From Ale Pail to Bigos Bucket

Somerville, Mass - This year we joined the Food Project CSA, which is a fantastic way to support a good cause and get a regular supply of delicious, locally grown, organic veggies at a very decent price. But it's not without its challenges. This week, we received a gigantic Asian cabbage, completely unannounced. What on earth am I supposed to do with that?

Regular readers will know that I have recently returned from Poland, so I had the brilliant idea to use the cabbage to make bigos, the most delicious of Polish peasant foods. It's basically sauerkraut, cooked long and slow with wild mushrooms, onions, sausage and anything else you feel like clearing out of the root cellar (or fridge, if you're not actually a Polish peasant). So what a perfect use for my Asian cabbage.
But first, of course, I have to turn it into sauerkraut....
A quick google search made it clear why sauerkraut is an ideal thing for peasants to eat. First of all, it requires only two ingredients: salt and cabbage. Second of all, it sits in a cool dark place and lasts for weeks on end. No refrigeration required.
Basically, you add liberal amounts of sea salt to chopped cabbage, allowing it to release the water that it contains and start the fermentation process. Apply pressure to squish out the water and keep out the air. Put it in a cool place and let it sit for two to fours weeks (!) You can start eating it as soon as it tastes good. Or you can let it sit there and keep fermenting until it stops tasting good, which could be months.
This is not exactly what I expected; frankly, I thought I would be eating my bigos in the next day or two. But why not? I mean, what else do I have to do with a giant head of Asian cabbage?

The recipes recommend using a big crock or a food-grade plastic bucket. I do not own the former, but I do have the Ale Pail, which came with our beer-brewing kit (temporarily known as the Bigos Bucket).
The most time-consuming aspect of this project was chopping the cabbage. Once that's done, you salt liberally and you're ready to go. You can also add extra treats for flavour or colour, eg, I added some julienned carrot strips because I had a bunch of those from the Food Project too.




As you mix everything up with the salt, it starts to generate the juices. Cover with a plate or a lid that you can press down on the cabbage, and weight it will some heavy stones. (This is the fancy peasant cooking technique.) As the fermentation process takes place, the level of liquid rises; so after one day, the brine already covers the lid.
I put the Bigos Bucket in the basement to keep it cool. Now my instructions are to let it sit. (Fortunately, we have plenty to eat in the meantime, unlike peasants.) Stay tuned for sauerkraut status reports.