Main course
Podvarok
Sauerkraut baked slowly with pork ribs and smoked meat — a winter dish that asks for nothing but patience.
Recipe from Туѓино Јабано
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 2 hr
- Total
- 2 hr 25 min
- Fasting
- Not suitable
Ingredients 9 ingredients
Method
- Shred the sauerkraut and taste it. If it is very salty, rinse it in cold water and squeeze it out; if it is not, leave it — the brine is part of the flavour.
- Brown the ribs in the oil in a deep dish on all sides, then lift them out.
- Sweat the onion and the bacon in the same fat. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika.
- Lay half the sauerkraut on the base of the dish, the ribs and the bacon with the onion on top of that, then the rest of the sauerkraut over. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and savory.
- Pour in hot water to come two thirds of the way up. Cover and bake at 170 °C for two hours.
- Uncover for the last thirty minutes so the liquid reduces and the cabbage takes on a dark, caramelised crust at its edges.
- Let the podvarok stand for fifteen minutes. It is better on the second day — not a figure of speech; the cabbage goes on drinking the flavour of the meat.
If you cannot find it
Substitutions that work outside Macedonia.
- Whole soured cabbage
- Jarred sauerkraut, rinsed; add a spoonful of vinegar if it is too mild.
- Smoked pork neck
- Smoked ribs, a ham hock, or even smoked sausage.
- Savory
- Thyme with a pinch of caraway.
