Sauerkraut SOUP??

 

A couple days ago, I asked on Facebook whether tomato paste belonged in sauerkraut soup. Quite a few people were like, LOL, what?! Why would sauerkraut be in soup? This post is for all you haters. haha

 

My dilemma: I had sausage to use and was in the mood for sauerkraut, but I didn’t want it in a bun—I rely way too much on processed meat sticks in buns. Plus, this package contained only five sausages. Not enough for my gang.

 

Immediately I thought of putting them together in soup. Some googling turned up numerous recipes originating from Ukraine, Germany, and Poland that mostly shared the same ingredients (potatoes, carrots, celery, broth, meat, and sauerkraut). But some recipes included tomato paste and others didn’t, thus my informal FB poll.

 

Here’s what I ended up using.

 

1 to 2 pounds potatoes, cut into chunks

 

½ pound baby carrots

 

1 pound fully cooked sausage, sliced into coins

I’m going to be honest, I am not actually sure if the package weighed one pound or half a pound, and I don’t feel like rifling through the garbage to find it.

 

1 pound refrigerated (not canned) sauerkraut, most of the liquid drained off

 

1 can condensed cream of potato soup (I never claimed to be a foodie)

 

6 cups water — that worked but was more than necessary. I needed either more potatoes or less water.

 

1 tsp coarse salt; several shakes of onion powder and black pepper

 

I added all ingredients to a 3qt pot, brought to a boil, then simmered. The veggies were tender enough to be eaten after 20 minutes, but I didn’t have my bread ready. It ended up simmering 35 to 40 minutes; thankfully, the potatoes didn’t disintegrate.

 

Result: The broth took on the flavor of the sausage—in this case, Dakin Farm fully cooked cob-smoked chicken sausage with apple.

It was very smoky. You can use any smoked sausage (kielbasa, etc.), but be advised the finished product relies on it for flavor.

 

I do not recommend raw sausage. I think it would make the soup greasy. For the same reason, I’d probably stick with a chicken or turkey sausage and avoid pork.

 

Ultimately I decided against tomato paste, but only because I didn’t think it would go with the flavor of the particular sausage I used. I bet it would add a nice richness to this base recipe. Next time I might add garlic, or beer, or top with a sharp cheese. 

Everyone liked it, including my soup-hater, who complained when I said soup was for dinner because "it's like having water for a meal," and "you know I don't like soup!" Yes, I do. But I also know he'll reliably eat whatever I set in front of him, even while complaining about it. You can't please all the people all the time!