Sauerkraut in Russia is a familiar product and is not considered either delicious or exotic. However, this product, familiar to many, is able to surprise and delight lovers of delicious and satisfying dishes. In Siberia, dumplings are cooked with cabbage, Poles are proud of bigos - a dish of cabbage and several types of meat and even sophisticated Frenchmen have a choucroute garnie - a traditional Alsatian recipe for making sauerkraut with potatoes and sausages.
Pick your recipe
You will need
-
- Traditional Alsatian sauerkraut with sausages (сhoucroute garnie)
- 0.5 kg of sauerkraut;
- 2 strips of bacon;
- 4 pork sausages;
- 200 g smoked brisket on the bone;
- 1 cup dry white wine;
- 1 tablespoon duck fat;
- 1 medium onion;
- 3 potatoes;
- 5 juniper berries;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 2 buds of cloves;
- 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds;
- 1/2 tablespoon mustard seeds.
- Lesser Bigos
- 1 cup pitted prunes;
- 30 g of dried porcini mushrooms;
- 500 ml of water;
- 1 tablespoon of pork fat or vegetable oil;
- 1 medium onion;
- 1 swing of fresh cabbage;
- 0.5 kg of sauerkraut;
- 250 g of Polish smoked sausages;
- 250 g sausages;
- 500 g of pork;
- 3 large tomatoes;
- 1 cup dry red wine
- preferably madeira;
- 1 bay leaf;
- salt and pepper to taste.
Instruction manual
1
Traditional Alsatian sauerkraut with sausages (сhoucroute garnie)
This is a folk dish, originally from Alsace and Lorraine, so sticking to its recipe thoroughly makes no sense. There are certain traditions in its preparation, preferred products, technology. It is important that it contains several types of meat, sauerkraut and potatoes, but sometimes, in addition to pork, goose meat is added to the choucroute garnie or, conversely, pork is put instead of goose fat. Some recipes feature sour apples, similar to an Antonovka, and zealots of traditions claim that with only three types of sausages - Frankfurt sausages, Strasbourg sausage and sausages from Monteblo you will get the real right taste.
2
Melt goose fat in a large thick-walled pan. Peel and chop the onion into a small cube. Sauté it in duck fat until transparent. Add squeezed sauerkraut. Put spices - juniper, cloves, mustard and coriander seeds, peeled garlic cloves. Remove the brisket from the bone and cut into a small cube. Cut the bacon and pork into small squares and put to the cabbage. Add a bone from the brisket. Pour in white wine and mix well. Simmer for about 2 to 3 hours under a lid, stirring occasionally.
3
Peel and boil the potatoes shortly before cooking. Cook the sausages. They serve choucroute garnie like this - they put stewed cabbage on a plate, slices of boiled hot potatoes on top and crown the entire construction of the sausage.
4
Lesser Bigos
Pour prunes and dried mushrooms with boiling water and let it brew for 30 -40 minutes until soft. Chop fresh cabbage into strips, chop the onion into a small cube. In a large saucepan, melt the pork fat and fry the onion on it until transparent, add fresh cabbage and simmer over low heat until its volume is halved. Rinse the sauerkraut, squeeze. Dice the pork. Also cut the sausage and sausages into pieces. Put sauerkraut, meat, spices, mushrooms and prunes to the stewed fresh cabbage.
5
Pour the tomatoes over boiling water, remove the peel and chop finely. Add with wine to bigos. Mix everything well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a minimum and simmer for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally and adding a little boiling water if necessary.
6
Bigos is considered a hunting stew, so the composition of meat in this folk dish is also not strictly regulated - the main thing is that it should be of many different types, at least five and there should be sausages and sausages among the meat. They put duck, hare, wild boar, pheasant meat in bigos, but sometimes they also add simple beef. The longer the bigos stews, the tastier it is. Connoisseurs and amateurs claim that this dish becomes the most breathtaking, having stood all night on a cooling stove, the very next day. Bigos is also served with hot boiled potatoes and warm rye bread.
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Bigos in Polish