Pork, Sauerkraut, and Bean Soup

Name: Pork, Sauerkraut, and Bean Soup
Yield: serves 8 or more
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups dried red kidney beans; 5 quarts water; 1-pound chunk fresh pork butt, rinsed before cooking; 3 bay leaves; 2 tablespoons chopped garlic; 2 pounds russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut in 3-inch chunks; 2 pounds sauerkraut (preferably the bagged, refrigerated variety); 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt, plus more to taste; 1/2 pound smoked pork sausage (such as kielbasa); 1/2 pound fresh pork sausage (Eastern European–style or sweet Italian); Freshly ground black pepper to taste; Extra-virgin olive oil for serving; An 8-quart stockpot with a cover

December 14, 2011

In Trieste, every home and every trattoria has a pot of this hearty soup perking on the stove, especially during the winter months, when the bora, a cold north-easterly wind, blows down from the Carso mountains above the city. Bean soups with pasta (pasta e fagioli) or rice are popular here too, as in other parts of Italy, but the combination of beans and sauerkraut is the favorite by far—a perfect example of the Slavic influence on the culinary culture of Trieste.

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