute thought I sprinkled grated Parmesan over it.
So, how did it turn out? Not bad, not bad at all. The overall impression is of mild sourness (and I’m not a big fan of that) but the cheese and meat add complexity. I have enough left over to use it for another meal, or as a side dish for two or three meals. Oh, and despite the extended cooking time, the braunschweiger didn’t melt.
I’m not big into sauerkraut, so I won’t comment on the best ways to use it, but I was immensely curious about the ingredient list. As such, I pulled up the list for 365 Brand, popular at Whole Foods and some mega marts as a starting point. Apologies for using links to Amazon’s site, but while I could pull up Whole Foods website and buyers interface, upon clicking through for product details they insist their website is down, and has been for an hour. And not for the first time…
The jarred, organic option lists only organic cabbage, water, sea salt, lactic acid. Since the alternate is listed as “raw”, I’d presume it’s cooked and pasteurized.
The raw, refrigeration required option lists Green Cabbage, Water, and Salt. Nothing else. Interestingly, neither the product nor ingredients are listed as organic though it does specify that it’s unpasteurized.
Whole foods also normally carries the Cleveland Kraut bagged options mentioned upthread, which specifically list live and natural probiotics, which were NOT explicitly mentioned in either of the two products above.
Using the “Classic Sauerkraut” option from the above provider shows only the following ingredients: Cabbage, Kosher Salt, Caraway Seed. Not listed as organic, but advises it is fresh fermented and that the packaging has construction allowing for outgassing. Again, fermentation status of the prior 365 examples was not listed on the packaging.
Anyway, the above should give us a more-or-less nationally available option as a baseline (sorry non-USAians, please feel free to list the ingredients of your local options!), and I’ll leave arguments about fermented vs. unfermented, jarred, canned, bagged or even in plastic tubs and what’s the “true” kraut to the fans.
[ though I’ll admit to a taste for more-spicy kimchi options, but not enough to keep it in the house unless I’m making a dish that calls for it!]
Lots of excellent info in this thread. For years I fermented my own fkaut. I would go into summer with 6 or eight quarts in the refrigerator. You might guess from this that I’m no fan of the canned or plastic-bagged stuff. I now get the un-pasteurized kraut by Cleveland Kitchens, far superior taste and texture. Also still loaded with those yummy probiotics, and just cabbage, caraway, and salt.
My contribution to this thread:
16 - 24 oz of roasted red peppers (weight is variable, use whatever is close-ish) and include the juice.
Bag of kraut, 16 oz. or so, plus any juice.
Two tr three tbsp maple syrup
Process ingredients lightly; aim for small chunks and NOT mush. I have a tiny processor, so I have to work with 3-4 small batches.
Mix all ingredients in a suitable bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. I strain this the next day and jar both the solids and the juice. I want the solids to be fairly dry because I use this relish to dress hot grilled tostadas, which will become soggy and collapse otherwise. Top with cheese and melt under the broiler.
Add a little of the juice to your Bloody Mary, A bit of the juice in V-8 also works wonders, as does a slug added to a tomato-and-bean dish.
I have convinced a few kraut-haters to try a teaspoonful of this relish, and then I’ve had to do an intervention to keep them from emptying the jar.
I made this once with Kimchi, tasty but way to much garlic for me.
Not bad on scrambled eggs, or added to commercial salsa. Going to fix my breakfast right now.
Dan
Update! At the grocery today I picked up a package of Jack Daniels pulled pork and mixed it together with the leftover sauerkraut. The barbecue sauce pretty much overwhelmed the sourness, of course, and I finished off half of the leftovers/pulled pork mixture. The rest will do for a couple more meals, paired with half a mashed and buttered sweet potato, I think.
This made me laugh, and I need this sauerkraut in my life. I don’t think that’s going to happen, but if I come across it, I’ll keep you posted!
I used to really like the Boar’s Head bagged sauerkraut. It was crisp and flavorful without being too sour. Over the last couple of years though, it has become mushy and almost inedible. As a result, we started making our own. Yeah, it takes a few weeks, but it is really easy to do and it far surpasses any canned, jarred or bagged kraut that I’ve ever tasted. Not too sour, plenty crisp, perfect for reubens, hot dogs, knockwurst, etc.
I think I’ve mentioned that a restaurant called Piret’s in the O.C. used to have an en croute of sausage and kraut that I was addicted to. Sadly, Piret’s is gone.
When I make a Reuben I mix my kraut with conservative amounts of brown sugar and whole grain mustard. You don’t want to actually taste the sweet or mustardy notes, but it really adds a depth of flavor that is extreeeeeemely yummy.
I looked at two bags of kraut, Frank’s & Vienna, a couple nights ago at a grocery. Both have sodium benzoate and another preservative I forget (sorbate? to protect color) so it’s true that some bagged kraut has the undesirable extra stuff in it but not all. I’ll be on the lookout for Polish ones locally and see what else I can find.
Yep, super simple to make, and very rewarding. I did it only a couple of times, but I just don’t eat it often enough to take up counter or refrigerator space.
I did find two more types of bagged sauerkraut. I don’t recall the brands but they were prominently labeled in Polish & English. They both have added preservatives, bisulfite and benzoate and one had lactic acid & carrot flecks which I don’t count against.
So, it does seem confirmed that the bagged sauerkraut is more likely to contain less desirable compounds than canned. It’s not what I expected at all nor conclusive but four out of four bags says a lot.
So for today I tried the bacon with bagged fresh sauerkraut (cabbage, salt, caraway). I cooked three strips of bacon till crisp and while they were drying on a paper towel I sauteed the leftover mirepoix in the bacon fat. When it was softened enough I stirred in the well-squeezed kraut and cooked that on low heat for a while. When the bacon had dried I crumbled it into the pan, stirred it all together, covered the pan, and let it cook on low heat for several minutes longer.
So how was it? Kinda boring, to be honest. Not much bacon flavor apparent, just modestly sour cabbage, so I’m going to get another package of the Jack Daniels pulled pork, heat it up, and stir the leftover kraut into it.
I think the next experiment will be with shredded fresh cabbage, garlic herb butter, an onion, and braunschweiger.