Sauerkraut, Part 3--Culture

There are many negative things I can say about Los Angeles, but there is one thing I LOVE about living here: There is a tremendous cultural diversity to this place. L.A.’s culture is best defined as global rather than local.

Within walking distance of my suburban apartment there is a supermarket that caters to Middle Easterners and Russians with an Armenian bakery inside, separate Middle Eastern and Russian markets, a Vietnamese market, a Korean market, a Japanese market, a couple of Indian markets (specializing in different regions of India) several Latino markets (both Mexican and Central/South American) and a Ralphs.

If I decide to go to a restaurant I have a similar pick: Vietnamese pho? Across the street, next to the Thai place that is next to the Chinese restaurant…Mexican (which region do you want?) El Salvadorian, Brazillian, Argentinian, Indian, Armenian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, Middle Eastern, Southern Comfort foods…you name it, and it’s within a short walk, bike, or bus ride from me. For example, there’s a mini mall near here which has an excellent Japanese ramen restaurant, a Chinese fast food buffet, a Persian kabob place, and a French bakery. Next to these is a Jewish Kosher store and restaurant.

When I go to a Farmer’s Market, I see many exotic fruits and vegetables grown locally. Local farmers get a boost from growing foods that are too expensive or too perishable to ship halfway around the world. They are able to survive because they have found their niche markets. I still come across produce I’ve never seen before and often don’t have a clue as to how to prepare.

One thing that ALL of these different cultures have in common is that they have a tradition of cultured and fermented foods. Breads, alcoholic beverages, pickles, cheeses, misos, condiments…and sauerkraut.


It’s well known the Korean National Dish is kim chi, a (usually) spicy cabbage and/or radish or turnip sauerkraut dish. There are many variations and I will be discussing kim chi greater detail in later blogs. Koreans generally will serve at least one or two versions of kim chi with a meal, or simply by itself with some rice.



The Japanese version, Tsukemono, is a term that applies to a wide variety of pickles, including pickled cabbage. In many Japanese homes a meal is considered incomplete without a little bit of Tsukemono for flavor and to aid digestion. Tsukemono can be sophisticated and subtle, or it can be very simple and bold.


All across China and most of Asia there are a wide variety of sauerkrauts and krautlike dishes. These can range from very plain and basic to very spicy depending on the region’s crops and cuisine.

Here are large urns for making the pickled cabbage:


And here's a sample of the finished product:



Many Eastern European countries depend on sauerkraut for health and survival. Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Russians, etc. all have traditions of making sauerkraut and sauerkraut dishes. I have been to Jewish and German delis that don’t make their own pickles and kraut…but not twice.


Sauerkraut, like a large city, benefits from cultural diversity. At beginning stages of fermentation there are certain bacteria that begin the fermentation process. A few days later other bacteria such as lactobacilli start developing, giving sauerkraut it’s distinctive flavor. All told, in different stages of the fermentation process there can be dozens bacteria species living and doing their thing. This gives sauerkraut a more complex flavor and nutritional profile.

You also benefit from this cultural diversity. Inside the average human digestive system are about a TRILLION bacteria, representing about a thousand species. There are literally more bacteria cells inside you than human cells. All of these bacteria interact with each other and with you in different ways. Picture yourself as a gigantic biosphere, as diverse as any rainforest or coral reef. What you eat affects the bacteria inside you. This in turn affects your health. The bacteria in sauerkraut helps to bring your digestive system to a healthy PH balance and defend against dangerous bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

When you take a probiotic pill, you are generally introducing or reinforcing only one strain of bacteria, in a weakened and dormant state, into a vast microscopic jungle. This is like being set down in the middle of a wilderness, injured and starving, with only the clothes on your back and a knife. The diversity you get when eating sauerkraut is more like being set down in that same wilderness, only now you have a few hundred of your friends with you, tools and supplies.

Since making and eating my own sauerkraut and other cultures I have very little in the way of stomach problems. I always used to keep antacids and other stomach remedies handy, but for the past 3-4 years I haven’t needed any. The diverse, naturally occurring probiotics that I grow in my little jars keeps me healthy and also seems to strengthen my entire immune system.

Speaking of culture, my recipe this week is from my own cultural heritage. In honor of St. Patrick’s day I’m making corned beef and sauerkraut. Now, I know what a lot of you are saying: “Don’t you know that corned beef and cabbage isn’t really an Irish tradition? …And what’s this about sauerkraut?” I know that in Ireland it would be pork, possibly a rasher of Irish bacon or perhaps some trotters. Also, I’ve looked hard and I can’t find any references to Irish sauerkraut or recipes using sauerkraut anywhere. Well, this may not be an Irish tradition, but it IS an Irish-American tradition, and it is my tradition. I’m not an Irishman. I’m a non-Catholic Scots/Irish/Swedish/Norwegian/Estonian-American, and if ye be comin’ to me Dimity with a dram o’ Poteen, this is what ye’ll be havin’ wi’ yer praties!



I barely need to outline the recipe and procedure as it’s very simple, but here it is:

Ingredients:

1 medium sized corned beef brisket
One or two jars or cans of sauerkraut, with or without the juice (if a milder flavor is desired, omit the juice)
One or two onions, quartered and sliced not too small
One or two potatoes (optional, this time I wasn’t in the mood and didn’t add them) peeled and sliced into large pieces
Carrots (optional, normally I don’t add them, but I had a couple in the fridge)
Green onions, cut (not a normal ingredient, but again, I had some in the fridge, so into the pot they went)
Cooking sherry (again, not normally used, but I had a half bottle left over)
Several cloves garlic, minced.
Mustard seed, about 1-2 tsp.
Sour cream (Optional, to be put in at the end)
Paprika, to taste

Put about half the sauerkraut and other veggies in the bottom of your crock pot to make a bed for your brisket. Add the brisket and the rest of the veggies and mustard seed. Add cooking sherry and water to cover. Turn on crock pot, cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-6 hours. Sit back and enjoy the aroma wafting through your home!

When ready, serve in a bowl with a bit of the broth. If desired add a little sour cream and paprika. Keep some mustard handy.

When I was a wee lad we’d often have corned beef and cabbage, not only on St. Patty’s day. It would be cooked in a crock pot or on the stove and served simply with potatoes and/or carrots and onion. My father would keep telling me that the only way to eat it was slathered in mustard, but I hated mustard. He could never believe I didn’t like it that way and keep trying to convince me to eat it with mustard. Now, nearly 40 years later, I LOVE mustard and put it on a lot of stuff, and I’d never dream of having corned beef without mustard!

For the next week I’ll be making sandwiches and hash from the corned beef itself, and not only having the broth and cabbage by itself, but using it as a base for other dishes. Tonight I’m going to have it “Paprikash” style, with sour cream and plenty of paprika in the Hungarian tradition.

However you celebrate St. Patrick's, when everybody is Irish for a day, wishing you all the best and I offer this traditional Irish toast:

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.