Ist es Sauerkraut? Nein Monsieur, ist Choucroute!

by Pam, Sydney (Australia)

For the whole world, Sauerkraut is the symbol of German food, along with the bratwurst. Indeed Sauerkraut is very much believed to be the base for all types of central European food, from the Baltic to the Alps, with its origin mainly in German cuisine. For the whole world… except the French…
For the French, Sauerkraut, or rather Choucroute, in its finest, most accomplished form as a full meal comes from Alsace. Alright weither Alsace was French or German has been much debated throughout History, but these days it is French, and so is the Choucroute!

Again I’ll admit that my recipe for the beloved kraut may not be the authentic one found in a proper Alsacian restaurant with enough meat in it to inflict a stroke to anyone who is brave (or big) enough to finish the plate.
Indeed here I make a heavy usage of speck and smoked pork.
(Hence the darker colour of the kraut on the picture, in case you’re wondering)

• Servings: 4
• Preparation times:
  • Active: 20 minutes
  • Cooking: 1.5 hours
• Ingredients:
  • 500g of sauerkraut
  • 4 smoked pork chops
  • a slab of speck (approx 5cm x 20cm)
  • 4 thin sausages (eg. Frankfurter)
  • 8 medium potatos
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 100ml of Riesling wine
  • approx 10 juniper berries
  • salt, pepper
• Steps:
  1. Rince the sauerkraut under cold water.
  2. Chop the onion and crush the garlic.
  3. Heat the oil in a large pot over low heat.
  4. Add the onion and garlic into the pot and stir gently until they become translucent.
  5. Slice the speck into 8 chunks.
  6. Add the speck into the pot and stir gently until it gets a nice brown colour.
  7. Add the sauerkraut in the pot.
  8. Add the juniper berries and pepper (possibly whole).
  9. Add the wine and some water until the food is all covered.
  10. Put the mix to low boiling temperature and leave it for 1 hour over low heat. The pot should be covered.
  11. In the meantime, cook the pork chops and sausages in boiling water and peel the potatos
  12. After an hour add the peeled potatos and pork chops on top of the sauerkraut.
  13. Add the water used boiling the chops and sausages into the sauerkraut up to sauerkraut level.
  14. In the meantime, cook the saussages in boiling water.
  15. Leave to cook for another 30 minutes.
  16. Serve together with a sausage.
• Notes:
  • This sauerkraut is not as bitter as the usual one.
  • Speck brings a very interesting smoky flavour to the kraut. I really like that but I don’t think I’ve experienced that in Alsacian cuisine. If anyone knows where it could be a tradition of, please feel free to comment.
  • Unfortunately, while speck brings in a lot of flavour, it also brings in a lot of fat… I don’t really mind a bit of fat, but if you dislike it you should cut it off the speck while slicing it.
  • Riesling makes a fantastic addition to the food. You can also use Sylvaner, or I think that any dry white wine could do.
  • If you feel like it you can add any other type of pork meat you like, bacon, knuckle, blood sausage, etc. One suggestion I have is to precook the meat in boiling water and later add it to the sauerkraut while it finishes its cooking to soak in the flavours. Sausages don’t need to be added to the kraut as it won’t absorb flavours as well.