Korhelyleves - Hungarian "drunkard" soup

Ingredients:

• 10 oz ham shank (I use ham steak since it's easy to get)
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. sweet paprika
• Water
• 2 c. sauerkraut (drained, liquid reserved)
• 6 c. chicken or beef stock
• 6 potatoes, peeled abd cut into pieces (use a waxy potato, not a baking potato)
• 1 bay leaf
• Pepper to taste
• Sour cream
• 5 oz. dried sausage, diced

Directions:Cover and boil the ham (enough water to cover the ham) for 1/2 hour. Reserve 1 cup of the liquid. When cool cut into pieces.Melt the butter and saute the onion until golden. Take the pan off the head and add the paprika and stir. Add the sauerkraut and a bit of water to loosen the mixture. Put back on the heat and add the sauerkraut juice, stock and reserved ham stock. Bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, bay leaf, pepper and ham. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.When ready to serve stir in the sausage and sour cream.Commentary:Why "drunkard" soup? Well, legend has it that it's good for fighting hangovers. It has a bit of everything you crave when you wake up with (or are going to be expecting) a hangover: protein, starch, a bit of fat, sour. Warm goodness to settle your stomach after a night of partying.Even without the party it's damn good!Growing up we'd always go over to my grandparents' house on new year's day and this is what she always brought out.Back then I didn't have a hangover though. My parents? Maybe.  :-)The measurement's aren't really that precise. I just used a whole jar of sauerkraut and all of it's liquid. The recipe I'm basing this on has more directions for how much liquid to use. All precise. Bah! However I'm doing it is what I remember tasting when I was growing up.[smugmug url="http://photos.vec.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=15956166_c6kC8&format=rss200" imagecount="100" start="1" num="100" thumbsize="Th" link="lightbox" captions="false" sort="true" window="true" smugmug="true" size="L"]