Bacon Ham Smoked Sausage Sauerkraut Soup

Mar 31 2015

My wife and I both like sauerkraut so you would think that in all the years I have been cooking I would have tried sauerkraut soup. This is the first time that I can ever remember making some. I guess I love pork and kraut and it tastes so good I always made kraut with smoked pork roasts, sausage, brats or ribs and slow cooked it. I usually served mashed potatoes with it.

For my soup I chose a recipe by Rachel Ray that sounded good. I had almost 2 lbs. of kraut that needed used and some bacon and ham in the freezer. I ended up buying some diced ham since the package I had was too large and didn’t want to thaw it all out. What I bought was just 8 oz. and the recipe called for 12 oz. I had two links of smoked sausage, about 8 oz. I thawed to add too.

Rachel did hers in a soup pot and I decided to adapt it to a Crockpot, then I could bake a loaf of my Bread in 5 peasant bread to have with the soup and have time to relax before supper. I browned up the bacon, then the ham and then the sausage separately and added it to my Crockpot. I had enough grease left so I didn’t use any butter. I sautéed the onions added the garlic and carrots; they went in the pot.

I peeled and diced the potatoes in about ½ inch pieces. I put them in the pot along with salt and pepper; I should have sautéed then a while too since they were not as done as I like. Next I added the cannellini beans. I drained the sauerkraut and added it with a bay leaf. I didn’t rinse the kraut since we like it sour.

I added the quart of chicken broth and looked like enough liquid so I didn’t add any water. The Crockpot was on high and it was 2:00 when I got it all in.

I got my bread cloaked and let rise for an hour. I let it rise longer than the 40 minutes per recipe since my prior loaves had good texture but a little dense. I thought it helped and the finished bread looked better.  At 3:15 I got my bread in the oven and turned the Crockpot down to low. After the bread was baked I cleaned up my kitchen some. My wife came home from getting her teeth cleaned and finished cleaning up for me. I laid down for a half hour nap.

At 4:45 I checked my soup and stirred it all up. I tasted it and the potatoes were not done enough. I turned it back on high. It was about 6:15 when I served it up. The potatoes were done but could have been softer. The wife and I both thought this was good soup and the crusty peasant bread went well with it. The smoked sausage was a good addition too.

Click here for link to soup recipe

My peasant bread

For the soup

Browning the bacon

The ham

The sausage

Onions, garlic and carrots

Meats in the pot

Onions and veggies and a layer of potatoes

A layer of beans

The kraut, broth and a bay leaf added

Done and ready to serve

My supper