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What is Choucroute Garnie?
Choucroute garnie is a slowly baked Alsatian dish combining sauerkraut, sausage and meats (frequently smoked), potatoes and spices.
One of the traditional ways to make the dish is with lager from Alsace, the other one with the dry Alsatian Riesling. Being partial to cooking with beer we demonstrate it here with our favorite beverage.
Origins of the Dish
The French of the Alsace region borrowed the idea of choucroute garnie from their neighbors, the Germans of Schwarzwald and Bavaria.
Choucroute means 'sauerkraut' in French and 'garnie' translates to 'garnished/dressed'. The correct pronunciation is shü-ˈkrüt garni.
The traditional method involves heating up the sauerkraut with beer or wine and pork or goose fat, then adding spices and charcuterie. The dish is also one of those where there are hundreds of variations of the main recipe, both in the method of preparation and the ingredients used, with everyone customizing it as they see fit.
It is a bit of an unsightly dish (perhaps more than a bit), but as soon as you smell it its unrefined appearance will cease to matter.
Ingredients for Choucroute Garnie
Alsatian dressed sauerkraut is fabulous in that it contains everything for a complete meal.
- sauerkraut, onions and red potatoes (you may also add white carrots and parsnips).
- a variety of meats - often smoked. We used easy to find salted pork, bockwurst (veal sausage), smoked bratwurst and smoked pork shoulder (substitute with thick cut smoked bacon). Also try using Polish kielbasa sausage, Strasbourg sausages, slab bacon or pork belly.
- a variety of spices used in Alsatian cooking - bay leaf, caraway seeds, thyme, juniper berries, black pepper.
- malty beer or sweet white wine to balance the sour flavors of the sauerkraut
Kitchen equipment wise all you need is a single heavy bottomed pot with a lid that can be placed in the oven. A Dutch oven works great, or use something similar.
What Beer to Use
Traditionally, the beer the French use in Choucroute Garnie is a crisp, clean lager from Alsace (influenced by the nearby German lager heritage).
The most popular representative is 1664, a pale lager brewed by Kronenbourg brewery in Obernai, Alsace. You can also use lagers from independent regional breweries such as Brasserie Du Pecheur if you come across them in the US.
Keeping things realistic, great alternatives are lagers like Munich Helles, Czech pilsner or amber ales. We used an amber lager this time around.
How to Make Choucroute Garnie
Step 1. Begin by heating the Dutch oven over medium heat and render the fat from the salted pork (or bacon), remove it and set it aside. Add the potatoes and onions in the fat and cook them until they become crispy.
Step 2. Top with a generous layer of sauerkraut and half of all the spices and minced garlic, then arrange half of the quantity of the meats (including the salted pork) over it. Repeat - another layer of sauerkraut and the rest of the spices and minced garlic, then another layer of meats.
Step 3. Finally, pour beer (or white wine) over everything, top with a bit more sauerkraut, close the lid and place the Dutch oven in the oven to slow cook until tender.
What to Serve with Choucroute Garnie
Rye bread is the type traditionally served with this dish in Alsace, along with brown mustard. But you will enjoy the dish with pretty much any fresh baked, crusty bread. Even an oven warmed hot dog bun will taste incredible with the flavored sauerkraut and smoked charcuterie of a choucroute garnie.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Baked Pork and Sauerkraut
Sauerkraut Strudel
Bratwurst and Sauerkraut Bites
Recipe
Choucroute Garnie
Ingredients
- 4 oz salt pork cut in cubes or 2 slices thick bacon
- 1 large onion peeled and sliced thin
- 6 medium red potatoes cut in chunks
- 1 ½ lb sauerkraut
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 links bockwurst or knockwurst
- 2 links smoked bratwurst
- ½ lb smoked pork shoulder sliced or cubed
- 12 oz amber ale or similar beer white wine as substitute
Spices
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon corriander
- 1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground clove
- juniper berries to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- Turn oven on to 300 F.
- In a deep heavy bottomed pan such as a Dutch oven over medium heat render the fat from the salted pork (or bacon). Remove the pork from the pan and reserve it to add it back along with the rest of the meats.
- Add the red potatoes and brown for about 5 minutes.
