Growing up, I always though I had somewhat of a strange heritage. My mom's family is 100% Hungarian and my dad's family is 100% Pennsylvania Dutch. So while my friends were wearing green and celebrating the luck of the Irish, I was saving bacon fat and hanging a Moravian star at Christmas. You just didn't have a whole lot of PA Dutch / Hungarian folk running around the streets of Connecticut.
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would even have another FRIEND that had any PA Dutch heritage in their family.
So imagine my surprise when I married a boy who is 100% PA Dutch - born and bred in Amish Country in Central Pennsylvania. His high school was built in the middle of a cornfield and local drivers need to learn to yield to Horse & Buggies.
In the three years since Bruce and I have been together he has introduced me to a lot of the traditions of that PA Dutch that my family lost living so far away and with the smatterings of our Hungarian heritage. One, in particular, is eating Pork & Sauerkraut on New Years Day. The sauerkraut is for wealth in the new year and the pork is to look forward into the future.
I love this meal because you can do it in the crockpot and it is so simple.
You gather your ingredients ...
(our pork roast was about 2.7 pounds)
... put the pork in the crockpot with 1/2 cup - 1 cup of water and add a bottle of beer. I'm not sure what this symbolizes, but it adds fantastic flavor!!
Cook on high for about 5-6 hours (if you have more time you can probably turn it down to low). During the last 45 minutes to an hour, drain the liquid from the sauerkraut and put it in the crockpot around the roast.
We decided to serve it with vegetables and mashed potatoes. Yum!!
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