Sauerkraut with its garnish
=========================== 2025-11-23 *


Sauerkraut is a convivial dish enjoyed with family or friends. This recipe serves 4, but you can easily double or triple it as needed. The meats used depend on what's available. Sauerkraut can be bought raw or cooked; I prefer raw because I can control how it's washed, how it's cooked, and with what spices. Depending on whether it's fresh or older, wash it once or several times. The best way to determine its quality is to taste it. Don't wash it too much unless you don't like strong flavors. Bacon and smoked sausages are cooked with the sauerkraut, as is the shoulder of pork. The Wienners are cooked separately and served with the sauerkraut at the end. The Morteau sausage is cooked separately in simmering water (below 75°C/167°F) during the last hour (or less, depending on its size) of the sauerkraut cooking time.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
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200 to 250 g raw sauerkraut (see recipe) per person, so ~1 kg in this case
250 g smoked bacon
250 g salt pork
4 smoked sausages (optional)
4 or 8 Vienna sausages
1 sausage (Vaudois or Morteau, for example)
1 shoulder of pork (400+ g)
400+ g potatoes
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 tsp caraway seeds
10 juniper berries
1 clove (no more)
1 bottle of Riesling

Preparation:
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In a casserole dish, preferably cast iron, heat a little oil or duck fat and brown the bacon on all sides. Set aside.
Reduce the heat and sweat the onion without browning.

Wash (if necessary - see text) and thoroughly drain the sauerkraut by squeezing it well with both hands.

In the casserole dish, place a layer of sauerkraut on top of the onions and mix. Then add the bacon and sausages that require long cooking times, followed by the remaining sauerkraut.

Add the spices: caraway, juniper, bay leaf, and crushed garlic.

Pour in the white wine (no need to cover the souerkraut - almost the whole bottle) and, if necessary (probably not), add water (from cooking the sausage) during cooking.

Cover and cook for 90 minutes.

Bake the potatoes in their skins, then peel them and add them to the casserole dish after 60 minutes for the remaining 30 minutes.

The Vienna sausages are cooked in the saucisson water for 15 minutes before serving; do not boil them or they will burst.

Serve with mustard, or without, perhaps wholegrain.