Living here in Pennsylvania we've grown accustomed to the local Pennsylvania Dutch new year's day tradition of having a meal of pork and sauerkraut to bring good luck for the coming year. The locals traditionally have mashed potatoes with the meal but I decided to break with tradition a bit by having some braised potatoes as part of the meal (talked about in a separate post). Having the day off gave me a chance to cook another recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking but I didn't want to depart completely from our local tradition. It was a happy discovery when I found Porc Braise avec Choucroute (Pork Braised with Sauerkraut) in Julia's cookbook! It fit the bill and I was allowed to cook our family dinner.
Family dinner? Wait a minute -- that means I'd need to cook for twelve people, have everything done on time, and at the right time! Uh oh. A lot to do and the recipe called for at least five hours of cooking so I started early (but not quite early enough). It also meant I needed to quadruple the recipe -- that meant I was cooking eight pounds of sauerkraut to go with the meal! This would be a good time to mention the sauerkraut. This recipe prepares sauerkraut in much the same way I came to love it for the years I lived in Germany as a missionary in the 19
Family dinner? Wait a minute -- that meant I'd be cooking dinner for twelve people! It also meant that I'd need to have everything done on time and each dish done a the same time. Uh oh. That's a lot of pressure for me. I'd also have some of the toughest food critics eating dinner with us -- three of my little granddaughters. Add to that a recipe that cooked for a total of about five hours and it meant I needed to get an early start. I thought I did but I could have actually started out about thirty minutes earlier. Did I mention that I needed to quadruple the recipe to have enough for everyone? That translated to eight pounds of sauerkraut!
First thing to do was the preparation of the sauerkraut. I used bags of fresh local sauerkraut but you could use canned. One of the things I really enjoyed about this dish (Choucroute Braisee A L'Alsacienne -- Braised Sauerkraut) is that it prepared the sauerkraut similar to how I remember it from when I lived in Germany in the early 1980's. In the United States we've become accustomed to eating sauerkraut as a sour, vinegary vegetable. What I remember from Germany is that sauerkraut is much more mellow and is flavored with spices (such as fennel) or bacon. That's how this sauerkraut was prepared. It started off by being drained completely from the liquid and then rinsing all of the sauerkraut with cold water. I then let it soak in cold water for about ten minutes, drained it, and then repeated the process. After that, it was drained and then as much of the liquid squeezed out by hand as possible.
Then there was a lot of slicing - carrots, onions, and bacon. Did I mention the recipe was being quadrupled? Carrots, onions, and bacon were all sliced after which the bacon was then cooked part way and then onions and carrots cooked along with it. At this point the kitchen was starting to smell really good! After the carrots and onions had softened nicely, but not browned, all of the sauerkraut was stirred in and mixed thoroughly. The mixture of everything was then cooked together for another ten minutes. You can see from the photos below that the sauerkraut took on a nice golden color.
Now I was ready for the actual cooking to begin -- the sauerkraut was divided into two casseroles. In the middle of it was hidden an herb bouquet filled with parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns and juniper berries. Oh wait, I couldn't find any juniper berries at the store this week so I used a substitution I learned about this week -- equal amounts of bay leaf and thyme. A bouquet was buried into the middle of the sauerkraut in each casserole and then a couple of cups of chicken broth were added -- enough to just cover the sauerkraut. I forgot that I was supposed to add a cup of grape juice (or wine, I use grape juice) but the end result seems to have worked out without the grape juice.
Lids went on and both casseroles went into the oven to cook for two to three hours. It was supposed to be three hours at 325 degrees but I needed to get back on schedule so I used 350 degrees for two hours. Once the sauerkraut was in the oven I turned my attention to the pork. I used a large pork loin that had been divided to portions that would fit (later) into each casserole. Julia called for the pork to be "marinated" in salt for a couple of hours before cooking. I never thought of this as marinating but I suppose it is. When barbecuing I've always called it a rub but apparently the French think of it as a marinade. Just trying to confuse me. In any case, I rubbed the outside of the meat with a mixture of salt, orange zest, thyme, and a little pepper and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Finally, when it was about fifteen minutes before adding the pork to the casserole, it was time to brown the pork. My largest skillet was set on high heat with 2 tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil. The meat was browned on all sides and then put into the casserole on top of the sauerkraut with the lid put tightly back on. That was it, now it just needed to cook for another two hours. I cheated a little and added my remote electronic thermometer sensor probe to the largest section of meat to monitor when it was really done. Then everything was left alone with no stirring or anything.
I'll write about it separately but about 45 minutes of the pork and sauerkraut being finished I started preparing the potato side dish. Amazingly, dinner was served only 26 minutes later than originally planned! I think I passed -- the meat was tender and moist, the sauerkraut was mild and tasted wonderful! Most had seconds and my under three foot tall sous chefs also seemed to enjoy their dinners.
Although the cooking time was a bit extended the actual preparation of this meal was straightforward and done fairly fast. Pretty sure I'll be making this braised sauerkraut again. If you think you don't like sauerkraut, please give this a try -- you'll be happy you did!
I hope your new year is off to a great start and that you had some pork and sauerkraut to to get started with a does of good luck!
Bon Appetit!
Best sauerkraut I've eaten. Skip the meat and go for more sauerkraut.