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Choucroute garnie is a French dish that combines long-fermented sauerkraut, frankfurters, smoked bacon, pork ribs, and ribs, all smothered in a spicy herbal broth. The dish takes a long time to prepare, with the sauerkraut needing to ferment for at least a month. The recipe originates from the Alsace region of France and is often made with pre-fermented and pre-smoked ingredients. Some chefs even make their frankfurter sausage ahead of time. The dish is cooked in a Dutch oven and served with boiled potatoes.
Like books, some recipes aren’t meant to be finished quickly. Take Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, or a twisted dish like the sweet tooth, which typically takes more than a month to finish properly. This French recipe combines long-fermented sauerkraut, frankfurters, smoked bacon, pork ribs and ribs – all smothered in a spicy herbal broth made with ingredients such as juniper berries, wine, honey and various typically French spices. Boiled potatoes are often thrown in to make this braised meat a meal.
Choucroute garnie originates in the Alsace region of France, along the country’s eastern border with Germany, where the two countries’ culinary traditions often clash. Choucroute is French for “sauerkraut” and garnie means it’s “garnished” or “dressed.” This fact is clearly an understatement.
Traditional garnie takes so long to make because the cabbage has to be made into sauerkraut and some meats have to be smoked or cured. Some begin their preparations on the day of the meal by purchasing these pre-fermented and pre-smoked ingredients, respectively. Others prepare each item from scratch to ensure freshness and charge gourmet prices with a clear conscience.
Preparing sauerkraut isn’t difficult, but it needs to be done at least a month in advance to ensure optimal fermentation and tangy flavor. Shredded green or red cabbage steep in a container covered with brine. This can be kept in its salt water until strained, just before it’s time to make choucroute garnie.
Some chefs even make their frankfurter sausage ahead of time. This involves grinding up a blend of veal, pork, and a long list of spices like paprika, allspice, coriander, salt, pepper, and mace, then squeezing it via sausage, into greasy, grill-ready links. These are then smoked for a week at a low, aromatic heat. The pork chops in the recipe are also often seasoned a few days in advance by sitting in the refrigerator, covered in a dry rub of salt, sugar, and cloves.
On the day of the meal, a sauce is prepared with choucroute as the star, along with crispy bacon, garlic, onion, white wine and honey. This is enriched with spices such as cumin seeds, juniper berries, thyme and other cloves. As these ingredients begin to fuse, they enter the Dutch oven along with the ribs, pork chops, sauerkraut, and finally the beef stock. The mixture cooks at around 150°C (300°F) for as long as needed to make the dish edible without the use of knives. Towards the end of about an hour and a half, the potatoes are boiled and the sausage is grilled, then added to the top of a proper choucroute garnie.
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