Salsiccie e Crauti

I

've always felt I was ahead of the curve when it came to real Italian food. I mean, I was cooking Tuscan dishes in the seventies. I had a meal at Enoteca Pinchiori [in Florence] at a time when the dinner tab didn't equal the price of a semester at Yale. My recipe for Lasagne alla Bolognese left the dinner guests whispering among themselves, "I don't taste any garlic." Or, "Where's the oregano." Or, "There's no ricotta in this dish."

Nevertheless, I was flummoxed when I stopped for a couple of hours once in Cortina d'Ampezzo, to see sauerkraut being served at a local trattoria. Of course, I expressed my concern to my waiter, but he assured me that sauerkraut was indeed una ricetta tipico locale, a local specialty.

While Cortina d'Ampezzo is located in the same province as Venice, it's a world away, in terms of its cuisine. Cortina is one of the premier ski destinations in Europe, and, being in the Swiss Alps, the cuisine reflects the geography. This is a place where folks like Alberto Tomba (a.k.a. Tomba la Bomba) enjoy a dish of Salsiccie e Crauti, sausages and sauerkraut, at the end of a long day of bombing the "black" slopes of Mt. Cristallo.

I've never been a fan of sauerkraut, except for occasional indulgences at a hot dog stand around 49^th and Broadway in Manhattan. But I love to know what Italians eat. And, I love to know how to make things from scratch. In the case of sauerkraut, that part turned out to be easy. All it takes is cabbage, salt, and time.

My timing for this batch of sauerkraut turned out well too. It was ready yesterday; the day we had our first significant snowfall here in southeastern Connecticut. So, despite the fact that we wear Topsiders rather than ski boots around here, Salsiccie e Crauti turned out to be a good choice for dinner.

Crauti Fatta in Casa
Homemade Sauerkraut

Ingredients:

1 Head cabbage, approximately 5 Lb.
3 Tbs. Kosher salt

Preparation:

Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage, leaving only those that form a tight, light-green ball.

Cut the cabbage into quarters, then trim away and discard the inner stem.

Slice the quartered cabbage sections as thinly as possible. (A mandoline is a good tool for this task). As you finish slicing each quarter, place the slices in a non-reactive bowl, sprinkle with a large pinch of the salt, and toss with your hands, or with cooking tongs. (See notes)

Wait until the cabbage/salt mixture has begun to exude some moisture. You'll be able to see and feel when this happens. Then, place the sliced and salted cabbage in a large, earthenware crock (See notes) to form a layer approximately one inch deep, and press down with your fingers inverted upward, as if you were making a fist. Repeat until you've used all the cabbage/salt mixture.

Cover the cabbage/salt mixture with a layer or two of plastic wrap, then, using a waste-basket sized plastic bag filled with about 1 gallon of water, place it over the container that holds the future sauerkraut. This will create a weighted, air-tight seal. Store the sauerkraut in a room with an ambient temperature of 70 F. for three to four weeks.

After 24 hours, check the sauerkraut's progress. If it hasn't exuded enough liquid to completely cover the cabbage--and that has been true of this batch, because the room in which I'd stored it had an ambient temperature of 58 F.-- add 1 quart of water, with 1 Tbs of salt that you've boiled and cooled. Then, re-cover with the water seal, and just let it sit for three to four weeks.

Notes: I happen to own an earthenware crock. I only say that to show off though, because right now, I don't know if it's in Boston, or Rockport, MA., or Newburyport, MA. So, for $1.99, I bought a plastic 5 gallon paint can at my local True-Value hardware store that worked perfectly well as a storage vehicle for my sauerkraut.

Also, if you don't have a non-reactive bowl large enough to accomodate all the cabbage and salt in one batch, make the sauerkraut in four stages. Cut up a quarter of the cabbage; add the salt and toss; then put it into your container, and continue with the rest of the cabbage and salt.

Note also: An alert reader sent e-mail overnight to suggest that you scald the container intended to hold the sauerkraut with two or three quarts of boiling water before adding the cabbage/salt mixture. Good advice, and many thanks.

Salsiccie e Crauti

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 Lb. Italian sausages
4 - 5 Cups sauerkraut

Preparation:

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat, then add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic, and saute for approximately one minute, until the garlic begins to give off its oils.

Add the sausages, and brown thoroughly for approximately ten minutes.

Remove the sausages from the pot, and add the sauerkraut, stirring to allow the sauerkraut to absorb the flavor of the sausages and garlic. Lower the heat to medium-low, return the sausages to the pot, cover, and cook at low heat for another ten or fifteen minutes.

To Serve:

Divide the sausages and sauerkraut equally among four dinner plates. I didn't happen to have any last night, but it would be perfectly fine to garnish with chopped, flat-leaf Italian parsley. Also, I simply had some bread with my Salsiccie e Crauti. Around Cortina d'Ampezzo, though, it wouldn't be unusual to find them served with boiled potatoes either.

Serves four.