Effortless Choucroute Garnie at Home

Adrien and I were going on our daily walks when we came across Polonia Sausage House, our friendly neighbourhood Polish deli. Neither Adrien nor I have been to an exclusively Polish deli, so we decided to pop in to check it out.

Polonia Sausage House is a modest size shop with lots of canned, non-perishable goodies from pickles to meats neatly stocked up to the ceiling. 

Behind the counter displayed a few loaves of leftover bread from that morning. Specialty candies and condiments reminiscent of “my childhood” or “home” fill the aisles and, of course…all the different types of kielbasas you can think of.

We made our way around the store, staring blankly at the Polish words on every container until Adrien saw an enormous jar of sauerkraut that inspired us to Google the rest of the ingredients for a choucroute garnie.

Since we already had most of the spices at home, all that was missing was the smoked meats… Which was conveniently not a problem. 

So if you’re not familiar, you’re probably already wondering…

What is a “Choucroute Garnie”?

If you’re not French like me (May), you’re probably thinking…

“a cHouCroUtE gArniE?, sounds fancy!”.

Au contraire…

To describe this dish as simple as I can: It’s cooked sauerkraut with a medley of different cuts of pork simmered in a white wine broth. It’s wholesome, it’s hearty, and it’s mighty delicious. Some say it’s the perfect dish to have post skiing or snowboarding.

But, if you’re like me and lack the gift of sports and various other hand-eye coordinated activities, it’s okay.

This dish forgives you of that… and all your other shortcomings. 

Now you’re probably wondering, this dish doesn’t seem all that French… Well, you’re right.

Reminiscent of Schlachteplatte, a similar German dish is an example among other variations across Europe.

In principle, there is no fixed recipe for this dish. Any preparation of hot sauerkraut with meat and potatoes could “do the job.” But in practice, there are certain traditions, favourite recipes, and stereotypical garnishes that are more easily called choucroute garnie than others.

Choucroute Garnie is a dish originally from Alsace, a cultural and historical region in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. Alsatian cuisine incorporates Germanic culinary traditions and is marked by the use of pork in various forms. Alsatian food is synonymous with conviviality; the dishes are substantial and served in generous portions. 

As I said, this dish is not as pretentious as it sounds, but if you feel the need to bring it into existence, you could totally swap out the riesling with champagne to make a Choucroute Royale.

For this dish, we followed a recipe from Chef Damien at 750g.

This dish is quite simple, you literally just throw everything in a pot and let it cook for a while.

I’m sure there is a slow cooker variation of this somewhere on the internet if you want to simplify the process even more.

Effortless Choucroute Garnie Recipe

Choucroute Garnie is the perfect French winter dish that can be easily recreated in the comforts of your own home. Follow our effortless recipe and tips to execute this dish at home.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 1.5 kg raw sauerkraut
• 300 g firm potatoes – cut in 4's
• 1 onion
• 1 litre chicken broth
• 2-3 Polish kielbasa
• 1 bottle riesling
• 2 bay leaves
• a few sprigs thyme
• 15 juniper seeds
• 300 g smoked Polish ham
• 300 g smoked Polish bacon
• 30 g lard – we used unsalted butter

Instructions

 

• Chef Damien recommends using a casserole dish or even a dutch oven, but we had neither of those so we got out our good old trusty stainless steel soup pot. 
• Before cooking, make sure to rinse the sauerkraut to remove the acidity. You’ll have to do this a few times and then, set it aside.
• In the pot of choice, melt a little lard (we used unsalted butter) and add chopped onions and sauté for 1 minute. 
• Place half of the sauerkraut at the bottom of your pot, then add all your meats on top. Cover the meat with the remaining sauerkraut and bay leaves.
• Pour in the bottle of riesling and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
• At the 1 hour and 30-minute mark, add the potatoes and finish cooking for 30 mins.
• Serve with tons of Dijon mustard and pair with your favourite Gewürztraminer, Riesling or Pinot Blanc.

Notes

Unfortunately, we didn’t have juniper berries, but I hear that you can substitute this with caraway seeds.

Keyword Choucroute, Choucroute Garnie, French Cuisine, Winter Dishes

The Result

Verdict: Yum!

It’s definitely a hearty dish and certainly more rewarding during colder months. The smoked meat we picked up from the Polish deli worked great and I’m convinced that you can use just about any type of smoked meat out there. I think the secret is just making sure you do include some fattier pieces to richen the dish.

Would we make this again? Absolutely.

The recipe we followed was pretty straightforward, but I know some other recipes out there will ask for a few more spices, and some may even suggest you make your own sauerkraut from scratch.

What we’d do differently for next time…

Many people have suggested to grill the meats before throwing it in the pot, so we’ll definitely take that into consideration. 

To help strip the acidity from the sauerkraut, Chef Damien also threw in a chopped apple to cook with the onions before throwing the sauerkraut in. For whatever reason, it was mentioned in the video but not in the written instructions so we missed this step.

Final Thoughts

It seems like there are no hard or fast rules for preparing this dish since different cultures have their own spin on this dish. And I can’t help but wonder what other unique variations exist (or have yet to exist). 

Since food seems to be a reflection of the culture within the space it occupies, I wonder…

Could I get away with substituting the traditional meats with wild Canadian smoked salmon? Or how about some Montreal smoked meat?

Perhaps some smoked Chinese “Char Siu” Pork? Or “Larou”? (Chinese pork belly)

For those of your reading, are any of your grandparents rolling in their grave? — Have I gone too far?