Alsatian classic: choucroute

As a fan of easy entertaining, I am always looking for recipes, which do not require too many pots and pan or last minute preparations but that can still feed a crowd. Old world gastronomic classics offer a wealth of inspiration: their only drawback is that they demand long simmering time. Using a slow cooker, which has become a popular commodity in department stores all over the USA makes simmering easier, as the dish can be programmed and left unattended. Choucroute or braised sauerkraut a popular bistro fare from the north east of France fits the bill with very little adjustment. And Americans have already developed a taste for it: when you eat a hot dog with sauerkraut, you are enjoying a mini choucroute on the go. Choucroute has also star power and its own people anecdote: it came to characterize Brigitte Bardot’s puffy hairstyle. While shooting Le Mépris, Jean-Luc Godard enticed her to let her hair down. To convincer her he did not go down on his knees but instead walked several feet on his hands.
The traditional recipe is described in Alexandre Dumas’ Great Cooking Dictionary first published in 1873. It calls for sauerkraut, the fermented cabbage dear to the German and extolled for its digestive and anti-inflammatory properties, to be first rinsed several times and then cooked in white wine and stock along with preserved (smoked) meats such as bacon, hot dogs and salami. The rinsing will remove any lingering sour taste. My version takes advantage of my frozen resources, the summer vegetable stock featured in my previous post, and uses duck legs and their fatty skin along with smoked sausage and marinated pork. It feeds at least 10 people and only requires half an hour real preparation time. Beer or a white Alsatian wine, which has slightly sweet overtones, is the traditional companion but red Burgundy is acceptable as well. Be sure to serve an array of mustards. Any traditional bistro dessert, floating islands or chocolate cake is a festive ending to the meal especially in the winter. A colder lighter lemon soufflé garnished with seasonal raspberries has my preference in the fall.

Choucroute garnie (Braised Sauerkraut)
(Easy, Preparation time: 30 minutes, dry brining one day ahead, cooking time: 3 hours and 1/2, Cheap)
Ingredients:
4 generously cut pork ribs (5 lbs)
4 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 lbs (1kg) smoked sausages (kielbasa or garlic cooked sausage)
8 duck legs
6 lbs (3kg)sauerkraut in plastic bags
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
30 juniper berries
3 large bay leaves
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
11/2 cups(375ml) white wine
2 cups (500ml)defrosted frozen summer vegetable stock
5 large potatoes peeled and cubed

Material:
1 plastic bag
1 frying pan
1 colander
1 blender
2 6-quart slow cookers or 2 large saucepans
1 saucepan
Cutting board and paring knife
1 pair of tongues

The day before, place the pork ribs in a plastic bag with the salt and sugar. Close the plastic bag, shake well and store in the fridge. *
The day of the meal, clean the pork chops and dry them. Place the frying pan over the medium setting of the stove. Fry the pork on each side until browned. Sauté the duck thighs until nicely colored.
Remove the cooked meats and place them and the sausage at the bottom of the slow cooker’s pot. Do not wash the frying pan. Keep about 1 tablespoon of the fat released by the searing of the meats.
Rinse the sauerkraut under running water. Wring the water out of the wet sauerkraut by pressing it against the colander.
Peel the onion and garlic cloves. Mince them in the food processor.
Set the frying pan on the medium setting of the gas. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft and lightly colored, stirring continuously. Add the sauerkraut seasoned with the juniper bays, the caraway seeds and the bay leaves, and pour in the wine and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Transfer the content of the frying pan to the slow cooker’s pan. Cover and set the slow cooker on the highest setting for three hours and a half.
Thirty minutes prior to serving, set the potatoes in a pan, cover with cold water and cook until easily pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes after the boiling point is reached. In the mean time, fish the meat and sausages with the tongues. Set them on a cutting board, discard the pork bones and slice the pork, the duck legs and the sausages in several smaller morsels. Return the meats to the slow cooker set on the warm setting. Add the drained potatoes.
Serve directly from the slow cooker to keep the content warm for the second serving.
*It is a dry brine and as its wet equivalent tenderizes the meat.
Room temperature lemon soufflé
(Easy, Preparation and cooking time:1 and 1/2 hours, Cheap)
Ingredients:
1 stick butter (113g) at room temperature
1 cup (250 g) sugar
6 large eggs separated at room temperature
4 large lemons juiced, 1 teaspoon grated zest
2/3 cup (160 g) flour sifted
Pinch of salt
1½ cups (375ml) skim milk
1¼ cups(310ml) of heavy cream
2 cups (500g) raspberries
2 sprigs of mint

Material:
10 Martini glasses
1 food processor fitted with the eggbeater attachment
1 salad bowl
Whip
Rubber spatula
1 soufflé dish (8.7 inch or 22 cm) in diameter
1 oven proof dish large enough to contain comfortably the soufflé dish

Preheat the oven at 350 F (180C), with the rack in the lower middle position.
Place the sugar and butter in the bowl of the food processor and beat until homogeneous. Add the yolk one at a time, beating in between. Add lemon zest, juice, flour and salt and beat until well combined. Pour the content of the mixer in the salad bowl. Wash and dry the mixer bowl and whip. Reassemble the food processor.
Add to the content of the salad bowl the cream and milk and whip until homogeneous.
Place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of the mixer and beat until they firm and peaks form.
Mix carefully the content of the two bowls using the spatula to lift the whites.
Pour the batter in the soufflé dish. Pour boiling water in the large rectangular dish and carefully settle the soufflé dish in the middle.
Bake for 45 minutes. When done (the soufflé will hardly have risen and the top will be brown) remove the soufflé dish from the other and let cool at room temperature for at least 2 hours.
To serve, cut wedges and place in a Martini glass. Top with strawberries and a chiffonnade (lobster salad in September 4th post) of washed and dried mint leaves.