Home recipe kuchnia polska

Kwaśnica

Name: Kwaśnica
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 100 min
Total time: 120 min
Cuisine: kuchnia polska
Ingredients: 400 g raw pork ribs (with bones); 200 g smoked ribs (or smoked bones); 150 g smoked bacon (raw or cooked); 1.5 l cold water; 400 g sauerkraut (with juice, without rinsing); 250 ml sauerkraut juice (optional, for a more sour soup); 2 pcs dried porcini mushrooms (optional, can use other mushrooms); 3 cloves garlic (sliced thin); 2 pcs bay leaf; 3 pcs allspice (whole berries); 1 tsp dried marjoram; ½ tsp caraway (ground or whole); ½ tsp black pepper; salt (only at the end, if needed); 600 g potatoes (weight before peeling); salt (for the water)

A traditional mountain soup from Podhale made with sauerkraut and its juice, cooked with raw and smoked ribs, garlic, marjoram, and potatoes boiled separately. This dish differs from kapuśniak (cabbage soup) in its preparation and ingredients.

Servings: 4 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 40 min
Total time: 2 h
Difficulty: Easy

Kwaśnica w białym talerzu: klarowny wywar z kiszoną kapustą, wędzonym mięsem, ziemniakiem i liściem laurowym

The story behind the recipe

Wanda Czubernatowa in her book "Góralskie jadło na co dzień i od święta" (2008) calls kwaśnica the basic and most well-known soup of the Podhale people. Kwaśnica also refers to the juice from the barrel where cabbage is fermented: "raw kwaśnica from the barrel" can be the base for the soup. In Małopolska, this juice is also called kapuśniorka, and housewives from the Łąck region would add water to it when scooping from the barrel, thus creating a new kwaśnica. In Podhale, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, people mainly ate potatoes, cabbage, broad beans, and carp, while lamb, pork, and beef were reserved for special occasions. Lamb was smoked and hung for the entire winter in a spyrnik or attic, from where a piece could be cut off at any time to make kwaśnica. Czubernatowa writes: "All of Podkarpacie knew this divine gift, and every housewife brewed it in her own way, according to the richness of her pantry."

How does kwaśnica differ from kapuśniak? According to Czubernatowa, it is essentially a clear soup, where the liquid predominates and there is little cabbage floating. Ania Gotuje adds cabbage along with all the juice, without rinsing or chopping, and does not include carrots, parsley, or celery, boiling the potatoes separately. Kapuśniak, according to her, has less cabbage, usually chopped, without juice, and a sweet-sour taste from the vegetables. Kwestia Smaku calls kwaśnica a mountain kapuśniak without vegetables, except for potatoes, but with smoked ribs. However, sources are not consistent: a recipe from Małopolska published by RMF24 includes carrots, parsley, celery, and a roux, while the description of kwaśnica on the ministerial list mentions carrots. Therefore, it is not clear where the boundary lies, and kwaśnica is cooked in many ways.

Kwaśnica has been on the Ministry of Agriculture's List of Traditional Products since 2006, registered from the Silesian Voivodeship. The list describes it as a clear broth made from sauerkraut and pork, with potatoes and garlic, tasting from slightly to strongly sour, salty, and spicy, served as a main dish, and notes that it was sometimes cooked with lamb. Among the Małopolska entries, kwaśnica is not listed, but related dishes are: cabbage in the mountain style and kapuśniorka with mushrooms from the Łąck region. Czubernatowa provides twenty recipes for kwaśnica: fasting and Christmas versions (lean, with flaxseed oil, with mushrooms, with cream) and meaty ones, also with smoked meats, beef tail, or marrow bones. In Żywiecczyzna, it is said that kwaśnica is eaten on Christmas Eve made with fish heads.

Ingredients

Meat

400 g raw pork ribs (with bones)
Abroad: USA and UK: pork spare ribs
200 g smoked ribs (or smoked bones)
Abroad: Germany: Kasseler; USA and UK: smoked pork spare ribs
150 g smoked bacon (raw or cooked)
Abroad: USA: slab bacon; UK: smoked streaky bacon; Germany: Bauchspeck geräuchert
1.5 l cold water

Soup

400 g sauerkraut (with juice, without rinsing)
Abroad: UK: Krakus Sauerkraut (Morrisons); USA: Silver Floss Barrel Cured Sauerkraut; ingredients: cabbage, water, salt, without vinegar
250 ml sauerkraut juice (optional, for a more sour soup)
Abroad: Germany and Austria: Sauerkrautsaft (Biotta, Schoenenberger)
2 pcs dried porcini mushrooms (optional, can use other mushrooms)
Abroad: dried porcini; Germany: getrocknete Steinpilze
3 cloves garlic (sliced thin)
2 pcs bay leaf
3 pcs allspice (whole berries)
1 tsp (5 ml) dried marjoram
Abroad: marjoram; Germany: Majoran
½ tsp (about 1.5 g) caraway (ground or whole)
Abroad: caraway seeds; Germany: Kümmel; not cumin
½ tsp (2.5 ml) black pepper
salt (only at the end, if needed)

