Rippchen mit Kraut
Photo: Dontworry · CC BY-SA 3.0

History

Rippchen are Kasseler-style cured pork rib cutlets, and Frankfurt's taverns have served them on sauerkraut for as long as the Bembel has existed. The dish is engineering as much as cooking: the cured meat warms gently in the steam of the kraut, staying pink and juicy while the cabbage sharpens with pork fat. It is the canonical cold-weather order in the apfelwein houses, where the acidity of the cider cuts the richness, and it appears boiled or grilled depending on the house's persuasion.

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Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 1 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 cured pork rib cutlets (Kasseler Rippchen), about 200g each
  • 800g sauerkraut with its juice
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 tart apple, grated
  • 5 juniper berries and 2 bay leaves
  • 250ml apfelwein or dry cider
  • Mustard and bread or mashed potato to serve

Method

  1. Soften the onion in a wide pot, then add the sauerkraut, apple, juniper, bay and apfelwein.
  2. Lay the Rippchen on top, cover, and let everything steam together at a bare simmer for 40 minutes.
  3. Serve the cutlets over the kraut with mustard and bread, or mashed potatoes for the full tavern plate.

Tip from the editors. Never boil the Rippchen hard; they only need warming through on the kraut. The apple and cider soften the sauerkraut's attack.

Where to eat rippchen mit kraut

Rippchen mit Kraut in Frankfurt

Apfelwein Wagner ★ 4.6

€€ GermanSachsenhausen

Apfelwein Wagner proves Frankfurt tradition is a budget cuisine: Handkäs at €5.10 and Rippchen with kraut under €15 on Schweizer Strasse every day.

TryHandkäs mit Musik at €5.10, Grüne Soße at €14.50

TipOrder Handkäs and a Schoppen for the cheapest authentic Frankfurt dinner going; bread comes with it, and nobody hurries you out.

Directions

Zum Gemalten Haus ★ 4.5

€€ GermanSachsenhausen

Zum Gemalten Haus pours apfelwein in Geripptes under painted murals on Schweizer Strasse in Frankfurt, a Sachsenhausen tavern running since 1936.

OrderRippchen with sauerkraut and the house Grüne Soße

TipTwo doors from Wagner, so compare Bembel pours in one evening; the murals inside date to the founding family.

Directions

Zur Buchscheer ★ 4.5

€€ GermanSachsenhausen

Zur Buchscheer pours self-pressed apfelwein under garden trees in Frankfurt's quiet south, the tavern locals protect from the crawl routes each night.

OrderThe house pressing with Handkäs mit Musik

Why locals goIt sits in residential Sachsenhausen-Süd, a 15-minute walk from the tavern strip, so tour groups never make it this far.

TipWeekday evenings are regulars-only calm; weekends from noon bring Sachsenhausen families for the long lunch.

Directions

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