Braised Pork Loin and Power Kraut

The father of all chapters of the TFK feels that pork and kraut must be served on New Years for maximum good luck benefit. I am not going to argue w/ anything that leads to this:

Really, any sauerkraut that's had pork or pork sausages cooked in it is gonna taste pretty darn good but the addition of a few extra ingredients turns it into power kraut, which is way more fun to say. The fresh shredded veggies add a touch of sweetness and cut the acidity a bit making for a more rounded and mild kraut. Here's what you need:

1 pork loin (or a half depending how many people you have)
1 jar saurkraut
12 oz stock
12 oz beer
1/2 head of cabbage
1 cup baby carrots
1 large onion
2 bay leaves
paprika, salt, pepper, thyme
vegetable oil

First things first, season the pork loin w/ paprika, salt, pepper and thyme. I had to cut mine in half to fit in my pot. Leave it sit out for a few hours covered to come to room temperature before you brown it.

Then you brown it in a little bit of vegetable oil. I use an enameled cast iron dutch oven for this. The cast iron holds a lot of heat. W/ thinner pans sometimes when the relatively cool meat touches it, it sucks all the heat out of the pan and you end up cooking it halfway through before it browns. I like to do it in the same pan to make sure I get all of this good stuff:

Oh yeah, that's some good stuff! The brown bits are high on flavor and low on not flavor and you can quote me on that.

In the meantime, you wanna shred up a half head of cabbage, a handful of carrots and an onion in a food processor. This is a picture of a half head of cabbage, a handful of carrots and an onion shredded in a food processor:

What you wanna do w/ this lovely coleslaw is chuck in in the pan you browned the pork loin in and heat it up just until it wilts a little:

It is looking real nice now. If you stop right here this lightly cooked cabbage goes great on sandwhiches. But if you put in on a sandwhich what are you going to make power kraut out of? Best to keep moving on.

Dump a whole can of store bought saurkraut in there, along w/ two bay leaves, 12 oz of preferably homemade stock, and 12 oz of beer and bring to a simmer.

The issue of beer in kraut is contentious. I see a lot of recipes that call for "dark beer," which to me is about as vague as saying one of your ingredients is meat. If I had to guess what the meant by this, I would assume some sort of German dark beer, mostly likely a Munich-style dunkel. Personally, I don't think the flavor of the beer comes through any more than vaguelly w/ all the other strong flavors going on so here's what I opt for:

That's right, Miller High Life. I drink it. The list of beers I'd rather drink is exceedingly long but I still have a High Life from time to time. Is it better than other cheap beers? No. It is cheaper than other cheap beers.

In any case, once you got this stuff simmering, add salt and pepper to taste, put the pork loin in there, cover and place in an oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit until the pork reaches a temperature of about 170-180 degrees. It will take about two hours or so. 180 degrees is a bit high for pork but this dish does well when the meat is a little over cooked in my opinion. You will often see recipes for braised meats and stews that have you cook, store overnight and then reheat to serve and it's true a lot of these dishes do taste better that way. The reason reheating causes the meat to get a little overcooked which makes it super tender.

Once everything is cooked through, pull out the pork and slice to serve. The kraut will be very soupy so dish some out w/ a slotted spoon. Cut up any leftover pork when you're done and put it back in the kraut and serve as sauerkraut soup.