[A Thousand Threads]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

fresh Polish saurkraut smells like goddamn barf bile

i remember my grandmothers room where she made and kept the Sauerkraut.
we made 40 to 50 kg of sauerkraut at once and always let it ferment for 4 weeks minimum.


!@#$%!,

in austria (germany and poland too for that matter) we always add caraway (whole) before fermentation too.
Also I think I would put the glasses into hot boiling water for a while, before you fill them. you don't really want any bacteria in there.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by A Thousand Threads

i remember my grandmothers room where she made and kept the Sauerkraut.
we made 40 to 50 kg of sauerkraut at once and always let it ferment for 4 weeks minimum.


!@#$%!,

in austria (germany and poland too for that matter) we always add caraway (whole) before fermentation too.
Also I think I would put the glasses into hot boiling water for a while, before you fill them. you don't really want any bacteria in there.

yeah the caraway is nice with some things (e.g. pork) but it narrows the flavor profile for me. sometimes i make fake kimchi by adding chili powder & green onions at the last minute, and the caraway would short-circuit that. other times i eat it with carnitas. so making it plain keeps the options open until the last minute. you could do 1 small jar caraway 1 small jar plain 1 small jar experimental, etc. that's the beauty of small scale.

from what i've read, the smaller the jar the quickest the fermentation so 4 weeks are not needed for this project. also, if temps are warm, it runs faster too-- maybe just a few days before you refrigerate. just keep tasting it.

i did use boiling water to rinse all. and in principle yes you don't want bacteria but there's gonna be more bacteria in the cabbage itself and in the air every time you open the lid etc. so while you don't want real filth, i think sterility is not a big issue-- the salt and the lactofermentation take care of all enemies.

i've heard that some people get a little mold on top but they just remove it.

give it a shot!

[A Thousand Threads]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

yeah the caraway is nice with some things (e.g. pork) but it narrows the flavor profile for me. sometimes i make fake kimchi by adding chili powder & green onions at the last minute, and the caraway would short-circuit that. other times i eat it with carnitas. so making it plain keeps the options open until the last minute. you could do 1 small jar caraway 1 small jar plain 1 small jar experimental, etc. that's the beauty of small scale.

from what i've read, the smaller the jar the quickest the fermentation so 4 weeks are not needed for this project. also, if temps are warm, it runs faster too-- maybe just a few days before you refrigerate. just keep tasting it.

i did use boiling water to rinse all. and in principle yes you don't want bacteria but there's gonna be more bacteria in the cabbage itself and in the air every time you open the lid etc. so while you don't want real filth, i think sterility is not a big issue-- the salt and the lactofermentation take care of all enemies.

i've heard that some people get a little mold on top but they just remove it.

give it a shot!

i see, i see! Smaller container means faster fermentation you say? have to check in praxis.

will try with and without caraway.
how smelly does it get, made in smaller portions?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by A Thousand Threads

i see, i see! Smaller container means faster fermentation you say? have to check in praxis.

will try with and without caraway.
how smelly does it get, made in smaller portions?

not very smelly-- just the typical sulphur smell of all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussel sprouts, etc). small container also means gases disperse quickly. avoid excess heat and direct sunlight.

go for it man! 1 tablespoon coarse salt per kilo of leaf. remove hearts, shred, salt/mix, work it by hand--no need to use feet! then pack & wait & taste as you go. once you close the lid and refrigerate, fermentation slows down and the smell does not escape the seal.

this is a mason jar:

 

they come in all kinds of sizes.

[Bertrand]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Hesse I always found boring. I read fiction to be shown a world that I never experienced before. Hesse's fiction is like a boring lecture that you need to sit through because the information is quality, but the person delivering it is a monotone bore.

A girlfriend of mine once read me some pages of Steppenwolf. She found it very relevant with what she felt life was like - when in fact, what really was happening to her was that she had to chose who to dump among three men.

The pages she read were really boring.

Looking for a book I never found, I told a librarian that I'd pick whatever book she wanted. She handed me Steppenwolf. I reluctantly read it.

