Choucrute

[Dave Hatfield]

I've done some searches, but can't seem to find any posts about this classic dish from Northern France.

I'm making Choucrute for dinner tomorrow and would appreciate any tips you may have.

I'm using sourcrout bought from a the charcuterie section of a large local market.

I've got proper hot dogs, smoked pork sausage, poitrine and smoked lardons for my meats.

I'll wash the crout so its not too salty and cook it in a nice Riesling with juniper berries & coriander seeds before adding the meats & then slowly cooking it in a sealed crock.

Any hints, tips or advice?

[Nayan Gowda]

Add duck fat when you cook the choucroute; you may need to add a little water too (depending on how much residual you have after the washing stage)

I like to serve it with potatoes steamed, then tossed in butter and parsley (though it's best with potatoes roasted in duck fat).

A good Riesling to wash it all down it obligatory.

[radtek]

Sounds tasty! Didn't know there was an actual official dish like this. I've been making it for years because it just makes sense to do so.

In a pinch you don't even need the kraut one can use sautéed thinly sliced cabbage done with vinegar, white-wine and if you are feeling brave some mustard to kick it up a bit. I'd rather use kraut though.

[FrogPrincesse]

The correct spelling is choucroute. Someone posted a recipe in RecipeGullet that looks pretty good.

It's an excellent way to include pork in many of its forms: sausage (two or three kinds are typical - frankfurters or strasbourg plus a smoked sausage such as montbeliard), belly (unsmoked, smoked and salt pork), hocks, etc. A few (boiled) new potatoes are nice with the sauerkraut, also some mustard "a l'ancienne" for the sausage. It's a fun dish to make for a crowd as you can incorporate a greater variety of pork products.

[rlibkind]

It's definitely starting to be choucroute weather. Saw some bacon-inflected knocks year at the Reading Terminal Market today that would make a nice addition to one.

It's an infinitely malleable dish!

[Stephen Bosse]

Even though I know it's not technically choucroute, I make this dish with fresh savoy cabbage, cut into 1" strips. The cabbage braises with the pork, onions, spices, wine, and vinegar and it takes on the most amazing sweet flavor. Sometimes I'll add an apple and a pear, peeled/seeded/diced, to give it a rounder sweetness. A great way to eat up a lot of cabbage, which I hear is good for you, right?