Sauerkraut Supper

It was cold. It was snowy. It was time. I pulled out my big cast-iron frying pan from my wood burning cook stove’s oven. It was the same frying pan my mother used when I was a kid. I took a big jar of sauerkraut from the fridge and dumped half into the frying pan. I cut up some sausage and mixed it with the kraut, then put the big pan on the hottest part of my old cook stove.

Soon the kraut began to bubble as its smell seeped into the kitchen, bringing back many memories. Growing up on our farm, every winter without fail, we had a big crock of sauerkraut brewing in the pantry. Each fall, we cut several heads of cabbage, shredded them, and packed them into a five gallon crock, adding salt between each layer. We ate sauerkraut at least once a week all winter long. Fried sauerkraut. Baked sauerkraut. Sauerkraut with ham. Sauerkraut with sausage. Even sauerkraut chocolate cake—mighty fine tasting

I stirred the kraut and sausage and waited. Cooking on a wood burning cook stove requires patience. When the kraut turned to a golden brown, I dumped it on my plate—supper was ready. And what a treat it was. It was a meal full of memories. When I finished, the cleaned frying pan went back in the oven until next time.


THE OLDTIMER SAYS When was the last time you ate sauerkraut as the main course of your meal? Give it a try—you may be surprised?

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 3, 1:00 p.m. McFarland Historical Society, McFarland Municipal Bldg. Topic: Simple Things: Lesson from the family farm.

PURCHASING BOOKS AND DVDs:

Order your signed Apps books and DVDs from the Patterson Memorial Library in Wild Rose, a fundraiser for them. Phone: 920-622-3835 for prices and ordering.
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.
www.wildroselibrary.org

Popular recent Books:

Simple Things: Lessons from the Family Farm (fun to read in winter)

Garden Wisdom (Time to begin planning for the upcoming garden season)

Old Farm Country Cookbook (Try some of yesterday’s recipes)

The Quiet Season (All about winter)

Cold as Thunder (A look into the future)

The Travels of Increase Joseph (Historical fiction about Wisconsin before 1900)