Choucroute Garnie

Choucroute Garnie

A deep dive in the freezer yielded a one-pound piece of pork belly.  This was left over from a demo, on making bacon.

Definitely, this was not enough to cure for bacon.  Normally, making bacon is what I do with pork belly.

A one-pound piece of pork belly is not enough to justify the time involved in making bacon.  So, I decided to smoke it without it being cured.

This decision was facilitated by my having recently finished a new batch of sauerkraut.  Choucroute Garnie came to mind.

Normally Choucroute Garnie contains sausages with other cured and smoked meats.  In this case, I did not have any sausage on hand.  But I did have some house made Canadian Bacon.

The pork belly was seasoned with my pork rub.  I used apple and mesquite pellets for flavor and lump mesquite charcoal for heat.  The result was delightful!

To make the dish, I simmered some of the fresh sauerkraut with white wine and juniper berries.  After about thirty minutes, I added the sliced meats to allow them to heat through.

Even after thirty minutes of simmer time, the sauerkraut still had a nice crispness.  Accompaniments included cucumber salad; beet salad; and coarse mustard.  

Needless to say, I will do this one again.

#LifeTimeLearning #LifeTimeTeaching #FamilyFood #Sauerkraut #ChouCrouteGarni 


 

As always, your comments or questions are welcome.

Until next time, Bon Appetit Y’all

Leslie Bartosh

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