Alsatian choucroute garnie (sauerkraut with meats) is the defining dish of France's Germanic eastern border — a heaped platter of long-cooked sauerkraut topped with an array of smoked and fresh pork products: Strasbourg sausages, smoked pork belly, pork knuckle, blood sausage, and sometimes goose. It is German in its ingredients and French in its refinement — the sauerkraut is cooked with Riesling (Alsatian, naturally), juniper berries, and goose fat rather than simply boiled.
- **Rinse the sauerkraut.** Commercial sauerkraut straight from the jar or barrel is too salty and too acidic. Rinse in cold water, squeeze dry, then cook. This step is where most non-Alsatian versions fail. - **Cook low and long in Riesling and goose fat.** The sauerkraut is layered in a heavy pot with juniper berries, bay leaves, peppercorns, and goose fat (or lard), then drenched in Alsatian Riesling. Cover and cook at the gentlest possible simmer for 2–3 hours. The wine's acidity brightens the kraut while the fat mellows it. - **The meats are cooked separately and assembled.** Each meat has a different cooking time — the knuckle needs hours, the sausages need minutes. Cook each correctly, then assemble on the platter over the kraut.
FRENCH REGIONAL DEEP — THE STORIES ESCOFFIER NEVER WROTE