Choucroute Au Champagne Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Cut the potatoes and turnips and steam them until al dente. Warm the sauerkraut and bury the meats in the sauerkraut. Bring to a simmer and braise for 30 minutes covered in the oven until everything is cooked through. Add chicken stock or water as necessary to keep moistened during the cooking process.
• Rinse the sauerkraut of most of the salt in repeated cold-water washings. In the olive oil, sweat the onions until translucent. Add the wine and reduce. Add the sauerkraut and seasonings and cook to coat with the wine. Add the chicken stock, caraway seeds, bay leaves and pepper and simmer until most of the liquid is reduced. Adjust the seasoning with salt if necessary.
• Yield: 4 to 6 servings
• Mix the sugars and salts together, then spread a layer in a pan. Place your pork, duck or other meat to be smoked on top of the cure and sprinkle more on top until completely covered. Let stand for 20 to 30 minutes, then rinse all the sugar/salt off, pat dry and smoke in a stovetop smoker.
• Yield: 6 pounds

Steps:

• Line a deep kettle with slices of salt pork, add the sliced onions and chopped garlic. Put the sauerkraut on top with a large piece of salt pork and grind plenty of pepper over it. Add just enough champagne or white wine to cover the sauerkraut. Simmer on top of the stove or in a 300°F oven for 4 to 6 hours. The longer it cooks, the better it will be.
• Smoked pork loin is a natural accompaniment for choucroute. Roast it for 10 to 15 minutes per pound or until thoroughly heated through. Bratwurst, vaurenwurst, knockwurst, and good well seasoned frankfurters are also tasty additions. Use any or all these meats. To serve, heap the choucroute in the middle of a platter and arrange slices of meat around it.
• If the sauerkraut was cooked in white wine, place half a bottle or two splits of champagne in the center of the sauerkraut. At the table, give the bottle a good shake and remove corks so the champagne gushes out over the sauerkraut. Serve with plain boiled potatoes. With this, drink champagne or Riesling.

Steps:

• FISH: Remove the skin from the fish and pierce the flesh of the fish with a fork. Put fish in a deep dish, season with salt and pepper, add 1/2 cup of mushroom slivers. Marinate for a few hours in champagne.
• Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook in a well-buttered pan in the oven for 40-50 minutes, adding onions, thyme and parsley, and the rest of the sliced mushrooms and drizzling the mixture with melted butter. After 20 minutes, add the marinade. Once cooked, keep the salmon warm on a heated platter.
• SAUCE: Pour the strained cooking liquid in a saucepan, reduce to one-fifth, add cream and reduce until smooth. Meanwhile, prepare a Hollandaise sauce, blending egg yolks, melted butter and the lobster butter, and carefully add to the other sauce. Cover the fish with the sauce and the garnish the serving plate with flower petals. Serve hot.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large Dutch oven or oven-proof pot with lid, saute the bacon until browned. Remove the bacon and all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Brown the bratwurst and the pork chops on all sides, then set them aside. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add the sauerkraut and saute 5 minutes. Add the potato, caraway seeds, juniper berries and the brown sugar and stir to combine. Place the browned bratwurst and pork chops on top of the sauerkraut mixture. Add the chicken stock, Riesling and water. Place lid on top and bake for 45 minutes.

Steps:

• In an 8-quart casserole, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the sausage and cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is well browned, about 15 minutes. Add the fennel seed and cook stirring for another minute or so.
• Place about 1/3 of the chopped onions, 1/3 of the sauerkraut, 1/4 of the thyme leaves, and 1/3 of the kielbasa over the sausage. Moisten with one-third of the stock and a little wine. Repeat twice more, layering onions, sauerkraut, thyme leaves, and kielbasa, then moistening with stock and wine. Arrange the diced pork butt and smoked ham hocks on top of the last layer of sauerkraut, sprinkle with the remaining thyme and the black pepper.
• Bring the casserole to a simmer over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2 hours, covered, without stirring. Remove the ham hocks. Trim the fat from the hocks then cut the meat from the bones. Return the ham to the casserole. Add the chicken bratwurst and simmer until the bratwurst are fully cooked, about 30 minutes.
• When ready to serve, remove the chicken bratwurst. Stir the casserole and add salt, to taste. Spoon the choucroute onto warm plates, top each serving with a bratwurst, and garnish with a thyme sprig. Pass toasted bread, mustard and sour cream as accompaniments.

Steps:

• In champagne flutes pour in strawberry puree. Pour champagne over it to blend. It should have a pink blush to it.

Steps:

• Drain and rinse with sauerkraut with cold water, then leave it to drain in a colander. Melt 4 tablespoons of the fat in a large flameproof casserole. Add the onions and saute them over low heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Spread half of the sauerkraut over the onions, first squeezing it in your fists to extract all the water. Set the apple, both kinds of bacon, the smoked sausages, and smoked pork loin to top. Sprinkle with juniper berries and add seasoning, mainly pepper. Cover the meat with the rest of the sauerkraut, squeezing it dry also, and pour over the wine. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside the casserole and press it directly on top of the sauerkraut. Cover and simmer on top of the stove until the sauerkraut is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. About halfway through cooking, pour over the schnapps.
• Half an hour before the sauerkraut is cooked, put the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water, cover and bring them to a boil. Simmer until tender when pierced with a knife, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and keep them warm, peeling them just before serving.
• Heat 1 tablespoon fat in a frying pan and cook the cured pork chops until well done, 5 to 7 minutes on each side. Add them to the casserole 15 minutes before the sauerkraut is cooked. Warm the frankfurters in very hot water until heated through, about 1 minute. Leave them in the water to keep warm, draining them just before serving.
• To serve, taste the sauerkraut and adjust the seasoning. Lift out both kinds of bacon and the pork loin and carve them in generous slices. Drain the sauerkraut well and pile it on a large heated platter. Arrange the meats and sausages on top, with the potatoes around the edge. Pass mustard at the table.