This vinegar keeps well for up to 6 months, and as the bottle goes down you can top it up with more vinegar to keep it going.
ALSO TRY:
THYME VINEGAR
1 strip of unwaxed lemon zest
10 sprigs of fresh thyme
750ml white wine vinegar (this also works well with cider vinegar)
Follow the recipe above.
ROSEMARY VINEGAR
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
750ml white wine vinegar
Follow the recipe above.
ELDERBERRY AND JUNIPER PRESERVE
This is my take on a traditional Bavarian woodland sauce, often served with game or duck and goose. I actually also quite enjoy it with chicken, which I cook far more often than the aforementioned. Although the recipe was originally intended as something to sweeten and lift meals that revolved around meat, I use it as you would any other condiment, that is to say on porridge, toast and mixed into yogurt; it is also very good with cold meats and cheeses.
My preferred way of making sweet preserves is in the oven, because it takes away the stress of setting point – this juniper-spiked preserve is not set like a jam or jelly but more like a syrupy compote in consistency.
The beauty of this sauce is that it can use any hedgerow or woodland fruit that appears at the same time. Blackberries, plums, blueberries and damsons could all replace the elderberries here, just as apples could replace the pears – indeed, you could even make this out of a combination of the lot.
MAKES ABOUT 600ML
You will need a large, high-sided baking tray and some jars
500g pears, peeled and chopped into small chunks
500g elderberries, carefully taken off their stems
200g light brown sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
10 juniper berries, crushed
Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.
In a large bowl, toss the fruit together with the sugar, red wine vinegar, lemon juice and juniper berries. Tip into a large, high-sided baking tray and bake in the oven for 45–55 minutes, stirring twice during cooking, until the juices don’t immediately run back when a wooden spoon is dragged through the pan. Keep an eye on the fruit in the last 15 minutes, as it can catch on top slightly, in which case it may need covering loosely with foil – loosely is important because you still want to be able to let the steam out.
Pot immediately into warm, sterilised glass jars, seal and store in a cool, dark place.
This will keep well for up to 6 months, unopened. Store in the fridge once opened and use within 3 weeks.
Note: All fruit used for this must be optimally ripe, otherwise it won’t break down and soften.
SAUERKRAUT
SAUERKRAUT
Of course it would only be right to include a sauerkraut recipe in this book, as I, along with many other Germans, have fond feelings for the stuff.
Mass-produced kraut is so cheap today that more people eat it ready-made than homemade. Of course it’s a shame for many reasons, health benefits included, but taking into account the modern-day time constraints of many, it’s hardly surprising – I too have jars of it on the shelves for ease when cooking, reserving the homemade kraut for eating raw.
Fermentation is one of the oldest food-preserving techniques, a completely natural process that connects us to life and culture, for they are at its very heart. It doesn’t take much to make a small batch of kraut, in fact I often think of the fermentation process more as an act of wizardry than anything else. After your initial input the bacteria and yeasts in the air do the rest of the work for you; all you have to do is wait.
Small-batch sauerkraut-making is fun and very easy, the end result without a doubt being far greater than the sum of its parts. Although fermentation has gained some popularity again over the last decade, it is still to my mind a process that is not practised enough, and I urge you to try it, to see just how easy and superior in taste it is to the commercially produced stuff. It only takes around 15 minutes to prepare – give it a go.
It’s probably worth mentioning too that homemade kraut is good for you. I won’t delve too deeply into the science of it all, but in a nutshell foods become more nutritious and digestible once fermented. Micro-organisms in the air convert sugars and starch within fruits and vegetables into lactic acid, breaking them down, thus making them easier to digest – this lactic acid acts as the ‘preserver’ as well as giving the cabbage that distinct ‘sour’ flavour that sauerkraut is renowned for. Good bacteria (known as probiotics) flourish under the fermentation process – when we eat foods high in probiotics they enhance the bacteria already in our gut, benefiting the digestive system and strengthening our immune system. Commercially produced sauerkraut on supermarket shelves is pasteurised, which kills off the naturally occurring probiotics, and while this kraut may still be tasty it doesn’t have the same health benefits as a homemade ferment.
This recipe is the most basic and simple sauerkraut recipe to start you off, but you can vary it by adding different herbs, spices and vegetables if you want a more complex flavour. For example, I like my green kraut made with caraway seeds, and if I am making red kraut I use juniper berries.
MAKES ABOUT 750ML
You will need a 1 litre preserving jar, and a smaller lidded jar that fits inside
1 medium white cabbage (about 1.2kg)
2½–3 teaspoons fine sea salt
Cut the cabbage in half and slice it into 2mm strips. I would avoid using a food processor here if you can, as the quality of the kraut is far superior when chopped by hand.
Place the shredded cabbage in a ceramic bowl, sprinkling it with salt as you go. Scrunch the cabbage between your fingers, massaging it to release some of the liquid within the leaves. It may not look like it, but after about 10 minutes you should have enough brine at the bottom of the bowl to completely cover the cabbage once it is jarred up.
Pack the cabbage into a sterilised 1 litre jar, a little at a time, pressing it down with your fist or a wooden kitchen implement as you go, ensuring that the brine rises to the surface. Continue this until all the cabbage is used up. If any brine remains in the bowl, pour this into the jar. Fill the smaller jar with water and seal, then place this jar on top of the cabbage to weigh it down, ensuring that the cabbage is covered by brine at all times and preventing any bits from floating up to the surface.
Cover the two jars with a clean tea towel and set aside to ferment in a cool, airy place for anything from 5 days up to 2 weeks.
Taste the kraut after 5 days. At this stage it will be a young kraut – I prefer my kraut young, probably around the 7-day mark, but if you enjoy a stronger fermented flavour, leave it for longer. Remove the small jar when you are satisfied with the flavour of your kraut. Seal the 1 litre jar and store in the fridge.
The kraut will keep well for up to a year, stored in the fridge or a very cool, dark cellar, but if you are only making one jar I doubt it will be hanging around for that long.
VARIATIONS:
Add 1 teaspoon caraway seeds to the cabbage before you start the scrunching process, then follow the recipe as above.
Add 2 tablespoons roughly torn fresh dill fronds (this is especially good