Choucroute garnie: sauerkraut with wine, bacon and sausage

Choucroute is an Alsace sauerkraut dish. The recipe of the Alsace winegrowers (Vins d’Alsace) braises the sauerkraut with onion, juniper berries, bay and cloves, together with smoked meat, Montbéliard sausage, potatoes, white wine and stock, and serves Strasbourg sausages with it. This is a simplified home version.

Serves 4 as a main course · Preparation: 20 min · Cooking: 100 min

Times are guidelines; preheat during preparation where possible. Allow extra time to cool food before storing it.

Equipment

Large casserole with a lid, small pan for the frankfurters, pan for the potatoes.

Ingredients

• 1000 g fresh sauerkraut
• 150 g peeled onion
• 30 g lard or unsalted butter
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 150 ml water
• 8 juniper berries
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole cloves
• 300 g smoked pork belly in one piece
• 300 g smoked sausage, such as Montbéliard or Dutch rookworst
• 4 Strasbourg frankfurters, about 200 g in total
• 600 g waxy potatoes
• 5 g salt for the potato water

Method

1. Taste the sauerkraut. If it is very sour, rinse it once briefly in cold water and squeeze it out well. Pull the strands apart and finely chop the onion.
2. Melt the lard or butter in the casserole and soften the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the sauerkraut, wine, water, juniper berries, bay leaves and cloves and stir.
3. Lay the piece of pork belly on the cabbage, bring to the boil, cover and braise over low heat for 1 hour. Check after 30 minutes that there is still liquid; add 50 ml water if needed.
4. Add the smoked sausage next to the pork belly and braise for another 30 minutes. If you use a raw smoked sausage, follow the cooking time on the pack; it must be cooked and hot all the way through.
5. Peel the potatoes, boil them in salted water for 20 minutes until tender and drain. Warm the frankfurters for the last 10 minutes in hot but not boiling water so that they do not split.
6. Remove the bay leaves and cloves from the cabbage as best you can. Slice the pork belly and sausage and arrange everything with the potatoes on a large platter. Serve hot.

Storage

Cool leftovers within 2 hours and refrigerate covered at 4 °C. Eat within 2 days. Reheat once until steaming hot throughout.

Allergens

Sulphites (wine; sometimes also in sauerkraut) and milk if butter is used. Sausages may contain milk, mustard, celery or gluten; the product labels give the relevant information.

Sources & image credits →