This was our first Home Farm Christmas, and a holly jolly one it was, too. We managed to cram in a visit with nearly everyone on both sides of the family... involving lots of driving, lots of gifting, and of course plenty of good food! And this year our kids were blessed with a storybook Christmas day; up early with cocoa and cinnamon buns baking sweetly, music and lights and stocking stuffers, wrapping paper everywhere for the cat to play in, and then bundle into the 'Burban for a short drive to the grandparent's house where we did it all over again! Presents to share, turkey with the works, movies and snacks and board games - then repeat 'til everyone is dozing, plump and cozy with Christmas cheer.
As with many family gatherings, ours had one fly in the ointment, so to speak. A short altercation that left everyone suddenly uncomfortable and baffled. It made me think of sauerkraut.
See, here on Home Farm I like to try out the old fashioned way of doing things... a lot of my kitchen gadgets are hand-crank rather than plug-in; if I can grow it or make it I'd rather do that than buy it; I'm the one building a wood-fired oven outside instead of getting a new convection oven for inside, and ripping out my easy-care laminate flooring in favor of re-purposed barn wood flooring. So when it comes to cooking, I like to look to the old wisdom for food preservation, and those simple and delicious recipes of yesteryear. Since moving here to what seems to be the Ukrainian culture belt of Alberta, I've been introduced to Ukrainian sour cabbage rolls. Now, I'm no stranger to cabbage rolls, but our family's Polish background sees us stuffing fresh cabbage leaves with lots of meat, then baking the hearty morsels in a tomato sauce. The sour-style that I've become hopelessly addicted to involve using a whole cabbage that has been fermented, stuffing the leaves with mostly rice, and simmering them in plain water. Sounds dull. Not at all! The rice goes all creamy and salty and delicious, the sauerkraut has a perfect amount of sauer flavour... well, when I make a batch, that's all I eat until they're gone. Three meals a day, I have to have them. Words cannot describe the utter perfection of this dish!
However, those whole sauered cabbages run a pretty penny in our little town. We're talking $10 - $15 for ONE. And it takes a whole one for one batch of the rolls. That is a hard bite to swallow. Naturally, I would have to ferment my own cabbages.
Actually, the process is simple, and I have successfully made traditional shredded sauerkraut in the past. To ferment whole cabbages, one must first grow them (the growing is easy... the shooing away of rabbits, cabbage butterflies and deer - not so much), cut out the stem and core and fill the cavity with pickling salt, then one uses one's great grandfather's Medalta crock to cram the whole cabbages into, add spices if desired, and top with spring water. Put a weight in to hold the veg under the water, which slowly becomes a vinegary tasting brine which preserves the food. Pretty much any vegetables can do this, thanks to naturally occurring lactic microbial organisms which convert the sugars in the vegetables into lactic acid, which in turn makes an environment too acidic for evil spoilage bacteria to multiply. In a few weeks, ta daaa! Delicious pickledey veggies!
So, earlier this fall I did just that, and I did a jar of fresh cucumbers for good measure, deciding that if, in fact, they tasted good I would abandon the modern pickle method, since lacto-fermented cukes are infinitely faster and easier to make. And beautiful - check out the jar all ready for storage:
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| by the way, this is an enormous jar filled with large mature cucumbers... that's a horseradish leaf on top, and in the end they were yucky. But I'll likely try again anyway, with little pickling cukes and a different recipe |
But I blew it. Let the proverbial fly get into the ointment. Or, more literally, let the yeast get into the brine.
I had a real hankering for some good sour dough rye bread, so I whipped up a batch of sour dough starter and set it in the pantry to do its thing. That yeast, it's a tricky devil. Always looking for a warm, moist environment to set up shop. And while salt is its kryptonite, it's not too fussy about a mildly acidic liquid like, say, a newly-fermenting crock of cabbages. And while my darling lacto bacteria will make my food tasty, crunchy and safely preserved, that sneaky yeast spore would rather turn the whole thing into alcohol and grow a slimy white goo and make my veggies into stinky mush.
I think you can figure out what happened. My cabbages fell in with a bad crowd.
However! All was not lost... since I was diligently checking progress in the crock, I saw the telltale signs of contamination right away. Now I was faced with a choice - try to skim off the foam, let the cabbages soak, and hope for the best? Or was the whole batch already garbage?
I decided to salvage the good stuff, and discard the bad. Rinsed off my cabbages, which were still crunchy and delicious-smelling, packed them in the freezer to keep for later, and then poured out the ruined brine and sanitized the crock.
Which brings me back to Christmas. On my beautiful Christmas day, there was suddenly an unwanted conflict that threatened to spoil the entire experience. Would I let it fester and bubble until my memories were turned to stinky mush? I always have a choice. Instead, thanks to the power of God and His wisdom, I can dump the bad stuff down the drain and keep the joy of the day safe in my heart and mind, to be brought out and enjoyed over and over.
It's possible there was a little yeast spore in the brine of your holidays this year, too. I encourage you to sanitize the "crock" of your mind. You can choose what to dwell on; what will fester and stink, or what will be preserved forever.
Don't despair!! Here's my Ukrainian Sour Cabbage Roll recipe:
Saute 10 slices of bacon, diced. Add one large onion, chopped, to the bacon fat and saute 'til soft and just turning golden. Add 2 Tblsp dried dill and 2 cups cooked short-grain rice (like Arborio, or even sushi rice). Depending on the saltiness of your bacon, you may want to add a little more salt. Using a whole sauered cabbage, roll a spoonful of the rice mixture in each leaf. (This is difficult to describe - if you've never done it, or seen it done, there are lots of videos online demonstrating the technique) Pack the rolls in layers in an oven safe dish or Dutch oven. Combine 2/3 cup water and 1/3 cup vegetable oil, pour over the rolls. Bake at 325* for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. These can also be rolled, set on parchment paper and frozen unbaked. Layer and bake from frozen. Enjoy!
Guess what I'm making for supper... ;)
How did the dumping of the bad stuff go, and are all parties involved decontaminated now? Curiosity, curiosity. Interested to hear how the whole cabbage fermentation goes this year........
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