Capuzi garbi | All Things Sicilian and more

Luganighe con Capuzi is a Triestine dish and the name of the dish is written in the Triestine language. In Italian it would be called Salsicce e Crauti – sausages and sauerkraut.

As a child, I lived in Trieste with my parents, while my Sicilian relatives resided in Ragusa, Catania and Augusta. Both Trieste (located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region) and Sicily are at the extreme ends of Italy, and as one would expect, their cuisines are very different.

I grew up with both cuisines and appreciate them both for very different reasons.

Capuzi garbi (or crauti/krauti) is sauerkraut in Triestino (the Triestine dialect) and it is a very popular ingredient in Triestine cuisine especially when mixed in Gulash (made with pork or beef), or with a lump of smoked pork, or luganighe (Triestine) – salsicce di maiale in Italian, and pork sausages for us mere mortals in the English speaking world.

When you look at a map of Italy, it is easy to see why this part of Italy has common roots with the cooking of Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia and Istria.

I have German and Polish friends who also enjoy sauerkraut, and like my relatives and friends from Trieste, they tend to overcook it. My mother also did this when preparing capuzi garbi.

However, as we know, cuisine evolves and some of us have adopted new methods of cooking traditional foods.

In my kitchen, I cook sauerkraut for approximately a quarter of the time compared to the traditional method. I occasionally add a small amount of fresh cabbage to lighten the flavour and provide a different texture. Caraway seeds are also added as do many Triestini.

A small amount of browned flour in oil is added to the sauerkraut towards the end of cooking. Unlike my Triestine contemporaries, I also add bay leaves and a dash of white wine.

INGREDIENTS

The ingredients are: pork sausages, sauerkraut, bay leaves and caraway seeds. Onion, extra virgin olive oil and pepper (the sauerkraut could be sufficiently salty). Fresh cabbage and a dash of white wine are optional.

PROCESS

Drain the sauerkraut and squeeze out the moisture. Soften some onion in a little oil (in Trieste lard is also common and added to the oil).

Adding a little white or savoy cabbage is optional.

And with the cabbage, add the sauerkraut and the remaining ingredients. A dash of white wine (or water) will keep it moist during cooking.

Cover and cook for about 15- 20 minutes on low heat until the sausages are nearly cooked and the flavours have had a chance to meld.

Remove the sauerkraut and slightly brown the sausages – only for appearance.

This dish is excellent with Patate in Teccia…. another Triestine culinary delight. A techie is a pan in Triestine . The potatoes are squashed in the pan. See:

PATATE as a contorno (Two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes).