Country Style Pork Ribs and Sauerkraut; Ribs and Kraut

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Ribs and sauerkraut make for an excellent dish with this easy recipe. Sear pork, toss ingredients into a crock-pot and slow cook for 6 hours.

Now, that’s my kind of cooking! Especially during a weeknight. Just do the prep work, toss into the crock-pot and cook while you’re at work! Dinner can’t get any easier than this!

This recipe calls for country style ribs which is a cut of meat from the pork shoulder or pork butt. This cut of meat has nice marbling that makes for great flavor. The country style ribs are meaty and can have bones or be boneless. Four or even five cutlets can easily feed up to four people. I recommend getting the cut of pork with the bones but if you’re unable to find that type, that’s okay as either will work well with this recipe.

Where did ribs and sauerkraut originate?

Ribs and sauerkraut is a very popular German dish that is usually served on New Year’s Day. It’s not the pork of this particular dish but the sauerkraut that is celebrated. Why? Well, you see, sauerkraut is believed to bring you money in the coming year! So, eat up! Although ribs and sauerkraut is a German New Year’s dish it really can be served anytime of the year!

My great grandparents from my mother’s side of the family were immigrants of Germany. The one thing I remember my grandparents carrying on the German tradition on New Years Day was winching. I was probably only 3-years-old at the time but I remember the celebration.

What is Winching or Wuensching?

Winching is a New Years German tradition of going house to house and giving good wishes to family, friends or neighbors. It involves a lot of celebration, food, German biers for the adults and coin giving to the children (usually half dollars or silver dollars). With a little help from my mother, below is the German greeting my family would always say on New Years.

Any who, let’s get to this scrumptious dinner recipe. You don’t have to be German to like it! 🙂

Country-Style Ribs and Sauerkraut Recipe; Ribs-n-Kraut

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds pork shoulder country style rib family pack
• 2 Tablespoons lard (or vegetable oil)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 9 red potatoes
• 1 medium yellow onion sliced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 Jonathan apple sliced
• 32 ounce jar sauerkraut with juices drained and retained
• 1 heaping teaspoon caraway seeds
• 12 ounces water (or beer of choice)
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sauerkraut juice

Directions:

Sear meat

In a large skilled melt lard on medium high heat. Add country style pork ribs and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Sear meat on all four sides. Remove from pan and place on a paper towel covered paper plate to help remove some of the grease and set aside. Spoon out the fond and set aside (fond is the brown bits in the bottom of the pan). There may not be a lot of fond but whatever you have keep it as it will add flavor to this dish.

Is it necessary to sear the pork? Well, it’s not necessary but it is highly recommended. You see, by not searing the pork you can lose a lot of flavor and curb appeal. And what I mean by curb appeal is the presentation of the pork won’t have that nice brown color and will just looks blah!

Layer crock-pot or slow-cooker:

Place potatoes in crock-pot first. Then add sliced onions, minced garlic, and sliced apples. Combine water or beer with brown sugar in a medium bowl until sugar has dissolved and pour into crock-pot. Add drained sauerkraut, caraway seeds and fond. Then place seared country style pork ribs on top of kraut and pour 1/2 cup sauerkraut juice over meat and cover. Cook on high for 6 hours for fall off the bone pork .

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How To Serve Country Style Pork Ribs and Sauerkraut:

Using tongs, remove meat from crock-pot and place on a serving tray. Using a serrated spoon, remove sauerkraut allowing some of the juices to drain then place on serving tray with pork. Remove apples and potatoes this same way and place on serving tray. Each person prepares their own dish from the serving tray. For each individual dish smash potatoes, top with butter and a healthy helping of sauerkraut. Then add pork and serve with condiments. I always serve my ribs and kraut with mustard but ketchup is another option if desired.

I AM EXCITED YOU ARE VIEWING JETT’S RECIPE FOR COUNTRY STYLE PORK RIBS AND SAUERKRAUT; RIBS AND KRAUT AND WOULD LOVE TO HEAR HOW IT TURNS OUT SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE IT!

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