Bear Paw Meanderings
Share
Tweet
I was at the Big Sandy Senior Citizens Center the other day and the cooks were working on Polish sausage and sauerkraut for lunch that day. I had not thought about that dish for years and it looked simply wonderful.
It brought back memories of my father cooking at one cabin or another on Clear Creek and one of his main dishes was spare ribs and sauerkraut cooked with apples, brown sugar and onions. He cooked that dish most all day in an old Majestic Range in an oven that was not high at all. It turned out great. Matter of fact I am going to turn that meal into a crock pot meal this weekend and just experiment seeing if I can get the quality of meal that Dad had when he cooked that dish.
All that reminded me about what were years ago, very inexpensive cuts of meat to buy and cook with. Spare ribs were almost given away and so was brisket.
I can remember going into the back door of the Kennedy Deaconess Hospital time after time (we must have had a lot of sick people we were visiting or rather mother did and I tagged along, not willing, mind you.) Anyway at any given day going into the back door of that hospital the smell was always corn beef and cabbage. It was as cheap a meal as could be had and it had some very good qualities about it that made it served often.
Well, what happened to make those very inexpensive cuts of meat, some of the most expensive of all these days.
I can tell you in one word. Barbecue!
People started barbecuing meats and those cuts were some of the very best flavored when barbecued.
I know. I was one of those. For me, gone were the days of ribs and kraut and in were rubs and spices which have just gotten more popular all the time. I cook barbecued ribs maybe four times a year and it has become a science for me, using my own rub, my mother’s sauce and eight hours of slow cooking time.
So, I had forgotten about those wonderful meals of kraut and ribs or kraut and Polish sausage, the sausage or ribs nestled between mounds of flavored sauerkraut. Maybe there were potatoes nestled in there as well or maybe the entire mess was served with mashed potatoes.
I am bringing back those meals in my house. I will be experimenting and have a recipe for you all sometime this fall. Meantime, what a joy to get back to old time cooking even though it is no longer inexpensive. It is still wonderful!
