Minnesota Cooking: Fried Potatoes With Sausage, Sauerkraut, Onion, & Pepper

It's true: You've found the perfect combo of fried potatoes with caramelized onions and bell peppers, fried crispy, with a jar of Frank's Sauerkraut. As you let the flavor of the sauerkraut work its way through the potatoes, you'll find yourself eating a savory treat that will have you begging for more and more.

It's easiest to start with leftover baked potatoes. You have to slice them into thin slices and get a couple tablespoons of canola oil hot in a frying pan. Then, put your potatoes in, and when they have their first hint of rusty-tan browning, add a bunch of chopped onions and bell peppers, and let them all settle into each other. It takes about twenty minutes on medium heat for the potatoes to get color on all sides.

Then you add the sauerkraut and let it steam itself into the potatoes. Oh, yummy.

Farmer sausage is a round, hot-dog-like, textured meat that is a full-flavored pork and beef mixture, and it is tied in a circle. You place it into a pan of water, bring that water to a boil, and then turn the heat down and simmer that sausage for the same length of time you fry your potatoes.

The sausage will plump up and cook, and then when everything is done, you slice up the sausage, dole out the potatoes, and eat like a king.

I sliced up my peppers, onions and potatoes hours before I needed to start cooking.

That was very convenient.

Trust me, Frank's Kraut knows how to make sauerkraut.

It's really good.

New Ulm is a city in Minnesota, and this Farmer Sausage is made at the Cashwise shop. They do a good job seasoning their Farmer Sausage.

I highly recommend them.

We have purchased farmer sausage from various meat shops, but the Cashwise shop rates pretty high on our list.

The flavor is a gentle savory blend of spices, there is a light flavor of garlic, and the sausage itself, cooks up juicy, not dry. The perfect match for eating with fried potatoes.

You put your oil in the pan, and wait for the oil to heat up.

How do you know when the oil is ready?

Well, the easiest method that I know of, is to place one piece of onion in the oil and when you can hear it sizzling and perhaps catch a whiff of it's aroma while it's in that oil, it's time to put your potatoes in.

Any seasoned salt may do the trick but my favorite seasoned salt to use on fried potatoes is Lawry's.

A person could use Greek Seasoning, or Johnny's or some other brand of seasoned salt, but, that is entirely up to the cook.

All good, but Lawry's is my favorite.

As the potatoes are browning, the sausage is lightly boiling.

Then, as the sausage turns darker, you finally add the sauerkraut and let the heat of the pan brown the sauerkraut too.