Choucroute garnie

This is salt-cured, uncooked sauerkraut as it looks in the container it's sold in. The tub holds five kilograms (11 lbs.) of cured cabbage. It needs a thorough rinsing (or several rinsings) to get rid of the salt, it's cured in. Optionally depending on how old or recent the sauerkraut is, you can also give it a good blanching, which means to put in into a big pots of boiling water for five minutes or more. After the blanching you can eat the sauerkraut raw (in a salad, for example) or you can cook it slow and low for three hours on the stove. It has a sweet taste andd is very delicate and tender.

These are some of the meats you can cook to eat with the sauerkraut. I personally like to have a smoked chicken with it. The sausages are saucisses de Montbéliard from eastern France, along with saucisses de Strasbourg (the largest city in Alsace) or de Francfort ("frankfurters" from Germany).

The sauerkraut itself is cooked with carrots, potatoes, juniper berries, bay leaves, black pepper, allspice berries, cloves (girofle), and a small amount of salt

This is a hot-smoked chicken that I buy at the supermarket and cook for an hour or more in the pan with the sauerkraut. It's beechwood smoked and gives good flavor to the kraut. I cook the slices of smoked pork belly with the sauerkraut as well.

Here it all is on the plate at the table. We bought some Alsatian wines (Riesling, Sylvaner, Pinot gris, etc.) wines to have with it as we eat more of the sauerkraut and trimmings over the next weeks and months.