sauerkraut | Sybaritica

One of the dishes on my ‘bucket list’ of ‘Foods to try in their Place of Origin’ is the incredible German-French specialty from Alsace-Lorraine known as Choucroute Garnie. This dish (more of a gargantuan feast, really) is a huge mélange of various pork products slow cooked with Sauerkraut and other vegetables. The main ingredients and flavorings can vary considerably, of course, but the unifying characteristic of the different versions is that the result is very hearty, rib-sticking sort of affair.

Today’s recipe can only be regarded as a poor cousin of the Alsatian specialty as I am doing a very small casserole type dish using just pork ribs with a little bacon for flavor. I am also departing from tradition somewhat by using sauerkraut as a secondary ingredient only. I am not using home-made sauerkraut here and, since I find that most commercial varieties are shredded so thinly they turn mush with any length of cooking, I will instead use coarsely shredded fresh cabbage augmented with some sauerkraut for added flavor. I am going to call this dish an ‘Alsatian Hotpot’ even though I admit that this name is probably a little ambitious given the rich complexity of its ancestry…  Read more