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Every Sunday, as a child growing up, we spent the afternoon visiting my Babci. Babci means grandmother in Polish,* and she was my mother’s mother. Like most women of her generation, she often made dishes that originated from the ‘old country’ and the distinctive tastes and flavors of those dishes are hardwired in my memory.
Even today, I can immediately go back in time whenever I smell certain foods or certain dishes cooking. One of those dishes is Kapusta**, a traditional Polish cabbage soup. We were always really psyched when Babci made her delicious Kapusta for us for dinner.
Years later, I discovered that my husband Jack – who pretty much loves all-things cabbage – had never eaten Kapusta!
Since I didn’t have my Babci’s actual recipe (it was one of those recipes that was cooked from memory and never written down), I’ve done my best to recreate it from my own memory, and I think I’ve gotten it pretty close with this version.
Although not traditionally a Polish ingredient, my Babci added canned stewed tomatoes to her Kapusta which gives it an additional layer of flavor and really enhances the other ingredients in this dish. Served with rye bread and butter, Kapusta is one of those dishes that just sends me back in time. And Jack, who can’t get enough of this, wonders how on earth he missed out on this terrific Polish classic until he met me!
This post was originally published on A Family Feast in November 2012.
*Since originally publishing this recipe, several comments below have let me know that “Babcia” is the correct word for grandmother in Polish. In my family, we simply called her Babci.
**Since originally publishing this recipe, a reader has let us know that this soup is also known as Kapusniak, or according to Wikipedia, Kapusta kiszona duszona. Kapusta is the name that many Polish-American families like mine have given this soup.
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Kapusta (Polish Cabbage Soup)
A traditional Polish cabbage soup made with pork, cabbage, sauerkraut, onion, carraway seed and my Babci’s secret ingredient…stewed tomatoes to really enhance the flavors in this soup.
Ingredients
- 3–4 pounds of meaty pork ribs such as country style ribs
- 6 ounces diced salt pork (4 ounces after removing skin. The fatty type not the meaty type)
- 1 1/2 cups onion, about one large onion
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 pound fresh sauerkraut with juice (found in the refrigerated section of most supermarkets)
- 1 medium head of cabbage, shredded (about 1 1/2 – 2 pounds)
- 2 14 1/2–ounce cans of stewed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 pounds all-purpose potatoes
- Rye bread and butter
Instructions
- Place pork ribs in a large 8 quart heavy pot and cover the ribs with water almost to the top. Bring to a boil uncovered, lower to a fast simmer (low boil) and cook for 45 minutes, skimming off foam as they start to boil. Shut off burner and let them sit in the water for 15 minutes.
- While the pork is cooking, in a medium frying pan, cook the diced salt pork on a medium high flame for 2-3 minutes or until just starting to brown. Add onion to the pan and sauté for 2-3 minutes until just starting to get tender. Reduce to medium heat, stir in the flour and sauté for 3 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
- Once cooked, remove ribs from the pot and let cool. Save the liquid in the pot.
- To the pot of liquid, add the sauerkraut and juice, shredded cabbage, stewed tomatoes, caraway seeds and salt as well as the cooked salt pork and onion mixture.
- Cook over medium high heat until cabbage is cooked, approximately 30-35 minutes. While the cabbage mixture is cooking, remove the meat from the bones, shredding the meat into bite-sized pieces. Return the cooked pork to the pot once the cabbage is tender and heat to serving temperature.
- Peel and quarter potatoes and place in cold sated water while cabbage mixture is cooking. Bring to a boil and over a medium boil, cook potatoes for 5-10 minutes or until tender. Drain water and cool potatoes to room temperature. Once the cabbage mixture has finished cooking, cut cooked potatoes into bite sized pieces and either add to the finished cabbage dish or serve on the side. (cooking in quarters and cutting after the fact will make them more firm and less mushy since less of the surface touched the boiling water.
- Serve with rye bread and butter for a traditional Polish meal.
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Fantastic
Thanks Helaine!
I visited my Babci every Sunday also, and spelled Babci as you did. Many special meals and memories will remain with me forever.
Thanks for writing to us today Gloria – special memories for sure!
Excellant! My wife is Polish and always talked about her Babci’s cabbage soup and apple-raisin pudding. Soup came out almost excactly as she had remembered it. Thanx for recreating one of her childhood memories. The tomatos added a nice taste addition to the broth. Any recipes for the pudding?
Hi Paul – So glad you and your wife enjoyed the recipe (and the memories with it!). I don’t recall my own grandmother or mother making an apple raisin pudding unfortunately. I also looked in an old Polish cookbook that I inherited from my grandmother/mother – no luck either. We do have an Apple Pudding recipe on our site (my husband Jack’s recipe) and we have a Sour Cream Pudding Cake (with raisins) – maybe one of those could be adapted to match the version your wife remembers? Hope that helps!
I can’t wait to try this! My mom changed most of her traditional recipes to be easier and healthier. Our kapusta is served with kielbasa and isn’t soupy. Every family has their beloved recipes. I stopped using saltpork because my dad and sister couldn’t tolerate the fat. I use a little olive oil instead.
We hope you love the recipe Monica! We also have a Bigos recipe on our site (that recipe includes kielbasa) that you might enjoy too!
We don’t eat Pork. Can we substitute some other meat .? Has someone tried it with beef?, Chicken? ….
Hi Leo – Pork is traditional but I think some meat beef ribs could work (you’ve peaked our interest!). Please let us know how it comes out!
I’d love to make this tonight, I have a bunch of pork chops in the fridge do you think I could use those in this recipe? I’m very excited to try this at home, thanks for sharing!
Hi Sam – In a pinch they will work but ideally, you’d want the rib bones for the best flavor.
I grew up Russian-Ukrainian and we called my grandma babci (like babcia) and we called our sauerkraut soup kapusta. My dad used to use pork spare ribs in his
Very interesting Katherine! We’ve received a lot of comments about calling our Grandmother ‘babci’ instead of ‘babcia’ – I always assumed it was our Americanized version of the name. Sounds like there are a lot of similarities with our family’s names and kapusta recipe! 🙂
Amazing recipe, by the way it is Babcia not Babci –
Thank you!
My grandmother was from Lithuania and on Christmas Eve she would serve a similar soup with shrimp instead of pork ribs. Does anyone have a recipe?
Hi Charlotte – I hope someone reading this has a recipe for you! I did Google Lithuanian cabbage soup and found several versions, but none with shrimp. Sounds delicious!
Just like my grandma’s. Every recipe I have of hers includes fry an onion in salt pork or chicken fat. Stuffed cabbage, kapusta (and yes we called it that also). Nothing was written down I went to my mother’s and watched and wrote. My grandma died when I was 16 she was 86.
Oh yes! Fried onions and salt pork are must-include ingredients in the best Polish cooking! 🙂 Thanks for writing to us today Maggi!