Kwaśnica: highland sauerkraut soup with smoked ribs and nothing else
A soup from Podhale that lives on three things: the acidity of sauerkraut, the smoke of cured ribs and caraway. There is no roux here, no cream, no root vegetables — anything that thickens or sweetens blurs that flavour. The ribs simmer for an hour and a half, the cabbage for forty minutes, and the sauerkraut juice goes in only at the end, because long boiling strips its fresh, fermented aroma.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Ribs simmering 90 min
- Cabbage cooking 40 min
- Souring and seasoning 15 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCover the ribs with cold water
Cut the ribs apart into single bones and put them in a large pot. Cover with cold water, add the bay leaves, allspice and peppercorns. Bring slowly to the boil and skim off the foam.
Ingredients: 700 g smoked pork ribs · 2500 ml water · 2 pcs onions · 4 cloves garlic · 3 pcs bay leaves · 6 pcs allspice berries · 10 pcs black peppercorns
TipStarting cold is not fussiness: proteins and fat leave the meat gradually and the stock stays clear, with a clean smoky taste. With ribs dropped into boiling water the proteins set abruptly and the stock clouds more easily.
Cut into single bones, into cold waterSimmer the stock for an hour and a half
Add the halved onions and crushed garlic cloves. Simmer with the lid ajar over the lowest heat for 90 minutes, so the surface barely trembles. The meat should be pulling away from the bone but still clinging to it.
TipDo not salt at this stage. Smoked ribs are heavily salted themselves, and only once the cabbage is in can you tell how much salt is really in the pot. A stock salted too early is often past saving.
Ninety minutes, a barely trembling surfacePrepare the cabbage
Squeeze the sauerkraut over a bowl and keep the juice — you will need it at the end. Taste the cabbage: if it is very sour and salty, rinse half of it in cold water. Chop long strands into 3 cm pieces.
Ingredients: 600 g sauerkraut · 300 ml sauerkraut juice · 1 tsp caraway seeds · 1 tsp black pepper · 1 tsp salt
Squeezed, juice in the bowl, strands cut to 3 cmCook the cabbage with the ribs
Add the cabbage and caraway to the pot with the ribs. Simmer covered 40 minutes, until the cabbage is tender but still has bite. Lift out the onion and boiled garlic, or crush them into the soup with a fork.
Forty minutes, cabbage tender but with biteSour it with the juice at the end
Take the pot off the heat and add the sauerkraut juice gradually, half a cup at a time, tasting after each addition; usually 200–300 ml goes in. Season with pepper and only now with salt if needed. Put the pot back on the heat, bring to the boil once and switch off.
Ingredients: 600 g sauerkraut · 300 ml sauerkraut juice · 1 tsp caraway seeds · 1 tsp black pepper · 1 tsp salt
TipLactic acid itself does not evaporate, but long boiling drives off the fresh, volatile aromas of the ferment — a soup cooked with the juice from the start tastes flat and stewed. Added at the end and boiled just once it stays vivid and fresh, which is the whole point of kwaśnica.
Juice half a cup at a time, tasting after eachServe with potatoes
Boil the potatoes separately in salted water 20 minutes and serve them alongside with butter — in Podhale they are often served on the side rather than in the soup. Ladle the kwaśnica into bowls with a rib on the bone in each. The second day it is better still; reheat without boiling.
Ingredients: 1000 g potatoes · 30 g butter
TipThis kwaśnica has no roux and no cream, and that is a choice rather than thrift. Roux and cream soften and smooth the flavour, and then acidity and smoke — the two main flavours of this soup — stop coming through.
Potatoes beside the bowl, not in it
Before you start
With potatoes in the soup
400 g of diced potatoes often go in with the cabbage, too. The soup becomes more filling and milder, but less clear.
Without meat
On a stock of 5 dried mushrooms with a spoon of butter, double the caraway and a teaspoon of smoked paprika standing in for the smoke of the ribs.
Too sour or too salty
Too sour: add a cup of boiling water, never sugar. Too salty: add boiling water or unsalted stock and a little more rinsed sauerkraut. The raw potato trick does not work — the potato soaks up a little liquid, but the saltiness of the soup stays the same.
