I can’t account for the abrupt contrast between the dinner the day before and this one enjoyed on Sunday, other than with the fact that everything else I had on tap for an entrée on this warm and humid evening would have involved the use of the oven.

• one 12-ounce pacłage (2 links) of ‘German Brand Blood Pudding’ from Schaller & Weber, allowed to sit, still in their casings, for 20 minutes inside a covered pan of water that had been brought to the boiling point and the flame then extinguished, removed from the water, their casings removed, stirred with a couple tablespoons of butter, an ‘expression sweet’ yellow onion from Norwich Meadows Farm, and one roughly-chopped Honey Crisp apple from Locust Grove Orchards inside a heavy tin-lined copper pan with high sides, served with a dollop of Italian (Asiago) Lingonberry Jam (in Germany it would be ‘Preiselbeeren‘)
• eight small red ‘new potatoes’ from Norwich Meadows Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm vintage glass pot, rolled in a little ‘Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter‘, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground Tellicherry pepper, sprinkled with chopped parsley from Phillip’s Farm
• one 16-ounce glass jar of sauerkraut (simply cabbage and salt) from Millport Dairy Farm, drained and very well-rinsed in several changes of cold water, drained again and placed inside a heavy, high-sided, tin-lined copper sauté pan with one chopped red onion and one yellow, both from Phillips Farm (I think the red onion may account for the pink blush in the sauerkraut), another cored and chopped Honey Crisp apple from Locust Grove Orchards, 8 or 9 whole juniper berries and about the same number of Tellicherry peppercorns, a little salt, one large Sicilian bay leaf from Buon Italia, enough water to almost cover the sauerkraut, all brought to a boil, simmered, covered, for less than half an hour over a low flame, stirring occasionally, and then uncovered for 20 or 30 minutes more
• the wine was a German (Mosel) white, Weingut Axel Pauly Trinkfluss 2014
• the music was Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’, René Jacobs conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Berlin RIAS Chamber Chorus