Braised sauerkraut with smoked meats: delish! A specialty of Alsace-Lorraine. Want great meats? Head over to Schreiner's in Montrose. They smoke their own. This is a riff on Jacques Pepin's recipe.
Melt 4 tblsp chicken fat or lard in a huge sauce pan. Cook a coarsely chopped onion with 4 cloves of garlic for 10 minutes. Add three cans/jars/bags of rinsed sauerkraut (6 pounds total). Stir to coat with the fat. Add 3 bay leaves, 1 tsp pepper, 20 juniper berries, 1 1/2 cups Riesling, 3 cups stock, one tsp caraway seeds. bring to a roaring boil, then bake for 90 minutes at 300 degrees. Within the sauerkraut bury smoked pork chops ( one per person) high quality franks, brat wurst, half a pound of bacon, a pound or so of kielbasa sliced into two inch thick pieces. Bake another half hour. Feeds multitudes.
Serve with assorted mustards, boiled potatoes. And Riesling. Dry Riesling.
Me, to my brother-in-law, "Do you like Riesling?"
My brother-in-law: "I don't know, I've never Riesled."
Hmmm ... this isn't too different than my aunt's famous German sauerkraut with pork. She always swore by Libby's glass jars of kraut, and cooked it on the stove on low for the better part of the day.
ReplyDeleteIt is a must (her daughter makes it now) at my family Thanksgiving/Christmas celebrations, much to the consternation of my males, who gag just at the smell! To me, it is the yummiest comfort food imaginable.
is it as healthy as it looks?
ReplyDeleteWhat did I do with my lederhosen?
ReplyDeleteDoors #2 and 3: I don't know!
ReplyDeleteK--your males need to expand their horizons!
Your food distracted me, but, btw, there will be a local blogger get together on 5/8
ReplyDelete