Kapustnica: Slovak sauerkraut soup cooking and storage

• Meatless kapustnica with dried mushrooms and prunes – about 1 hour 20 minutes: cook the sauerkraut with the spices for 30 minutes, then with the mushrooms and prunes for another 20 minutes, and finally with the roux for 10 minutes.
• Christmas kapustnica with smoked meat and sausage – about 1 hour 50 minutes: first cook the smoked meat on its own for 45 minutes, then for 30 minutes with the sauerkraut and mushrooms, 10 minutes with the sausage, and finally 5 minutes with the roux.
• Kapustnica with sausage, mushrooms, and potatoes – about 2 hours: cook the sauerkraut with the sausage for an hour and a half, then add the mushrooms and potatoes and cook until the potatoes are tender.

For kapustnica made with meat, let the meat determine when it is ready: it should pull away easily from the bones. The sauerkraut should be tender but still hold its shape.

Two of our kapustnica recipes are thickened with a light roux, a cooked flour-and-fat mixture, with paprika. The version with sausage and potatoes is not thickened with flour; the potatoes make it thick. When making the roux, remove it from the heat before stirring in the paprika, then immediately add a ladleful of soup. Otherwise, the paprika will turn bitter.

Add sour cream to individual bowls when serving, or stir a little hot soup into it and pour it into the pot at the very end. After that, only warm the kapustnica gently so the sour cream does not curdle.

• Reserve the sauerkraut brine first, then add it to taste at the end.
• Briefly boil very salty smoked meat in a separate pot of water, then discard that water.
• Add salt only at the end; the sausage, smoked meat, and sauerkraut all add salt to the soup.
• Cut long strands of sauerkraut with a knife to make the soup easier to ladle.
• If the sauerkraut is already seasoned with caraway seeds or bay leaves, do not add caraway seeds to the soup.

Kapustnica tastes better the next day, once the flavors have melded, so feel free to make it on December 23. If you plan to use sour cream, stir it in only when reheating. Let the cooked soup cool and refrigerate it within 2 hours at the latest.

According to the cold food storage chart on the U.S. website FoodSafety.gov, soups with meat or vegetables keep for 3–4 days in the refrigerator at 4 °C (40 °F) or below and 2–3 months in the freezer at −18 °C (0 °F). Freeze kapustnica without sour cream, and add the sour cream when reheating after thawing. Always reheat the soup until it comes to a boil before serving.

• Christmas kapustnica with smoked meat and sausage
• Christmas kapustnica with dried mushrooms and prunes (meatless)
• Kapustnica with sausage, mushrooms, and potatoes

After kapustnica comes breaded fried carp with potato salad. Find the full menu in our Christmas Eve dinner collection.