Choucroute garnie (White cabbage with wine)

 

                This robust dish, a combination of cabbage (either fresh or pickled) and smoked meat and sausages, is a prime exemple of the German influence on the cooking of its neighbor, the French region of Alsace. A peasant-style dish with no single recipe, Choucroute garnie à l'Alsacienne, to give it its full title, ushers in the winter, with many towns in Alsace holding choucroute festivals in September and October.

                Many versions of this recipe substitute sauerkraut for the fresh cabbage ; fresh cabbage is used in one of Escoffier's famous recipes.

Serves 8

• 1 whole white green cabbage
• 2 ml salt
• 2 ml ground black pepper
• 500 gr pork belly
• 1 small ham hock, about 500 gr
• 2 legs smoked duck, if available
• 2 onions, each studded with 2 cloves
• Bouquet garni
• 15 ml juniper berries (tied in muslin)
• 1 bottle Riesling
• Chicken stock
• 1 strasbourg sausage or smoked pork or smoked pork and beef sausage

1. Discard the coarse outer leaves and stalk from the cabbage ; place the cabbage in a large saucepan and add salt and pepper.
2. Blanch the pork by cooking it in boiling water for 3 minutes ; drain well and add to the saucepan with the cabbage, ham hock, smoked duck, onions, bouquet garni and juniper berries.
3. Add the wine and sufficient stock to just cover the cabbage ; cover and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Remove the pork and set aside ; continue to simmer for another 1 to 1½ hours, or until the cabbage is very tender. (Pierce with a satay stick to test).
5. Return the pork to the pan ; add sausage and poach until cooked, about 10 minutes.
6. When the sausage is cooked, remove and discard the bouquet garni, onion and juniper berries ; remove the pork, ham hock, duck legs and sausage and slice thinly.
7. Drain the cabbage well, place on a serving plate and cut into wedges ; arrange the meat slices around the cabbage.

In Alsace a spicy Gewurzttraminer would be served.

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