Kapustnica

Name: Kapustnica
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 40 min
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: the Tatras & the Carpathians
Ingredients: 30 g dried wild mushrooms, such as porcini; 400 ml hot water, for soaking; 800 g sauerkraut, drained, with 200ml of its brine kept; 400 g smoked pork ribs or a smoked hock; 300 g smoked sausage such as klobása, in thick slices; 2 onions, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 60 g lard or 4 tbsp oil; 2 tbsp sweet paprika; 1 tbsp caraway seeds, crushed; 4 allspice berries; 3 bay leaves; 80 g dried plums, halved; 1.8 litres water; 2 tbsp plain flour; 250 ml soured cream; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Slovakia's Christmas Eve soup of sauerkraut, smoked sausage and dried mushrooms, soured further with the kraut brine and finished with cream

Origin: Bratislava, the Tatras & the Carpathians

From the journey of Cabbage.

Kapustnica is the soup Slovakia eats on Christmas Eve, and in a great many households it is the only hot dish of that meal. Sauerkraut is simmered with smoked sausage and smoked pork, dried mushrooms gathered in autumn, dried plums, and a good deal of paprika and caraway, and finished with soured cream. It arrives after the wafer and the honey and before the fried carp, and every family holds that its own version is the correct one. Sauerkraut is the whole foundation and the brine goes in with it. Slovak households traditionally shred and salt their own cabbage in autumn in stone crocks or barrels, and the sourness of the finished soup is a direct measure of how the kraut turned out. Rinsing it is a matter of taste and of how sharp the barrel came out; most cooks rinse a little and add brine back at the end to control the acidity precisely. The dried mushrooms are the second thing that makes it Slovak rather than generically Central European. Wild mushroom picking is close to a national pastime, the autumn haul is threaded and dried above the stove, and a handful of dried hríby steeped in hot water goes into the soup along with their soaking liquid, which is where a good deal of the depth comes from. There is a genuine regional split worth naming: eastern Slovakia tends to a sourer, thinner soup with more kraut and dried plums, whilst the west and Bratislava make it richer, with more sausage and cream. Both are made, both are called kapustnica, and no reconciliation is expected. A meatless version thickened with more mushrooms is standard in observant households, since Christmas Eve is a fast day.

Ingredients

Mushrooms

30 g dried wild mushrooms, such as porcini
400 ml hot water, for soaking

Cabbage

800 g sauerkraut, drained, with 200ml of its brine kept

Meat

400 g smoked pork ribs or a smoked hock
300 g smoked sausage such as klobása, in thick slices

Aromatics

2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed

To cook

60 g lard or 4 tbsp oil

Seasoning

2 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp caraway seeds, crushed
4 allspice berries
3 bay leaves
80 g dried plums, halved
1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Liquid

1.8 litres water

To finish

2 tbsp plain flour
250 ml soured cream

Method

Soak the dried mushrooms in the hot water for thirty minutes. Keep the soaking liquid and strain it through a cloth to catch the grit; it goes into the soup and carries a good deal of the flavour.
Taste the sauerkraut. If it is very sharp, rinse it briefly; if it is mild, use it as it comes. Keep the brine either way.
Render the lard in a large pot and brown the smoked ribs on all sides, then lift them out.
Soften the onions in the same fat for ten minutes, then add the garlic and caraway for a minute.
Take the pot off the heat and stir in the paprika, then return it immediately and add a ladleful of water. Paprika scorches within seconds over direct heat and turns the whole pot bitter.
Return the ribs, add the sauerkraut, mushrooms and their strained liquid, allspice, bay, dried plums, and the 1.8 litres of water.
Simmer, half covered, for an hour and a quarter, until the ribs are tender and the kraut has softened but still has texture.
Add the sliced sausage and cook for a further fifteen minutes.
Lift out the ribs, pull the meat from the bones, and return it to the pot.
Whisk the flour into the soured cream, slacken it with a ladleful of the hot soup, and stir it back into the pot off the heat.
Now adjust the sourness with the kept brine, a little at a time, tasting as you go. This is the final judgement and it should land distinctly sour.
Warm it through without boiling, rest for fifteen minutes, and serve with dark bread. It is better on the second day.

Notes

Keep both the mushroom soaking liquid and the sauerkraut brine; the first is the depth and the second is the final control on sourness. Strain the mushroom water through cloth, since dried mushrooms carry grit. Paprika goes in off the heat. The soured cream goes in off the heat too and must not boil afterwards. Dried plums are traditional and give a faint sweetness against the sour; they are easy to leave out and worth keeping. For the fasting version, leave out the meat entirely and double the mushrooms, which is what many households cook on the night itself.

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control