Chef Klaus
Ahle Wurst
North Hesse's old sausage is cured, not cooked: coarse pork, pepper, garlic, and cold weeks in a chamber until the slice turns firm enough for rye and cider.
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Frankfurter Rippchen mit Kraut
Created by
The Frankfurt apple-wine tavern plate: cured pork rib chops warmed gently with sauerkraut, mustard, and potatoes, where the cure gives the flavour and the heat must behave.
Main Dishes
German
Weeknight
Christmas
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Frankfurter Rippchen mit Kraut belongs to Hesse, and more exactly to the apple-wine table around Frankfurt. This is tavern food and home food, good on a cold weeknight and good enough for the Christmas season when the larder is doing its old work: cured pork, fermented cabbage, stored potatoes, mustard sharp enough to wake the plate.
The regions disagree before the pot is even warm. In Frankfurt the Rippchen, cured pork rib chops or loin chops, are often heated gently with sauerkraut and served with Apfelwein, mustard, and mashed potatoes. Further north you meet Kasseler, smoked and sturdier. In the south they may want another pork cut altogether, and then someone starts talking about dumplings. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The rule is simple: don't boil the pork. The cure has already seasoned it and tightened the meat; a hard boil squeezes the loin dry and leaves you with salty rope. Keep the liquid just trembling, and the Rippchen warm through without fighting you. The kraut gets onion, apple, bay, juniper, and Apfelwein because sour cabbage needs fat, fruit, and time to turn round in the mouth.
Weggeworfen wird nichts. If the butcher gives you rind or a small pork bone, it goes into the kraut and comes out before serving. It leaves body behind. Serve the Rippchen over the cabbage, mustard on the side, potatoes to catch the juices. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Frankfurter Rippchen grew out of the Hesse curing larder and the Apfelwein tavern culture that became strongly associated with Frankfurt in the 19th century, when apple wine houses fed workers and market people with filling plates built from pork, cabbage, and potatoes. Sauerkraut itself is older than the tavern plate; lactic fermentation let cabbage keep through winter before refrigeration, which is why cured pork and sour cabbage became such a natural pair across central Europe. The Frankfurt version is marked by Apfelwein and mustard, while neighbouring regions lean toward smoked Kasseler or different potato sides, a small border argument you can taste.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Frankfurter Rippchen, cured pork rib chops or loin chops
Quantity
4 pieces, about 250g each
sauerkraut
Quantity
800g
drained but not rinsed
large onion
Quantity
1
finely sliced
tart apple
Quantity
1
peeled and grated
lard or neutral oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Apfelwein or dry cider
Quantity
200ml
light pork stock or water
Quantity
200ml
bay leaves
Quantity
2
juniper berries
Quantity
6
lightly crushed
caraway seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
salt
Quantity
only if needed
German mustard
Quantity
to serve
mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Frankfurter Rippchen, cured pork rib chops or loin chops | 4 pieces, about 250g each |
| sauerkrautdrained but not rinsed | 800g |
| large onionfinely sliced | 1 |
| tart applepeeled and grated | 1 |
| lard or neutral oil | 2 tablespoons |
| Apfelwein or dry cider | 200ml |
| light pork stock or water | 200ml |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| juniper berrieslightly crushed | 6 |
| caraway seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| salt | only if needed |
| German mustard | to serve |
| mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy lidded pot or Dutch oven
- •Tongs
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Soften the onion
Warm the lard in a wide heavy pot and cook the onion over medium-low heat until it turns soft and glassy, about 8 minutes. Don't brown it hard; browned onion pulls the kraut sweet and dark, and this Frankfurt plate wants clean sour cabbage with a little roundness, not roast gravy.
- 2
Build the kraut
Add the sauerkraut, grated apple, bay, juniper, caraway, sugar, black pepper, Apfelwein, and stock. Stir it well, scraping the bottom, because the apple and fat need to coat the cabbage before the long simmer can soften its bite. Do not rinse the sauerkraut unless it is brutally salty; rinse it and you throw away the flavour you paid for.
Taste the raw kraut before it goes in. If it is very sharp, squeeze it dry and add the grated apple. If it is flat, add a spoon of its brine back at the end. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. - 3
Simmer the cabbage
Cover the pot and simmer the kraut gently for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring once or twice so the bottom does not catch. The cabbage should soften and turn glossy, not collapse into paste. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not punishment.
- 4
Warm the Rippchen
Lay the cured pork chops on top of the kraut, cover the pot again, and lower the heat until the liquid only trembles. Warm them for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until heated through. Do not boil them. The cure has already firmed the loin, and hard heat squeezes out the juice.
- 5
Taste and serve
Lift out the bay leaves and juniper if you see them, then taste the kraut before any salt goes near it. The pork will have seasoned the pot, so salt at the start is how you make the dish harsh. Spoon the kraut onto plates, set a Rippchen on each mound, and serve with mustard and potatoes to catch the sour-salty juices.
Chef Tips
- •Buy cured pork rib chops or loin chops from a butcher and ask if they are already cooked. If they are fully cooked, they only need warming through; if they are raw cured pork, keep the heat gentle and cook until the center reaches 63C, then rest a few minutes.
- •Use Apfelwein if you can. Dry cider is the honest stand-in. Sweet apple juice makes the kraut sticky and dull, and Frankfurt did not build this plate for sugar.
- •Nicht aus dem Glas, unless the glass holds real fermented sauerkraut. Avoid sweet wine-sauerkraut cooked to softness already; you need cabbage that can still take fat, apple, and time in your own pot.
- •Mashed potatoes are the weeknight answer. Boiled potatoes are cleaner and more tavern-like. Either way, the potato is there to catch the kraut liquor.
Advance Preparation
- •The kraut can be cooked a day ahead and reheated gently; it tastes better after a night because the apple, pork fat, and sour cabbage settle together.
- •Warm the Rippchen only before serving. Holding cured loin hot for an hour dries it out, and then the mustard has to do work it was never hired for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 710g)
Calories
825 calories
Total Fat
34 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
165 mg
Sodium
3450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
57 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
16 g
Protein
64 g
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