Pork with dumplings and cabbage

Ingredients

• Pork shoulder1.5 kg
• Flour — for the dumplings500 g
• Milk — warm250 ml
• Dry yeast7 g
• Egg1
• Stale bread — in cubes150 g
• Sauerkraut700 g
• Onions3
• Caraway seeds2 tsp
• Sugar1 tbsp
• Lard60 g
• Garlic4 clove
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Rub the pork with salt, pepper, caraway and garlic and leave it an hour at room temperature.

   62 min

2. 2

   Brown the pork in lard on all sides, add the onion and pour in water to half the height of the meat.

   20 min

3. 3

   Braise covered at 160 °C for an hour and a half, basting every twenty minutes.

   95 min

4. 4

   Knead a dough from the flour, warm milk with yeast, the egg and salt and let it rise forty minutes.

   50 min

5. 5

   Fold in the bread cubes, shape two logs and boil them ten minutes on each side.

   25 min

6. 6

   Stew the sauerkraut with onion, caraway and sugar for twenty-five minutes.

   27 min

7. 7

   Cut the dumplings with thread and the pork into slices, and serve with the cabbage under the pan juices.

   12 min

About the dish

The dumplings are boiled rather than steamed, and cut with thread. A knife compresses the crumb and leaves a smeared face; thread gives a porous cut that soaks up sauce.

The dumpling dough is made on milk with yeast and always with cubes of stale bread in it. Without them this is boiled dough rather than a knedlík.

The cabbage is stewed with caraway and a pinch of sugar. The sugar does not sweeten it: it balances the acidity, and without it the dish comes out sharp.

Worth knowing

• — Prick the dumplings with a fork straight after boiling. Otherwise the steam inside collapses and the log sinks into a dense lump.
• — Boil them in a wide pot with plenty of water. In a tight one they press against the sides and come out misshapen.
• — Thicken the sauce with a spoon of flour slaked in cold water. Flour straight into hot sauce gives lumps.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

820 kcal

Protein

48 g

Fat

40 g

Carbs

68 g

More from Czechia

• Svíčková na smetaně — Beef in a purée of root vegetables with cream, served with dumplings, lingonberry and lemon.
• Trdelník — A ribbon of yeasted dough wound round a spit, baked and rolled in sugar and nuts.
• Kulajda — A creamy mushroom soup with dill, potato and a poached egg, sharpened with vinegar.