Choucroute Garni

Tarynne's Note:

This is a dish my mom would make on an occasional Sunday. We lived near an alpine market so the variety of sausages changed often.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 5 lbs fresh sauerkraut
• ½ cup bacon , cut into bits
• 3 cloves garlic , chopped
• ½ bottle dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons juniper berries
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorn
• 4 cloves
• 1 (12 ounce) piece unsmoked bacon or 1 (12 ounce) piece ham
• 20 -24 mixed sausages , cut into 2 inch lengths (frankfurter, bratwurst, knockwurst, etc.)

Directions:

1. Soak the sauerkraut in a large bowl filled with cold water, and soak for 15 minutes.
2. While sauerkraut is soaking, saute bacon, in a large oven proof pan, for 1 minute.
3. Turn heat to medium-low, add the garlic and saute for another minute.
4. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
5. Squeeze the sauerkraut dry, reserving 1 cup of the soaking water and add the sauerkraut to the pot.
6. Stir well to blend with bacon.
7. Add the reserved cup of soaking water, the white wine, the juniper berries, the peppercorns and the cloves.
8. Bring to boil on top of stove and boil until the liquid has almost evaporated (about 20-30 minutes).
9. Imbed the meats in the sauerkraut, cover the pot and cook in the oven until the meats are hot, about 30 minutes.

Reviews

[Bergy]

Wonderful tasty dish! I like soaking the sauerkraut for this particular dish it gives the dish a very mild flavor. This recipe would lend itself beautifully to the crockpot (next time I will do it in a crockpot). I did not have Juniper berries so used 1/4 cup gin and cut back on the kraut water. I used all smoked sausages. When you say to saute the bacon obviously you mean the 1/2 cup of bacon, not the slab of bacon Thanks for a great dinner Tarynne