Slovak · soup

Kapustnica (Christmas Sauerkraut Soup with Dried Mushrooms and Prunes)

Kapustnica (Christmas Sauerkraut Soup with Dried Mushrooms and Prunes) reads umami 6.3, richness 6.1 and sourness 5.4 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Slovak soup, about 2 hr 18 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.3 · Richness 6.1 · Sourness 5.4 · Funk & Ferment 4.8 · Salinity 4.6 · Sweetness 4.3 · Fruity 3.3 · Smoke 3.3 · Earthy 2.8 · Allium 2.7 · Warm Spice 2.5 · Bitterness 1.1 · Herbaceous 1.1 · Floral 1.1 · Nutty 0.6 · Heat 0.6

What's in it (16)

Time & effort: about 2 hr 18 min (2 hr 17 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 100.1 kcal, 3.2 g protein, 5.7 g fat, 14.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (10 steps)

  1. Soak the dried mushrooms in the warm water for 30 minutes, then lift them out, slice them and keep the soaking liquor, leaving the grit at the bottom behind. Use wild mushrooms dried in the autumn if you can; the whole aroma of a Christmas kapustnica is porcini, and cultivated mushrooms give you nothing.
  2. Put the sauerkraut, smoked ribs, water, allspice, bay and caraway in a large pot and simmer 1 hour, until the ribs are tender. Lift them out, strip the meat and return it.
  3. Cook the onion in the lard over medium heat for 10 minutes until golden.
  4. Stir in the flour and cook 3 minutes to a blond roux.
  5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika for 1 minute, then loosen it with a ladle of hot soup.
  6. Whisk the roux into the pot, 2 minutes.
  7. Add the sliced klobása and simmer 15 minutes.
  8. Add the prunes, the sliced mushrooms and their strained soaking liquor and simmer 15 minutes more. The prunes are not a garnish; their sweetness is what balances the sourness of the kraut, and without them the soup is just sharp.
  9. Take it off the boil, stir in the sour cream and the salt, 2 minutes, and adjust the sourness with the reserved kraut brine. Cooked on 24 December in every Slovak household and eaten before the carp; it is always better on the 25th.
  10. Substitutions: mixed wild mushrooms can stand in for the dried porcini.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.