My signature NY dish has been Choucroute Garni pretty much every year since being fed it by my boss’s Alsatian wife at the dawn of 1974 – that’s basically braised kraut with a riot of pig products, all simmered low and slow with onion, a cut-up apple maybe, and some juniper berries (which I learned to tie in a little cheesecloth bag). The dish has been getting simpler and simpler, especially since Mrs. O declared herself vegetarian, but this year I totally dropped the ball. So here it is almost the middle of January and I do have a jar of Kreugermann’s (made in L.A. and very good), a package of fresh bratwurst from Trader Joe’s and a chunk of jowl bacon I bought in Nashville.
I don’t rinse the kraut anymore – I hate its being bland – but I drain and squeeze it dry. I start a chopped onion (and cut-up Granny Smith if using) in some lard or duck fat, and when that get soft and fragrant stir in the kraut. Keeping the heat medium-high the kraut gets turned over and stirred and turned some more until it’s hot and greasy, then the pork (seasoned if fresh, but smoked and salty is traditional) gets nestled into the middle, the juniper berry bag gets tucked in, a cup of heated dry-but-fruity white wine is poured over and the lid goes on. Then it’s either put to simmer on a flame-tamer (or just low if one is using electricity) or into a 350º oven for about an hour. Assuming I have both some sausages and room for them (oh, and fresh ones should be browned first, sorry!) I tuck those in around the edges and push them below the surface, and figure on another 40 minutes or so.
In my case, I have this dandy little-but-heavy tinned copper cocotte I bagged on a trip to Paris, sweet as heck but of maybe 2 liters capacity … so I will probably have room for MOST of the kraut and two or three of the brats, plus that bacon chunk. That’s fine – I’ll probably be the only one eating it, and I’ve had plenty of good luck already anyway!
