One of my sisters used to live in France, Strasbourg for a few years and thanks to her this meal became a part of our cuisine too. I have always loved this food and can’t really remember why we haven’t seen it in our food table during the last ten years: perhaps my husband got fed up with it or perhaps my children were not so fond of it. The main thing is though that I remembered it, made it and really enjoyed it.
We have called this food “surkutti” as a contortion of its French name and though I quite well know how to pronounce the word, it took a while before I found the correct way to spell it… choucroute. Some more investigation and I found also the Finnish translation – hapankaali (sauerkraut). So Choucroute garnie means sauerkraut with meat.
I’m not quite sure if the recipe below is precisely written according to French cuisine, but it really didn’t decrease the culinary delights.
PORTION: 4 servings
TIME TO MAKE: Preparations 20 minutes, baking time 1½-2 hours
INGREDIENTS:
- 400 gr pork neck
- any kind of sausages to your taste (big ones 1, small ones 2-3/diner)
- 400 gr sauerkraut
- 1 big yellow onion
- 4-5 garlic cloves
- 2 tl coriander seeds
- about 10 juniper berries
- 1½ dl pearl barley
- 1½ dl dry white wine
- groated black pepper
- 7 dl water
- 1 meat or vegetable bouillon cube
Preheat the oven to 200°C (428°F)
Grease a suitable sized pot with oil or butter.
Rinse and drain the sauerkraut.
Cut the meat and fry it with chopped onion. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Cook 7 dl water with meat or vegetable bouillon cubes.
Put all the ingredients (except sausages) in the pot, mix well and bake for about one hour. Pour in the broth so that the surface of the other ingredients is just under it.
Add sausages on the top and bake at least for half an hour. When barley is smooth, the food is ready.
choucroute garnie sauerkraut casserole pork and sausages French cuisine
Ruokasirkusta 