Dishes · A classic of Alsatian · Strasbourg and all of Alsace
Choucroute garnie
Also Choucroute, Choucroute à l'alsacienne, Sürkrüt
Sauerkraut braised in white wine with juniper, then heaped with smoked and salted pork, sausages and boiled potatoes.
What makes it choucroute garnie
Sauerkraut, rinsed or not, cooked long in dry white wine.
Juniper, bay and lard or goose fat.
Several kinds of pork and sausage, with boiled potatoes.
Where it comes from
Fermented cabbage kept a family in vegetables through the winter across much of central Europe, and Alsace grows a lot of cabbage. Garnie means dressed: the sauerkraut is the base, and the pork goes on top.
What goes on it varies from house to house and brasserie to brasserie — smoked belly, shoulder or knuckle, Strasbourg and Montbéliard sausages, liver dumplings. The wine is Riesling or Sylvaner, and the same wine goes in the glass.
How it varies
Choucroute de la mer
A newer take with fish — haddock, salmon, prawns — in place of pork.
With pheasant or goose
Richer versions for feasts and the shooting season.