![Kapusta z grzybami 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Kapusta_z_grzybami_2013.jpg)
Zasmażana kapusta,
known to many Polish people simply as kapusta
ah-POOS-tah(which is the Polish word for "cabbage"),
[Robert Strybe]
Polish Holiday Cookery and Customs
page 205, 152 is a Polish dish of braised
or stewed
sauerkraut
Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferm ...
or cabbage, with bacon, mushroom and onion or garlic. It is seasoned with salt, pepper and sometimes
bay leaf,
caraway seed
Caraway, also known as meridian fennel and Persian cumin (''Carum carvi''), is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
Etymology
The etymology of "caraway" is unclear. Caraway has been ...
s, sugar,
paprika and apples. The traditional dish is usually served along with boiled potatoes as an accompaniment for pork chops, pork cutlets, other pork dishes,
[ veal, or game meats.] In some homes, kapusta is served very thin, almost like a soup. In others, its ingredients are thickened with flour or cooked until it becomes nearly as thick as mashed potatoes
Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...
. It has been described as less sour in flavor compared to German sauerkraut.
Cabbage, the primary ingredient, is often pickled, like sauerkraut
Sauerkraut (; , "sour cabbage") is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferm ...
, which is amplified with a mix of mushrooms and onions and meat—fatty pork—either rib meat, bacon, or occasionally smoked kielbasa. Almost always the dish contains a kind of roux
Roux () is a mixture of flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauces. Roux is typically made from equal parts of flour and fat by weight. The flour is added to the melted fat or oil on the stove top, blended until smooth, and cook ...
.
In popular culture
A chapter of Herta Müller
Herta Müller (; born 17 August 1953) is a Romanian-born German novelist, poet, essayist and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in Nițchidorf (german: Nitzkydorf, link=no), Timiș County in Romania, her native language is G ...
's novel ''The Hunger Angel
''The Hunger Angel'' (german: Atemschaukel; 2009) is a novel by Herta Müller. An English translation by Philip Boehm was published in 2012.
Summary
It is a depiction of the persecution of ethnic Germans in Romania by the Stalinist regime of t ...
'' (''Atemschaukel'') deals with the protagonist's relationship to kapusta, which comes to represent both his life as a prisoner and his hopes for freedom.[Müller, Herta; ''Atemschaukel''; Carl Hanser Verlag; 2009; pp. 157–163.]
See also
* Cabbage stew
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nbs ...
* Kapuska
* Bigos
Bigos (; be, бігас, ', or бігус, ', lt, bigusas), often translated into English as hunter's stew, is a Polish dish of chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut and shredded fresh cabbage. It is served hot and can be enrich ...
* List of cabbage dishes
* List of fermented foods
This is a list of fermented foods, which are foods produced or preserved by the action of microorganisms. In this context, fermentation typically refers to the fermentation of sugar to alcohol using yeast, but other fermentation processes involv ...
References
{{Reflist
Polish cuisine
Cabbage dishes
Plant-based fermented foods