Last night kicked off the Preserving Mountain Flavors Cooking Class I’m co-teaching at the John C. Campbell Folk School. It’s going to be a great class-one of the students is a Blind Pig reader-all the way from Oklahoma!
I enjoyed meeting her so much- it made me wish all of you could be there too. Since you can’t-I’ll tell you a little about what were cooking in case you want to give it a try.
For our first class session we made Kraut. We made it 2 ways:
I’ve written about both ways before-you can click on the links above to see the details.
Tomorrow’s menu: Jam and cake!
Tipper
I know you are enjoying every second!!!
I’d love to be sitting watching all the great cooking you all are doing, Tipper. I don’t cook much anymore, but I know it would be fun to watch and enjoy the odors of the food cooking. Hope you are well.
I tried two small batches of kraut in a jar(my first time ever making kraut, I never liked kraut until I tried Granny’s kraut in a jar) last year and loved it (ease of making it and the flavor)which you control the sourness of it most kraut is too sour for me but I let the first batck ferment for 3 weeks and the second batch 2 weeks. The 2 week batch was my favorite.
So very jealous! We get the catalog from Campbell as we’d both like to take classes there. Saw that you would be there, and really had hoped to make it. Trying to match Jim’s bluegrass guitar with all my hobbies/ interests has proven to be difficult. One of these days… Hope you have a WONDERFUL time!
My precious 86 year old daddy made kraut in jars, two at a time. I figured he’d die of food poisoning at some juncture, but he didn’t.
I am looking froward to your post!! Wish I was there to show your students how to make turnip kraut! LOL
Tipper,
Bill and NCMountain Woman….I’ve heard my Dad and Mom speak of the tonic value of Kraut juice….We all ought to get together and make some bottles of it and sell out there in the land of fruit and nuts….Myownself loves pickle juice…My doctor don’t like the idear of the salt though….LOL
Thanks Tipper….Did the class go good today….hope so…
Oops! That was river ROCK!
When I was a child, it was my job to find and scrub a big flat river. That was put on a cheese cloth and held down the cabbage. Without fail, every time I brought it in my momma told me to scrub it a little more. Little did I know then it was to keep me busy longer.
I didn’t like the kraut then and don’t care much for it now but it brings fond memories of my mother. I know people who drank kraut juice and swore it was a wonderful tonic.
Sounds like a wonderful class:)
Tipper,
I hope you have a great week with your students at the Folk School. If I had know about your class, I would have loved to take it. Making kraut sounds super. I recall Mama used to make it in a churning jar. Sounds like an awesome class. Wish I were taking it, too.
Oh how I wish I could take your class!
One day I’m spending a week up there at the folk school, but I’m probably going to have to wait until my children are not so small. It’s my dream though!
I’m glad the class is going well Tipper! Good luck!!
Tipper, I would love to have half of your energy! How do you find time to do so much? Wish I could be there for your classes.
Ed, Mom also used a tin can to make kraut, but I don’t think she punched holes in the bottom. What was the purpose of the holes? The rim was as sharp as a knife. Maybe it was the type of metal used in those days or the way the can opener opened it that made those cans so dangerously sharp.
We’re excited about your class. Keep up the good work!
Wish I could be there for some of those. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what all ya’ll come up with. I’m always looking to expand my list of things to try. 🙂
I’m not a kraut lover, but I can’t wait until tomorrow’s post. I have never done jam.
Best Kraut I ever ate was made in a Crock, my Mom cut her cabbage on a Kut Kleen Salad maker marketed by DeHart Mfg., Winston-Salem, NC. The only reason we had this wonderful machine was that my Great Uncle was a Co-Owner of the company and had designed and patented the suction base. After chopping the cabbage Mom placed it in the crock, added salt and water, placed a small plate bottom up with a well scrubbed rock on the plate to keep the cabbage submerged, tied a clean piece of cheese cloth over the crock and let it ferment. The kraut was wonderful either raw or cooked. Sometimes Mom would cut hot-dogs up in the kraut but one of my favorites was kraut dumplings. Mom would cook Pork Spare Ribs, add kraut and bring back to a boil then drop dumplings into the mixture. I have found that this may be an acquired taste as my wife doesn’t particularly care for the taste but I love it. I always foud that as good as the kraut was my favorite was a small glass of vintage kraut juice well chilled. Make sure this is a small glass though since over indulgence may cause a better purge of your G.I. Tract than Ex-Lax ever could. Thanks for keeping the memories alive and reminding us that even though we had little money we were still rich in ways many will never know. Nothing beats “Country Cookin”.
My favorite for cutting cabbage for kraut is a chopping board and a big SHARP knife. That’s with the emphasis on sharp. The Deer Hunter and I can cut up a bag of cabbage in no time with Tipper carrying it away as we cut. It’s way more fun with two or three people working.
I love working with Tipper and the Deer Hunter because they are both very efficient and with the Deer Hunter around you can count on a sharp knife! lol
When I was a kid, we made kraut in a jar.
Very similar to Pap and Granny’s method.
Never tried making it in a crock.
Oh how I’d love to be there, Tipper! You are the best! The John C, Campbell school is packed with wonderful classes. Someday I’d love to go there… and I will!
Tipper,
Hope all your classes go well this week…I sure wish I could have been there…I don’t make kraut anymore but I would love to see how you do it and pass the instructions on to my children…I didn’t think my boys would can pickles or peppers but they tried it and love it, making some of the best I ever ate…also some great pepper jam…Nope, their wives don’t care a thing about canning…LOL
I’d love some of that cake…Is it a Jam cake? or is it making Jam and cake?
If the person from Oklahoma comments on the Blind Pig…she/he will have to do so when she gets back home…
Thanks Tipper,
Oh how I’d love to be there! Maybe someday.
Wish I could be there. Sounds like alot of fun.
using a can to chop reminds me of my mom’s biscuit cutter — my dad cut the end off a small can and welded a handle made of a strip from the discarded can. She used that until it came apart after many years.
Sounds like lots of fun!
Have you ever seen cabbage for kraut chopped up using cut off 15 oz.tin can with holes punched in the bottom?
Mommy would cut her cabbage in 1/8ths into a Texasware like bowl and chop it as fine as she needed with that can. Grandma Cora had a regular chopper like a Mezzaluna but Mommy’s tin can worked just as well. I made my own and it works good for me to make coleslaw. I ain’t made no kraut yet.
I tried a Mezzaluna chopper but spent most of my time picking out cabbage that was stuck between the blades. I gave the dang thang away.
Mommy would make kraut in quart jars and her butter churn when she didn’t need it to make butter. She also made the worlds best buttermilk in either.
That tin can will also cut out some big old cathead biskets, too.