For Valentine's Day this year I cooked a dish that reminds me of home like no other. It's a family recipe that my Mom knows by heart and my Dad gets on special holidays. Spareribs, sauerkraut and dumplings:
Not everyone likes it. I didn't like it until I was an adult and came across a very similar dish in the Czech Republic. I craved home-cooked food at the time and I instantly became obsessed with the dish.
The tricky part about the recipe is that it wasn't really written down. My Grandmother, Anita, wrote a copy for my Mom a long time ago but my Mom has since changed parts to simplify the recipe. This is the recipe that my Mom told me and I adjusted on my own.
For the Dumplings:
3 c bread crumbs (about a half of a loaf dried on a tray for a day and broken up in a food processor)
3-4 c grated raw potatoes (grated in a blender and then press out water in a sieve; about 2 lbs of potatoes; try to get as much water out as possible even with paper towels if necessary)
1 egg
1.25 c all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. salt
Mix together and then form into balls (I find it easier to do this with my hands). If too wet, add more flour. My dumplings were about 1.5 inches in diameter. You can make them smaller. Cook in boiling water for 20-45 minutes depending on the size of your dumplings (ping pong ball sized cooking at 20 minutes; mine cooked for about 40 minutes).
For the Spareribs and Sauerkraut:
2-3 lbs of boneless pork spareribs
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 can beef broth
One large can or bag of sauerkraut (my mom uses the big green can; I don't have that here so I use Boar's Head brand bags)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels. Heat oil in a dutch oven on medium heat on the stovetop. Once the oil is hot, brown the meat for a few minutes on all sides. Pour in broth and put the dutch oven, covered in the oven for 1.5 hours. Add sauerkraut to the pot and return it to the oven, covered for another 30 minutes, long enough to heat the sauerkraut through. Remove from oven and scoop out meat and sauerkraut with a slotted spoon into a serving bowl. Serve with the dumplings.
The best part of the recipe though are the leftovers. The next day you slice the dumplings and fry them up in some oil. It is delicious.
Now that I have written down a complete recipe I think I am going to be making this dish a lot more often then special occasions. It was actually pretty easy, the ingredients weren't pricey and it made for great leftovers.
I hope I didn't anger any family members by posting the recipe. If so, let me know and I will take it down. Also, let me know if you think there are any ways I could make it better or if I messed something up! I've never written out recipe instructions from scratch before.
Here's my plate before I started inhaling it.
The tricky part about the recipe is that it wasn't really written down. My Grandmother, Anita, wrote a copy for my Mom a long time ago but my Mom has since changed parts to simplify the recipe. This is the recipe that my Mom told me and I adjusted on my own.
For the Dumplings:
These are the dumpling when they were boiling, as they start to get done, they float to the top of the water.
3 c bread crumbs (about a half of a loaf dried on a tray for a day and broken up in a food processor)
3-4 c grated raw potatoes (grated in a blender and then press out water in a sieve; about 2 lbs of potatoes; try to get as much water out as possible even with paper towels if necessary)
1 egg
1.25 c all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. salt
Mix together and then form into balls (I find it easier to do this with my hands). If too wet, add more flour. My dumplings were about 1.5 inches in diameter. You can make them smaller. Cook in boiling water for 20-45 minutes depending on the size of your dumplings (ping pong ball sized cooking at 20 minutes; mine cooked for about 40 minutes).
Here are my dumplings in a serving bowl.
For the Spareribs and Sauerkraut:
This is the meat as I was browning it. When browning, be sure not to crowd the pan (learned that one from America's Test Kitchen).
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 can beef broth
One large can or bag of sauerkraut (my mom uses the big green can; I don't have that here so I use Boar's Head brand bags)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the ribs dry with paper towels. Heat oil in a dutch oven on medium heat on the stovetop. Once the oil is hot, brown the meat for a few minutes on all sides. Pour in broth and put the dutch oven, covered in the oven for 1.5 hours. Add sauerkraut to the pot and return it to the oven, covered for another 30 minutes, long enough to heat the sauerkraut through. Remove from oven and scoop out meat and sauerkraut with a slotted spoon into a serving bowl. Serve with the dumplings.
This is the meat and sauerkraut as I was reheating it the next day.
The best part of the recipe though are the leftovers. The next day you slice the dumplings and fry them up in some oil. It is delicious.
Here are the sliced dumplings being fried up. Now I want some. Darn it.
Now that I have written down a complete recipe I think I am going to be making this dish a lot more often then special occasions. It was actually pretty easy, the ingredients weren't pricey and it made for great leftovers.
I hope I didn't anger any family members by posting the recipe. If so, let me know and I will take it down. Also, let me know if you think there are any ways I could make it better or if I messed something up! I've never written out recipe instructions from scratch before.
Comments
You mentioned it in an earlier post so I also made pork and sauerkraut this week. My pork was $1 a pound. However, it sort of ended up smelling like hay--the boys refused to eat it!!! lol.
Hope you both are doing well.