The choucroute glut

So as I said I drove over to Intermarché, one of our three local supermarkets, a week ago yesterday (on a Friday). I went to the charcuterie counter in the store and asked the clerk if she had any choucroute crue (uncooked sauerkraut). Oh, she said, I'm sorry but we don't sell that product any more. But, she added, I can order you some and you can come pick it up on Monday. How much do you want? One kilo, I told her. She said that would be fine. The supplier will deliver it to us early Monday morning.

I can't remember if it was that Friday afternoon or maybe Saturday morning, the clerk with the choucroute called us on the phone. I'm sorry, she said, but I won't be able to get the choucroute you ordered for Monday morning. If you still want it, you can come pick it up on Tuesday. That was okay, I told her. When I went over there Tuesday morning, the young clerk wasn't there, but her supervisor was. She apologized profusely. Maybe we'll get the delivery tomorrow morning, but I can't guarantee that we will. You can call me if you don't want to drive over here again tomorrow.

Wednesday morning, Walt said he wanted to go over to Intermarché to pick up a few things he had seen in the store's weekly flyer, which had come in the mail on Monday. Good, I said. Can you pick up the sauerkraut I ordered the other day? Sure, he said.

When he came back from the store, he had bad news. The young clerk had told him that the sauerkraut still hadn't been delivered to Intermarché by the supplier that morning. The clerk said she didn't know if it would ever be delivered. We could check back during the week either by coming to the store or by calling her on the phone. Oh well, I said to Walt, I think I'll go over to Intermarché tomorrow (Thursday) and see if the kraut has arrived. If not, I'll buy a head of cabbage and make a potée (a "hot pot" of pork and cabbage) instead of choucroute garniefor lunch tomorrow.

I had already bought all of the cuts of meat the we would have had with sauerkraut, and the same meats go into a potée — smoked sausages, frankfurters, slices of cured pork belly, and my personal favorite, a smoked chicken. Besides the sauerkraut, vegetables like carrots, turnips, parsnips, and steamed or boiled potatoes can be cooked as part of either a choucroute garnie or a potée.

The next day (Thursday) I drove back over to Intermarché one more time. The charcutier counter supervisor was there. She saw me coming and seemed surprised and worried. I greeted her with a big Bonjour Madame, Il y a de la choucroute ce matin? Oui, she said with a smile of relief. I was just getting ready to call you. It finally came. Meanwhile he was busy wiping down the glass countertop where she puts the products people want to buy. She said a man had bought some ham, and when he moved the package liquid leaked out of it all over the place. The man kept moving and spilling more more liquid until she begged him to stop because he was leaking liquid on everything.

She turned away to go back behind the counter and as she walked away she was saying that two other customers had ordered uncooked sauerkraut and theirs' was ready for pickup too. They each ordered a kilo of it, and you ordered a full bucket, right? I wasn't sure I had understood what she said. A bucket in French is a seau, pronounced [SOH]. Did I understand you to say un seau, I asked. Yes was the answer. I said, no, I ordered just a kilo, like the other two customers. I don't think I have enough space in my freezer to put a full bucket in there. Let me go check the orders, the supervisor said.

Non, you ordered un seau de choucroute, she said. That's what the clerk wrote on your ticket. Luckily, When I ordered it, I had thought to ask the clerk for an order ticket with all the details on it and to put the ticket in my pocket as I left home to go to the store nearly a week later. On the ticket, in the clerk's handwriting, it was clearly noted that I wanted one kilogram of uncooked sauerkraut), along with my name (Monsieur Charles in this case) And my phone number. Oh la la, the supervisor said, cette jeune fille qui a pris votre commande ne fait que des bêtises!. She can't do anything right. Now I'm going to have to repack the choucroute and return it to the supplier. Décidément...

She opened the seau (I think we'd call it a tub rather than a bucket) and started to spoon out my kilo of kraut. Attendez, I said. What is the weight of the tub? Five kilos, she said. And the price, I asked. Five euros, she said — one euro a kilo). I'll take it, I said. Are you sure? Yes, I think I can make room in my freezer for it. So I'll take the whole seau.

Yesterday morning, we got all of it into the freezer, one kilo of kraut in each of five plastic   containers and bags. We'll be eating choucroute all winter.Luckily, we both like it. I cooked some for lunch yesterday and it was delicious.