Ivan and I were talking the other day about my Gramma Manda, and the pork chops and sauerkraut she used to make once a year. It was a dish worth remembering, let me tell you.
The simplicity of the dish, first of all, was amazing in itself, but then you got to taste it. Even for a young, uneducated palate as I had, it was bursting with flavors. She browned the pork chops, (the ones she chose had to be thick enough to withstand some skillet, and oven time, and have a sufficient amount of fat along the edges to make plenty of nice brown bits that stick to the bottom of the frying pan), then used a bit of the juice from the kraut to lift those bits off the bottom, and add a richness to the dish that would have otherwise been lost.
She drained, then rinsed, the sauerkraut, added a teaspoon, or so, of caraway seeds to the kraut, placed the chops in the bottom of a Pyrex bowl, added the sauerkraut, and a couple knobs of butter, covered it with aluminum foil, and baked it for about 30” – 45”. She removed the foil, added the Bisquick™ drop biscuits she made, right on top of the sauerkraut, baked it again for, probably another 30”, until the biscuits were cooked. Then we got to eat it. I really only remember eating this two times, and one of those times was with my husband.
After we got to talking about this, and the different spices she used when she got to cook, Ivan started searching the internet for sausage shops here in CDMX hat might sell German-type sausages, and, out of nowhere, he discovered this shop where a, I believe he is British, gentleman, has started a sausage company called Simply Sausages™, and THEY DELIVER!!!! Now, how is that for good search results?
We went earlier this evening, to a local high end store, (one of those stores that imports food from all over the world, for all of us expats living away from our motherlands), and bought 3 packages of Classic Bratwurst, and a single package of British Bangers. Each package of brats has 4 sausages, the Bangers package has 5 (yay), each weighs 500gm, and costs $115, and $105, respectively. (Relax, that is in pesos.) So, that is a package of brats that weighs 1 lb. and costs $5.00! (That one is dollars.) Not bad for handmade sausages, right? I cannot wait to, first, try the meat, then, have this stuff delivered. There are so many choices, and so little time. Simply Sausages™. Thank you. We are grilling out tomorrow. (Any excuse, really!!)
And, for future reference, I will designate pesos as $115. MN. Here that means Moneda Nacional, or National Currency. I think you are all quick enough to know we would not spend $105.00 on 4 sausages. Right?
Ivan just reminded me that we will be putting the little beauties in a saucepan, with a beer, and butter, to bathe in after they are grilled. Yummy!!
