From the Kitchen of: Jessica Brainard
“All of my Great-Grandparents and Grandparents would have friends over on New Year’s Eve and serve the Sauerkraut and Pork at Midnight. It was to bring you Good Luck for the New Year. I remember as a kid I would hate the smell of kraut cooking.” –Recipe From the Kitchen of Grandma Gregory
Note: They used to eat this because the fat from the pork would soak up the alcohol in their stomach and they wouldn’t be hung over for the first day of the New Year. My family now makes this on New Year’s Day.-Jessica
Ingredients:
1 jar of Sauerkraut
Pork Steak or Country Style Ribs. You need fatty pork-like spare ribs or pork steak.
1-Green Granny Smith apple shredded. (1 per jar)
Caraway Seed sprinkle maybe 1/2 tea-spoon in a pot of kraut. It doesn’t take much. Optional (this helps with the constipation you will have the next day my grandma says)
Rinse the apple and shred it with a grater.Drain the kraut and add it to a clear glass baking pan. Add the apple and caraway seed. Mix together. Rinse the pork then season it with garlic powder, minced garlic and pepper. NO SALT. Put pork on top of kraut. The longer you bake this the better it is. My Grandma used to bake it until it would be golden brown. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and then turn down the oven to 200-250 degrees and bake all day. Sometimes I put the kraut on in the evening and bake it all night at 200 degrees. Check every now and then to see if you need to drain some of the liquid out of the pot, so it won’t over flow.
Serve the pork with mashed potatoes, gravy, and a roll.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
10 russet potatoes skinned
1/4 cup of milk or to the thickness you like
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Rinse the potatoes and peel. Slice the potatoes length wise, then into cubes. Fill a large stockpot with water and add the potatoes let the potatoes sit for a few minutes and pour the starchy water out then add more water and bring to a boil. Strain potatoes in the collander. Blend the potatoes with a hand mixer and add milk, butter, salt, pepper. Blend some more. Taste, add more butter, salt and pepper. Serve with gravy.
Mixing Food 