Potatoes

600 g potatoes (weight before peeling)
salt (for the water)

Method, step by step

Cut the raw ribs into pieces between the bones with one bone each. Place them in a pot with a capacity of at least 4 liters, pour in 1.5 liters of cold water, and bring to a boil covered over medium heat. You can skim off the foam with a spoon. Once the water boils, add the bay leaves and allspice, cover, and simmer on low heat for 40–50 minutes until the meat is tender.
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes, cut them as for soup, and cook until tender in a separate pot of salted water. Drain them, but do not pour out all the water immediately: it will be useful if the soup turns out too thick or too sour.
Remove the ribs from the broth, separate the meat from the bones, and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Return the meat to the pot.
Add pepper and dried porcini mushrooms. Cut the smoked ribs and bacon into cubes and add them to the soup. If the bacon has skin, cut it off and place it in the pot in one piece, removing it before serving. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add the sauerkraut along with all the juice. Do not rinse, squeeze, or chop it. If you like a very sour soup, also add the sauerkraut juice. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat so that the soup just simmers, cover, and cook for 30–40 minutes until the cabbage is tender.
Add marjoram, caraway, and sliced garlic. Stir and cook for another 10 minutes covered.
Taste the soup. Only now decide on the salt, as the cabbage and smoked meats have already contributed their saltiness. If the soup is too thick or too sour, add a bit of the water from the potatoes. Remove the skin from the bacon and smoked bones if you added them.
Add the cooked potatoes to the hot soup just before serving or serve them separately on a plate. Serve kwaśnica hot, on its own or with bread.

Tips

Cabbage should not be rinsed. It is what makes this soup. Ania Gotuje adds cabbage along with the juice, does not squeeze it, rinse it, or chop it. A good kwaśnica should be very sour, and the fat from the meat should be 'bitten' by the sourness of the cabbage.

What kind of cabbage. Traditionally fermented cabbage, with just salt. Cabbage fermented with vinegar is very light, almost white, and lacks the taste of fermented cabbage.

Not sour enough. Add juice from sauerkraut. In the past, the base of kwaśnica was often just the juice from the barrel.

Too sour or too thick. Add a bit of the water in which the potatoes were boiled.

Too salty. Smoked meats and cabbage are salty, so salt is only added at the end, after tasting. Ania Gotuje often does not add it at all.

Too fatty. Don’t overdo it with fatty ribs and bacon. Ania Gotuje uses only garlic instead of onion fried in lard to keep the soup from being too fatty.

Kwaśnica vs. kapuśniak on our site. Our kapuśniak is cooked in a broth with vegetables, with a roux and potatoes in the soup, and the cabbage is rinsed if it is very sour. Here, there are no root vegetables or roux, the cabbage goes in with the juice, and the potatoes are cooked separately.

Variations. Kwestia Smaku cooks potatoes in the soup, and bacon is recommended to be fried beforehand and added along with the rendered fat. Ania Gotuje allows for smoked sausage added with the cabbage and onion fried in lard, bacon, or pork belly, and some add cracklings. The version from RMF24 includes carrots, parsley, celery, and a light roux made from butter and flour. Czubernatowa also cooks kwaśnica with lamb ribs, with a liter of water and a liter of cabbage juice, seasoning the lamb with pepper, ground juniper, and raw garlic.

What to serve with. Hot, on its own or with bread. Potatoes can be added to the soup just before serving or served separately on a plate. Czubernatowa recommends mashed potatoes with cracklings for lamb kwaśnica.

Storage. According to the USDA, cooked soup can be kept in the fridge for 3–4 days, and in the freezer, it retains the best quality for about 2–6 months. Reheat the soup to a boil. Keep the potatoes separate.

Abroad. In the UK, Morrisons has Polish Krakus Sauerkraut, in the USA Silver Floss Barrel Cured Sauerkraut. Look for cabbage that contains only cabbage, water, and salt (cabbage, water, salt), without vinegar. Sauerkraut juice in Germany and Austria is Sauerkrautsaft, for example, Biotta or Schoenenberger, available in pharmacies, Reformhaus stores, and organic shops. In other countries, juice from raw cabbage packaging is sufficient. Smoked ribs in Germany are Kasseler, in the USA and the UK smoked pork spare ribs. Dried porcini mushrooms are dried porcini; in Germany, getrocknete Steinpilze. Caraway is caraway seeds; in Germany, Kümmel: do not confuse it with cumin.

Photos

Kwaśnica z kapustą, ziemniakiem, suszonymi grzybami i mięsem w gospodzie w Łącku, obok pieczywo w koszyku

Domowa kwaśnica z kiszoną kapustą i kostkami boczku w talerzu, widok z góry

Dawna drewniana beczka do kiszenia kapusty z szatkownicą i kamieniem do obciążania, w Muzeum Bambrów Poznańskich

Soups Polish cuisine Highlander cuisine Substitutes abroad

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