Name: Bigly Sausage and Sauerkraut
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lbs (about 6 links) bratwurst or kielbasa sausages; 2 lbs (about 4 cups) sauerkraut; 1 large yellow onion, sliced; 1 (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp) tart apple, cored and sliced; 3 garlic cloves, smashed; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp caraway seeds; 4-5 juniper berries; 2 tbsp Dijon mustard; 1 cup light lager or pilsner; 1 tbsp neutral oil; to taste kosher salt; to taste freshly ground black pepper

Bigly Sausage and Sauerkraut

Prep

15m

Cook

45m

Total

60m

Bigly says

Sausage and sauerkraut. Sausage and sauerkraut! Many people don't know this — and I had people look it up, very smart people, the smartest — but sausage and sauerkraut might be the most underrated one-pot dinner in the entire Western Hemisphere. The Germans have been doing this for centuries. The Poles. The Alsatians. Even New Jersey does this well, and NOBODY talks about it. There's a place in a strip mall in Trenton that serves this dish, you'd walk past it forty times before going in, and inside they're making a sausage and kraut that could end wars.

Here's the thing nobody appreciates about sauerkraut. People think it's just sour cabbage in a jar. It is NOT. It is fermented, it is alive, it is full of complexity, it is medicine — old people in the mountains ate sauerkraut every day and they lived to 110, that's just a fact, look it up, statisticians have run the numbers. The acid cuts the fat of the sausage. The fat of the sausage tames the acid of the kraut. They're a couple. They're a team. They were MADE for each other. To eat one without the other is to misunderstand the universe.

Now we're going to do this the right way. We're going to rinse the kraut — don't skip this, please, the brine straight out of the jar is too aggressive, you rinse it, you drain it, you let it go in the pot soft and ready to receive flavor. We're going to brown the sausages first because BROWN BITS ARE THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE. We're going to add apple, and onion, and caraway, and a splash of beer, and we're going to let the whole thing get acquainted in the oven. That's it. That's the trick. Some chefs make this hard. It is not hard. It is honest food and honest food is the best food.

Ingredients

1.5 lbs (about 6 links)bratwurst or kielbasa sausages(fresh bratwurst, smoked kielbasa, or a mix — your call)
2 lbs (about 4 cups)sauerkraut(good refrigerated sauerkraut, NOT the canned stuff, it's an embarrassment)
1 largeyellow onion, sliced
1 (Granny Smith or Honeycrisp)tart apple, cored and sliced
3garlic cloves, smashed
2bay leaves
1 tspcaraway seeds(non-negotiable, this is the SOUL of the dish)
4-5juniper berries(optional but excellent, lightly crushed)
2 tbspDijon mustard
1 cuplight lager or pilsner(chicken stock works too, but the beer is better)
1 tbspneutral oil
to tastekosher salt
to tastefreshly ground black pepper

Steps

1
Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2
Drain the sauerkraut in a colander. Rinse briefly under cool water, then drain well, pressing out excess liquid with the back of a spoon.
3
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy oven-safe pot over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and brown on all sides, 6-8 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.
4
Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until softened and lightly golden, about 7 minutes.
5
Add the garlic, caraway seeds, and juniper berries (if using). Cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
6
Stir in the drained sauerkraut and apple slices. Tuck in the bay leaves.
7
Pour in the beer and stir in the Dijon mustard. Bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits.
8
Nestle the browned sausages back into the kraut. Cover the pot with a lid.
9
Transfer to the oven and braise 30-35 minutes, until the sausages are cooked through (internal temp 160 F for fresh sausage) and the kraut is tender and lightly caramelized at the edges.
10
Taste and adjust with salt and pepper. Fish out the bay leaves.
11
Serve hot, straight from the pot, with crusty rye bread and extra mustard on the side.

One more thing

Rye bread on the side, more mustard, a cold beer, mashed potatoes if you're ambitious — that's the move. This reheats beautifully the next day, even better honestly, the kraut and the sausage get cozier overnight and by lunch it's a different dish entirely. Save me a piece.