Express sauerkraut

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 6 people, you will need:

• 1 500 g raw sauerkraut
• 2 1 Morteau sausage
• 3 250 g smoked pork belly (or thick cut streaky bacon)
• 4 250 g pork shoulder
• 5 500 g potatoes
• 6 1 glass dry white wine
• 7 1 onion
• 8 3 tablespoons goose fat
• 9 ½ lemon
• 10 salt
• 11 pepper
• Total weight: 2,185 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
42 min.	1 hour 42 min.	2 hours 24 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Peel and chop 1 onion.
2	Peel and wash medium size 500 g potatoes. If they are too big, cut into 2 or 4, it's important that they are of similar size for even cooking.
3	Cut 250 g smoked pork belly (or thick cut streaky bacon) and 250 g pork shoulder into fairly large pieces. Melt 3 tablespoons goose fat in a large pan on high heat fire, and when lightly smoking add pieces of meat.
4	Brown all over. This is not to cook the meat, so it only takes 1 or 2 minutes each side. When meat is browned, remove from pan and leave on a plate. If you have a lot of meat, do this in stages.
5	When all the meat is removed, add chopped onion, salt, pepper and mix well.
6	Cook onion gently on its own for 2 minutes without letting it colour (it should not fry).
7	Add 500 g raw sauerkraut, stir well.
8	Pour in 1 glass dry white wine, if possible a wine from Alsace like Sylvaner or Riesling, stir again.
9	Put meat on top and 1 Morteau sausage that has been pricked all over with a sharp knife. Turn heat to low, cover, and leave to cook for 30 minutes (or more).
10	After this time, remove meat and sausage, add juice of ½ lemon, mix well, add potatoes, and put meat and sausage back in. Leave to cook 30 minutes covered, then 30 more minutes uncovered. Check if potatoes are done: a knife should go through easily.
11	Choucroute should be served at the table: the whole dish is put in the centre of the table; one of the guests cuts the sausage into thick slices, then everyone serves himself and can come back for more.

Remarks

Sauerkraut is one of those amazing dishes that can be reheated any number of times, each time tasting even better. The very best, in my opinion, is when the cabbage starts to brown a little and caramalise - a real treat.
you can adapt the recipe to your taste, or what you have available. However, it's a worth including at least one piece of smoked pork; the taste is so different, and so good!
As for wine, I would insist a dry white is best. I'm not a fan of Gewurztraminer, which seems too aromatic and sweet for this dish, but it's a matter of personal taste.
Of course this is not "the" Alsatian sauerkraut recipe, so no need to send in barbed comments on the subject...

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