Sauerkraut is extremely dependent upon preparation.
My mother made sauerkraut regularly when I was growing up. If it is cooked for a looooong time, some of the compounds responsible for the sour/bitter sharpness break down, making it much more mild. Also, given enough time at temperature, some of the carbohydrates in it caramelize and undergo Maiilard reactions (the same reactions which make browned meat, toasted bread, and chocolate taste good). Finally, my mother usually put it in a baking dish with a roast or ham. The sauerkraut would absorb some of the fats and juices from the meat, adding those notes to its flavor profile.
Prepared as my Mom did, sauerkraut can be quite tasty. That being said, it is very rare to find sauerkraut prepared as my Mother made it, and in its usual forms it is fairly nasty.
I agree. My mother was born in Mississippi and she grew up eating those things. She left Mississippi at age 9 when the family moved to Maryland, so if I remember correctly, that was the last time she had access to chitterlings. Of course, they were available in Maryland, but not as they had been in the Deep South. She tried to serve that crap by force for dinner one night when I was about 8 or 9 years old. My stepfather, who was from Pennsylvania, led the rebellion by not only refusing to try them, he also left the house due to the foul stench omitted when she began “cleaning” them and cooking them. The entire process took about 4 to 6 hours, and she was the only person in the family who enjoyed it. My siblings and I also opted out, after taking the mandatory one bite. She reasoned that we wouldn’t really know whether or not we’d like them until or unless we took at least one bite. She was wrong. The one bite I took merely reinforced for me that I didn’t want entrails in my mouth. Yuck!
This post was edited by Randy D at December 21, 2019 8:15 AM MST
Your family lived or lives a lot closer to me than I thought. Anywho, my mom is also from the south and she stopped eating that stuff a long time ago. The memory of putting that stuff in my mouth will haunt me forever.
My mother‘s family moved from Maryland just prior to her high school years, never to return, not even to visit. As far as I know, since they moved away, we no longer have family members there. I was born and raised in the Midwest.
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This post was edited by Randy D at December 21, 2019 8:15 AM MST
my2cents 