Final Notes for the Polish Kapusniak Recipe
➡️ Pickled cabbage is very popular in Eastern Europe. This is probably due to the long, cold winters that people have had to spend with plentiful and cheap food supplies.
➡️ Cabbage is a staple food in this part of the world and should be kept available in the cold months. One of the main methods of preserving cabbage is pickling, so it is not surprising that in countries such as Poland sauerkraut (also called sour cabbage or pickled cabbage) is widely used in gastronomy.
➡️ Sour cabbage is cooked in many ways, and one of the most commonly used is the preparation of nourishing soups that provide enough calories to the body to withstand the strong frost outside.
➡️ Polish sauerkraut soup, known locally as kapuśniak, is very popular in this country, but it has become known in other countries where there is a large Polish community. Canada and especially the United States and, more recently, the United Kingdom are some of the countries that have adopted Polish sauerkraut soup.
➡️ As you can see in the video above, the cooking method of Polish sauerkraut soup is very simple and does not require a long cooking time even if it has to boil for a while at a low temperature.
➡️ A person with average experience in the kitchen can prepare all the ingredients in 10-15 minutes, after which they are cooked and do not need attention for a while.
➡️ As for sauerkraut, I recommend tasting it before cooking. If it is too salty, put it in cold water for a few hours to remove the excess salt, otherwise, the Polish sauerkraut soup will be too salty.
➡️ As for the sausages, the original recipe is made with kielbasa, which are smoked Polish sausages specific to this country. If you do not have such sausages, you can use other similar ones as long as they are not too dry but only half-smoked.
➡️ The smoked meat used in Polish sauerkraut soup is, of course, pork, as the meat of this animal is very popular in Poland. You can use smoked bacon, smoked sausages, or smoked pork ribs.
➡️ Enjoy cooking the Polish sauerkraut soup recipe from scratch! For additional info, read more on sauerkraut.