Recipe: Sauerkraut & Mushroom Soup

Nancy,

This is my grandmother's Christmas Mushroom and Sauerkraut Soup recipe. She was Slovak. As you can see by the recipe, it was adjusted after she came to the U.S. We will be enjoying it on Christmas Eve. Hope this is close to your grandmother's recipe and that you enjoy it as much as we do!.

Mushroom Soup

In a large bowl, put dried mushrooms in warm water for a half hour. (We dry our own and use the button mushrooms from the grocery store. We store them in old large pickle jars and use about half to three-quarters of the jar.) Drain two large jars of sauerkraut thoroughly and keep the juice. (Or use several small cans of sauerkraut juice.) In a large stock pot, add water to sauerkraut juice until it is not sour. Add one package of dry Lipton (or Campbell's) onion and mushroom soup mix. If necessary, salt to taste. Drain the mushrooms. Add mushrooms to pot. Bring the lipton, juice, mushroom, and water mixture to a boil. Simmer for about an hour. In a large frying pan, brown 1 stick of butter and 1 stick of margarine while gradually adding 4 very large tablespoons of flour. Then, take 1 to 2 ladles of soup and gradually add to browned mixture. Gradually add all of this soup/flour mixture to large pot of soup so you have no lumps.