Some simply don’t have the patience to wait the weeks necessary for sauerkraut to ferment, but we prefer this old-school way of preparing it. The wait was actually a big part of the fun when Crystal was a kid (apparently there wasn’t much to do in the North Georgia mountains).

Ingredients

　　1 head of green cabbage, chopped

　　4 to 6 quart canning jars with lids

　　4 to 6 teaspoons pickling salt (non-iodized)

　　Pack the cabbage into sterilized quart jars. Add 1 teaspoon of pickling salt to each jar and cover with water. Place the lid and bands on the jars and close as tightly as you can by hand. You might want to place your jars on a baking sheet or in a shallow dish, because during the fermenting process the lids will loosen and juice will run down the sides of the jars. This is why you don’t seal them completely airtight as you do when you are canning. Store in a dry dark place to ferment for 3 weeks. Crystal’s family stored theirs in their basement, which added to the fun (it was so scary down there!). If you do not have a basement, use a pantry or cover them with a towel.

　　From The Casserole Queens Cookbook by Crystal Cook & Sandy Pollock. Copyright © 2011 by Crystal Cook and Sandy Pollock; Food photographs copyright © 2011 by Ben Fink. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers.Crystal Cook and Sandy Pollock, the Casserole Queens, have been delivering casseroles in Austin, Texas, since 2006; they also teach cooking classes at Whole Foods stores in the area. They have been featured on Food Network's Throwdown! with Bobby Flay and Bobby Flay Radio on Sirius XM, as well as on television news and radio talk shows.