Country Pork Ribs with Apples and Sauerkraut

By WheretheMagicHappens

Cold weather comfort in a bowl

Ingredients

• 4 pounds Boneless Pork Ribs
• 1 cup Flour
• 2-3 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• Salt and Pepper, about a teaspoon each
• 1 32 ounce jar Steinfeld's Home Style Sauerkraut, undrained (or equal amount of brand available in your area)
• 3 Apples, peeled and cubed
• 1 20 ounce can Crushed Pineapple, undrained
• 1 medium Onion, peeled and sliced
• 3-5 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon Caraway Seed
• 2-3 Bay Leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Step 1

Remove the extra hunks of fat from the pork ribs.
Put flour, salt and pepper iinto a gallon sized ziploc bag. Add the pork ribs 2 or 3 at a time, and shake until well coated.
Add the oil to a dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add the pork and brown on all sides, adding a little more oil if needed.
Remove pork from your pan.

Add more oil if needed.
Peel and core your apples and cut into chunks.
Peel and slice your onions, cut in half once then slice into strips.
Peel and mince your garlic.
Over medium heat, add onions to the pan and stir them around. At this point you can turn the heat down low, cover them with a lid.
Add the minced garlic after a few minutes, and set the timer for no more than 5 minutes or until they are translucent. Don't let the garlic burn!

Add the sauerkraut, apples, pineapple, bay leaves and caraway seeds. Stir them around together until well mixed.
Add the pork and lay them on top of the liquid mixture.
Cover and simmer for about 3 hours.
Check the hear in about 20 minutes to make sure it is simmering, not boiling.
If your liquid evaporates you can add a little water, apple or pineapple juice. You want it to have liquid throughout the cooking time and until you serve.
I give it a stir every hour or so to make sure it has enough liquid and is still happily simmering away. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste.

Notes:
We tend to use a ladle to fill our bowls right from the dutch oven when it's just the two of us! We like to eat it like a bowl of soup.

When I serve it to guests, I remove the pork and place it on a warm serving plate and place the sauerkraut mixture around the pork. Add a nice salad and a hard roll for sopping up the liquid and you have yourself a meal.

I have served this with boiled potatoes but they aren't necessary.

I usually add 2 jars of sauerkraut because we like a higher ratio of sauerkraut to meat.

This is a great recipe to make the day before. The flavors blend together even more by the next day.

Another benefit to makeing it the day before: you can take the extra fat off easier as it is sitting on top when cold. You can remove it with a fork or a spatula.