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Garnished Sauerkraut
Wash in two different fresh waters one and a half quarts of imported sauerkraut, strain on a sieve, press the sauerkraut between the hands so as to remove the water entirely from it. Line the bottom of a braising pan with thin slices of larding pork, place in two small, red, sound peeled carrots, one small white onion and six peeled, well-washed medium potatoes. Arrange half the quantity of sauerkraut on top of the vegetables, lay a pound piece lean salt pork and one small cervela sausage on top of the sauerkraut. Cover them with the rest of the sauerkraut. Tie in a small cloth twenty-four allspices, one bay leaf and one bean garlic, then place it on top of all. Arrange a few thin slices larding pork on top. Moisten with one pint sweet cider, half pint white wine and half pint water; tightly cover the pan, place on the range for fifteen minutes, then set in a moderate oven for two hours and a half. Remove, lift up the cover, take up the lard (and cloth) on top; place all the sauerkraut (but not the other ingredients) in a dome-shaped mould, pressing it a little, then turn upon a large hot dish. Cut the pork into thin slices and arrange on top of the sauerkraut. Cut the carrots and cervela in slices, then place them one beside another alternately against the sauerkraut, at the bottom, and arrange three potatoes at each end of the dish. Plunge six frankfurter sausages into a pint of boiling water for five minutes, drain, arrange them all around the dish, pour a little gravy from the pan, if any, over all and serve very hot.
This is choucroute garnie under an English name, and it behaves like any long, slow braise: the hinge is a genuinely tight lid so the kraut steams in cider rather than drying out. Almost everything here still exists, though two or three of the terms have drifted.
- Quantities and yieldA quart and a half of sauerkraut is roughly 2 to 2 1/4 lb once pressed dry, about two large jars or one bag of the refrigerated sort. The recipe gives no yield, but six potatoes and six frankfurters suggest it was meant for six.
- Washing the krautTwo changes of water and a hard squeeze is not fussiness — barrel kraut of the period was likely saltier than most modern packaged kraut, and a pound of salt pork is going into the pot as well. With today's product, one rinse and a thorough press is usually enough; taste it first.
- Larding porkThis means thin sheets of fresh pork fatback or unsmoked fat salt pork, used to line and cover the pan. Sliced fatback, unsmoked bacon, or thick-cut bacon (accepting the smoke) all work; the point is a fat barrier top and bottom.
- CervelaCervelas, a fat, mild, garlicky smoked pork sausage — the French and Swiss versions are closest. A knackwurst or a large kielbasa is the easiest substitute.
- "One bean garlic"A single clove, not a head. Twenty-four allspice berries with one bay leaf and one clove of garlic, tied in muslin, makes a bouquet you can lift out cleanly at the end.
- Sweet ciderIn an American book of this date sweet cider is unfermented apple juice, not hard cider. Fresh unfiltered apple cider is the right thing; dry hard cider gives a sharper, more Alsatian result if you prefer it.
- Oven heatA moderate oven is somewhere around 325–375F; 350F is a safe reading. The fifteen minutes on the stovetop first will bring the liquid up to a simmer before the pan goes in.
- The frankfurtersThe recipe says boiling water for five minutes; water barely trembling is gentler, as hard boiling splits the skins. Note also that a pint is scant for six sausages — use enough to cover. They are heated separately so they stay plump and are not lost in the kraut.
- Moulding and servingAny deep bowl will stand in for the dome mould: pack the drained kraut in, press lightly, invert onto a hot platter. Have the platter and the plates genuinely hot, as the fat congeals quickly.
Choucroute garnie is the signature dish of Alsace, where German fermenting habits met French braising, and it is often said to have reached American hotel kitchens with the great wave of German and Alsatian cooks in the late nineteenth century. The elaborate presentation here — turned out of a dome mould, the sliced carrot and sausage set in alternating ranks around the base, the frankfurters ringing the dish — is restaurant service rather than home cooking, and suggests the work of a professional: Alexander Filippini, to whom the page has been attributed, spent decades at Delmonico's in New York before compiling his international collections. The instruction to use "imported" sauerkraut is worth noticing too, and may hint that at this date the barrel-fermented German product was considered distinctly better than what an American grocer stocked.