Saure Rädle

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 3-liter pot or Dutch oven
• •Sharp knife or mandoline set to thick slices
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Render the bacon

   Put the diced bacon and the bacon rind, if you have it, into a heavy pot over medium-low heat. Start cool and let the fat run out slowly, because bacon cooked hard at the start scorches before it gives the pot anything useful. Add the lard only if the bacon is lean.

2. 2

   Soften the onion

   Add the onion and a small pinch of salt, then cook until it turns glassy and sweet, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not brown it hard. This stew wants onion sweetness under the vinegar, not burnt edges fighting it.

   If brown bits gather on the bottom, splash in a spoon of stock and scrape them up. That is flavour from the bacon, and Weggeworfen wird nichts.
3. 3

   Add potatoes

   Add the potato rounds and turn them through the bacon fat for a minute so the starch takes a little fat before the stock goes in. Pour in the hot stock, add the bay leaf, and use just enough liquid to barely cover the potatoes. Too much stock makes soup; this is a stew.

4. 4

   Simmer gently

   Bring the pot to a quiet simmer, then runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature. Cover partly and cook 15 to 18 minutes, shaking the pot once or twice instead of stirring hard. Floury potatoes thicken the broth at the edges, but a hard boil breaks the wheels into paste.

5. 5

   Sour the broth

   When a potato round bends easily on a spoon, stir in 2 tablespoons vinegar, the sugar, and black pepper. Add the vinegar now, not at the start, because acid keeps potato cells firm and would leave the middle stubborn. Simmer 2 minutes so the sharpness goes through the broth.

6. 6

   Finish and serve

   Remove the bacon rind and bay leaf. If using Saitenwürstle, lay them in the pot for 5 minutes to warm through without boiling, because a boiled sausage splits and loses its snap. Taste before serving: salt last, more vinegar if the potatoes have dulled it, then parsley or chives over the top. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.

Chef Tips

• •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled. Waxy potatoes stay neat but give the broth nothing, and then people reach for flour because they bought the wrong potato.
• •Slice the rounds thick enough, about 8mm. Paper-thin potatoes vanish before the sourness is right, and then you have sour mash. Nobody asked for that.
• •Use real stock if you can, even a quick one from bones and vegetable trim. A salty cube makes the pot taste flat before the vinegar has a chance to do its work. Nicht aus dem Glas.
• •The vinegar should lift the stew, not pickle it. Add two tablespoons first, then the last spoon only after tasting, because potatoes swallow sourness differently from sack to sack.
• •Leftovers thicken overnight. Reheat gently with a splash of stock and a few drops of vinegar at the end, because the starch keeps drinking and the sour edge fades.

Advance Preparation

• •The bacon and onion base can be cooked a day ahead and chilled; bring it back to a simmer before adding the potatoes so they cook evenly.
• •Potatoes can be peeled and sliced up to 2 hours ahead if kept covered in cold water, but drain them well before they hit the pot or the broth starts thin.
• •The finished stew keeps 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat over low heat and shake the pot instead of stirring, so the remaining potato rounds hold their shape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 455g)