Sauerkraut Soup
45 min
Under an hour
Roman Vaněk
Preparation method
Ingredients overview
- 2 tablespoons lard
- pinch of crushed caraway
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- pinch of hot paprika
- 60 g plain flour
- 1.2 l chicken stock
- 500 g white sauerkraut
- 2 bay leaves
- 350 peeled potatoes
- 200 g cooked smoked meat
- salt
- pepper
- 60 g granulated sugar
- 4–6 tablespoons sour cream
- 260 g onion
In a saucepan, melt the lard, add the finely chopped onion and let it lightly caramelize. Add crushed caraway, paprika, plain flour and sauté for 1 minute. Pour in the broth and mix.
Squeeze the sauerkraut and set the brine aside. Roughly chop the cabbage and add it to the broth along with one-third of the sour brine. Add bay leaves, potatoes cut into 1 cm cubes and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Add smoked meat cut into cubes the same size as the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and season the soup with salt, pepper, and if needed, sugar and the sauerkraut brine. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream.
Chef's tip
Preferably use rib meat. Instead, you can use, for example, smoked pork shoulder or meat from a smoked hock. If the smoked meat needs to be cooked to soften, cook it separately in water, not in the soup – it would have too strong a "smoky" taste. Crushed caraway is better than whole, it gives the soup a more pronounced flavor. The same applies to pepper. Always sprinkle caraway at the beginning, into hot fat, as this is the only way its aroma will fully develop. Instead of smoked meat, you can add sausage (e.g., paprika or Ostrava sausage), cut into pieces and fried in a pan, to the soup.