#food #foodies #cooking #pork #chops #cutlets #meat #sauerkraut #home #eat #recipe
In my spare time, I love to cook. As Sunday is a free day for the majority of people in Poland, I usually prepare something tasty. My choice today was pork neck chops served together with braised sauerkraut with roux (a mixture of flour and fat fried together to make food more filling and hearty—used pretty often in traditional Polish cuisine). It’s a traditional dish we make pretty frequently in Poland, especially during free days and family meetings.
Pork shoulder is a fatty and well-marbled meat that is also juicy and tender after frying or cooking. Its flavor is intense, aromatic, and kind of fatty. That’s why it’s typically supported with garlic and herbs.
To prepare this dish for 2 people, you’ll need:
For the meat:
• 2 pieces of raw pork neck
• salt, pepper, fresh garlic—I don't give quantities here, because it's up to your taste how much you'll use
For the coating: • 2 eggs • all-purpose flour • breadcrumbs
For the sauerkraut: • 500 g of sauerkraut • 2 small carrots or 1 medium carrot • 200 g of onion • about 400 ml of water • 3 tablespoons of frying oil • 1.5 tablespoons of all-purpose flour • salt, pepper, 1–2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of sugar or honey • 3–4 allspice berries
For mashed potatoes: • 500 g of potatoes • Some dill herb - chopped • 1 tablespoon of cream or yogurt
First, drain the sauerkraut by placing it in a colander, then chop it. Place it in a pot. Grate the carrot on the coarse side of a grater and add it to the sauerkraut. Now, add salt, pepper, 1–2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of sugar (or honey), and 3-4 allspice berries. Pour the water into the pot and place it over low heat, covered. When the water comes to a boil, start timing the cooking. It should take 30–40 minutes.
Now, pound the meat and season it with salt and pepper, then rub it with garlic. You can press fresh garlic cloves through a garlic press, as I did, or use dried granulated garlic instead. Place the pounded meat on a plate and put it in the fridge.
Now it’s time to prepare the roux. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a medium frying pan and add finely chopped onion. Reduce the heat as much as possible so that the onion browns without burning. You need to stir it frequently for about 20 minutes. When it is brown and soft, add 1.5 tablespoons of flour and start stirring immediately.
The flour will combine with the oil and begin to foam. Add some cooking liquid from the sauerkraut, using a tablespoon. Stir it, and when the texture becomes uniform, add the roux to the boiling sauerkraut. Stir it energetically, and keep it on low heat for another 5-minutes so that the taste of raw flour disappears.
The sauerkraut is now ready. You can turn off the heat and move on to the meat, but first, wash the potatoes, peel them, and place them in a pot, pouring the water and placing them on a medium heat. Add some salt – I added 1 tablespoon. It’ll take around 20 minutes until they become soft and ready to be mashed.
Now, pour the flour and breadcrumbs onto two separate plates, and crack the eggs into a small bowl, beating them with a fork. Then heat the oil in a large frying pan before you start coating the meat. Coat the first piece of meat in flour, making sure it is well covered, and shake off any excess. Next, dip it into the egg, coating it all over, and then press it into the breadcrumbs. Once this is done, the oil should be hot enough, so carefully place the first breaded piece of meat into the pan. Repeat the same process with the second piece and add it to the pan as well. Fry the meat for 2–3 minutes on one side, then flip it and fry for another 2 minutes. Repeat this once more, so the meat fries twice on each side for 2–3 minutes each time. When the meat is fried, turn the heat off.
The potatoes should be soft now. Drain the potatoes and place them in the pot they were cooked in. Add a tablespoon of cream and start mashing them; the cream will make them very fluffy and pleasant in texture. Place the cutlets and mashed potatoes on a plate. In Poland, the potatoes are most often sprinkled with dill and drizzled with the hot oil from the pan in which the meat was fried. Add the sauerkraut, and you have a traditional Polish meal ready to serve.