It was extremely boring in its first half. A boring life = a boring way to show it, in Hesse's mind. Which I found a bit easy.
Then, the routine is shattered, and it was kinda good.
I won't read it again though.

I've just finished The Nazi and the Barber, by Edgar Hilsenrath, and I liked it. There's a little dip in form, I'd say, circa 1950, but, that's more than ok.

Next: Laura Kasichke

Oh! And I read Ivan Gontcharov's Oblomov.
The most beautifully told love story I've read in years, even though it's nof half the subject of the book, centered on a man labeled as lazy, the poor weary bloke (how I relate to that).

[Rob Instigator]

New book reviews up http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/

Reviews of The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester and Masks of God: Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell

[schizophrenicroom]

women in soviet society. academic text about Soviet socialist policies and the impact on social roles for women. one of my pet passions so I'm super stoked to read

[demonrail666]

 

Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan

British precursor to Lovecraft and the whole 'weird' genre. Anyone who likes Call of Cthulhu will love this.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

New book reviews up http://rxttbooks.blogspot.com/
Masks of God: Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell

The "There are many things I did not understand about Eastern religions..." paragraph is exactly why the book is so exciting. Nailed it.

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

 

Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan

British precursor to Lovecraft and the whole 'weird' genre. Anyone who likes Call of Cthulhu will love this.

read this bad boy here
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/389/389-h/389-h.htm

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by schizophrenicroom

women in soviet society. academic text about Soviet socialist policies and the impact on social roles for women. one of my pet passions so I'm super stoked to read

funny coincidence, this movie i watched last night, IDA, shows one of those women in those new social roles in poland in the early 60s-- she was a state prosecutor in the 50s and then (at the time of the movie) a judge. sharp contrast to the mad men era in the land of the free.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

 

Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan

British precursor to Lovecraft and the whole 'weird' genre. Anyone who likes Call of Cthulhu will love this.

i've never liked lovecraft but i'll check that out regardless-- though i've been a fan of poe since i was about 12.

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

read this bad boy here
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/389/389-h/389-h.htm

oh hell yes thanks

[gmku]

Can you believe it? I'm still plodding through Cheever's big STORIES book. I took a break to read Salinger's Nine Stories.

I want to get into Denis Johnson's new one.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i've never liked lovecraft but i'll check that out regardless-- though i've been a fan of poe since i was about 12.

With Rob's link you should give him a go. It's a short story - closer to novella really - but I think you'll find him a far better writer than Lovecraft. Although the ideas are very similar.

[schizophrenicroom]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

funny coincidence, this movie i watched last night, IDA, shows one of those women in those new social roles in poland in the early 60s-- she was a state prosecutor in the 50s and then (at the time of the movie) a judge. sharp contrast to the mad men era in the land of the free.

s

yes!!! saw that the other day and enjoyed it

[_tunic_]

I bought the following books yesterday:

 

it's Neil so I'm very much looking forward to reading it.
I already read Neil And Me a few years back, but don't remember much of it.

 

I recently read another set of his short stories, and loved it a lot, especially Sally. So I wanted to get some more.

 

Don't think I ever read something by this guy, but the plot sounds interesting. After they won WOII, Japan rules over California and the Germans over New York

But I still need to finish this bastard first.

 

blerk, don't really like it. But I want to know how it finishes off anyway

[A Thousand Threads]

 

haha.
no. not really.

[Rob Instigator]

My book review blog is banned in China now.

 

[tw2113]

Bucket list achievement unlocked?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by blue

It's not your blog, it's the whole of Google (blogspot is a google service).

well, that was 2h23min of glory, not bad at all

[Rob Instigator]

Originally Posted by blue

It's not your blog, it's the whole of Google (blogspot is a google service).

I had an average of 20-40 original "hits" a week on my blog from China since August. Only two weeks ago the hits from China stopped. I think it is not just about Google.

This is last months data

 

This is last week's data

 

Since August of 2014 China was my second largest audience... Bye Bye China...