Kiselo zelje s rebrima

The story

Kiselo zelje, sauerkraut, and smoked pork are one of the steady pairings of Croatian home cooking, and they turn up together in regional cookbooks across the country. Baranjska kuharica, a school cookbook from Baranja in the east, braises sauerkraut with bacon, onion and white wine and lays the meat of a dried pork knuckle on top, the knuckle boiled separately until it leaves the bone. The town cookbook of Samobor, near Zagreb, describes krpice sa zeljem, squares of soft dough stirred into cooked fresh or sour cabbage and served with cooked or dried meat: buncek (pork shank), ribs, bacon or sausages. In village homes, it notes, the dish was sometimes eaten without meat at all. In Istria sauerkraut goes into jota, a bean-and-potato soup cooked with pancetta, which the Istria Tourist Board names as a typical winter dish. This version keeps the continental shape of the meal: smoked spareribs simmered first, then braised with sauerkraut, wine and bay leaves and finished with a light paprika roux. Serve it with boiled potatoes and mustard, and plan on leftovers, which reheat well.