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Caraway Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut cooked with water, caraway seeds, sugar, lard or butter, and flour to thicken.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Caraway and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Caraway Sauerkraut

Timeabout ½ hour

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the kraut

  1. Rinse the sauerkraut once with water, then put it into a pot with caraway seeds, a tablespoon of sugar, and 1 cup of water.

  2. Slowly cook until the kraut is soft, about ½ hour.

Thicken and serve

  1. Blend 2 tablespoons of butter or lard with 2 tablespoons of flour to make a roux.

  2. Stir the roux into the kraut, mixing and stirring while it cooks to thicken.

  3. Simmer for a few minutes to cook away the raw flour, then keep warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

721Calories
13 gProtein
26 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 7 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Sauerkrautnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0
Caraway Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Caraway + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Caraway + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sauerkraut
Provides the main body and sour flavour of the dish, and softens as it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid when cooked with fat into a roux.
Lard or butter
Carries richness and helps the flour blend smoothly into a roux.
Sugar
Softens the sharp sourness of the sauerkraut.

The step that matters

Simmer the roux into the kraut. Stirring the roux in while the kraut cooks prevents lumps, and simmering a few minutes cooks off the raw flour taste so the sauce thickens smoothly and tastes clean.

Swap the caraway

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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