Kiseli Kupus..... a love affair

I think of the great love affairs during the ages, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, Marc Anthony and Cleopatra ( hang on weren't they the same couple ? ) my wife Erica and I, and then I come to that wonderful joyous love affair I have with kiseli kupus otherwise known as sauerkraut, during the winter months I keep a jar well actually a largish jar on hand to add to schnitzels, sausages, pork ribs or what the hell just straight out of the jar, I have it on good authority the reason sauerkraut is so popular with pork dishes is that it aids in the digestion of the pork in no small way aided by the beer, now kiseli kupus is very popular in Croatia especially the Continental part due to the long association with the former Austro - Hungarian empire, we during the winter months have made our own using the plastic barrels as shown in the picture which is a 120ltr barrel

12 heads of cabbage or as many that will fit in the barrel that you are using.
2 1/2 cups of salt per cabbage or there about
1 garlic clove per head
bay leaf per head

wash cabbage heads and remove any tough outer leaves and reserve, core each head and fill with salt, bay leaf and garlic, place one layer of cabbage leaves on bottom of barrel and place a layer of cabbage heads, and keep adding layer of cabbage heads repeating the process of adding salt etc until barrel is full cover with cabbage leaves.

Fill barrel with as much water as it will hold, place a clean UNTREATED timber lid ( you might have to make your own to fit the circumference of the barrel ) and weigh down with large rock or similar weight about 25kg leave barrel in garage or somewhere suitably cool after about ten days skim the foam off the top of the water and repeat every few days or so during the fermenting process which should take about 40 days heads can be frozen once done , before using them rinse leaves and chop finely for your very own kiseli kupus. Note this is best done during the winter months when temperatures are better suited.