- Add the onion, stir and cook until it softens a bit, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add a third of the sauerkraut right on top of the potatoes and onion. Add half the garlic, 1 bay leaf, half of each of the spices and half of all the meats (including the reserved salt pork or bacon).
- Cover with another third of the sauerkraut. Add the remaining garlic, bay leaf, spices and meats.
- Add the last third of sauerkraut on top and then pour the beer over the ingredients. Cover with the Dutch oven lid and move to the preheated oven.
- Bake for an hour and a half. Remove from oven and serve.
Video
Poppy Playtime Chapter 3
I've been meaning to try choucroute garnie for ages! Thanks for the recipe and video tutorial. It looks like a really nice twist on traditional sauerkraut dishes. Can't wait to give it a go!
Annalie
This is a great recipe! I made it for my husband and he loved it. I did not have any bacon so I used pancetta and it was great. Thanks for the recipe!
Yesnospin
This is a great recipe! I made it for my husband and he loved it. I did not have any bacon so I used pancetta and it was great. Thanks for the recipe!
Vicky
This recipe of Choucroute Garnie. is wonderful. Something quite different. Thanks for sharing.
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome
I have never heard of this dish - but now I really want to try your recipe - pinned! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party!
Marvellina | What To Cook Today
My husband brought home some juniper berries (His responsibility is to shop or some ingredients I've never heard of 🙂 ). I'm not sure what to do with it but since you dislike it, I might have to find other usage of it or not using it at all 🙂 This choucroute garnie though!! sauerkraut, salted pork, sausages!!! oh my... the carnivore in me is speaking now!
CraftBeering
Please don't let my awkwardness stop you from discovering a good ingredient! I just dislike some things for no apparent reason:). Juniper berries...Cheers to us carnivores!
Barrie Bismark
This is something I can say I've never tried! I will have to give it a try someday! Thanks for sharing. #MMBH
CraftBeering
Thank you for stopping by, Barrie!
Miz Helen
We will love this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday. Have a great week and come back soon!
Miz Helen
Rachelle @ Beer Girl Cooks
I've never heard of this dish and I loved hearing all about it. I bet it really does smell amazing. I'm sure sauerkraut is not easy to photograph, but you sure pulled it off because your pics turned out beautiful! I think just everything be improved with the right beer. 🙂
CraftBeering
Amen! It is all about the right beer:) Thank you, Rachelle.
Jennifer @ Seasons and Suppers
Fabulous dish! My husband would inhale this, as it has all his favourite foods (plus beer 🙂 in one dish. Putting this one on the menu for him!
CraftBeering
Haha, I'd like to see him inhale choucroute:) Thank you, Jennifer.
Nicoletta @sugarlovespices
I'm learning so much, and I'm liking it. Never heard of this dish, even if we're neighbors 🙂 . It does not look ugly at all, you did a fantastic job with the pics and I can smell/taste the flavors. Although I am mostly vegetarian (and a bit pescatarian), if Loreto makes a meat dish that intrigues me, I still taste it and give him my opinion. And I would definitely taste this dish!
CraftBeering
Thank you, Nicoletta! That actually means so much coming from a vegetarian with your skills in the kitchen:)
CraftBeering
Cool! I would try it some day folded into a large sliced or freshly baked rye bread, kind of like a taco fold...But where to get the freshly bakes rye bread around here...might need to learn to bake it myself, lol. Thank you, Dawn!
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen
So as I was reading your post I was like, wow this photography is amazing! I could see these pics turning really ugly. . .and then I got to the part where you said it's an unsightly dish. You totally managed to make it look pretty! And I have to say just how much I looooove sauerkraut! I eat it almost every day, but I've never heard of this dish--I'm intrigued. Hope you're having a great week!
CraftBeering
You crack me up, Kelsie. I tried to choose good looking plates, because sauerkraut, as much as it is sooo good for you and so tasty just doesn't have the looks:) I am really happy to read your comment, thank you!
Dawn - Girl Heart Food
I've never in my life had this, but the flavours sound amazing and it looks super hearty!! And I definitely do enjoy rye bread so I would have to have with this.....and mustard and beer 😉 This looks like something hubby and I would enjoy after coming in on a cold day so saving for later 🙂