What to Eat With Sauerkraut

The rule is simple: sauerkraut goes with fat. Acid and salt cut through richness, which is why the traditional pairings are all heavy.

Breakfast. Next to fried or scrambled eggs. On avocado toast, under or over. With sausage and potatoes.

Sandwiches. On a reuben, obviously, but also on a burger in place of pickles, in a grilled cheese, and on anything with pastrami or ham.

Dinner. Beside roast pork, duck, sausage, or brisket. Stirred into mashed potatoes. On top of a grain bowl. With smoked fish and rye bread and butter.

Tacos. Jalapeño kraut on carnitas does what pickled onions do, with more crunch.

Cold. Chopped into potato salad, tuna salad or egg salad. Folded into sour cream for a five-second dip. Straight from the jar standing at the fridge, which is how most of it actually goes.

Which flavor where. Classic Caraway with pork and sausage. Garlic & Dill in anything creamy or with fish. Beet & Carrot on grain bowls and roast chicken. Turmeric & Ginger with rice and curry. Jalapeño wherever you would reach for hot sauce.

One thing not to do: cook it hard. Heat kills the cultures and flattens the flavor. Add it at the end, off the heat.