Choucroute (Braised Sauerkraut)

Ingredients

• sauerkraut
• salt
• pepper
• bardes of pork fat
• carrots
• medium onions
• bouquet garni
• juniper berries
• goose fat or lard
• blanched belly bacon
• white Consommé
• ham
• bacon
• Frankfurt or Strasbourg sausages

Instructions

1. If the sauerkraut is a little old, soak it in cold water for a few hours; otherwise use fresh sauerkraut.
2. Drain the sauerkraut if it has been soaked and press it to expel the water.
3. Pull it apart carefully so that no matted clumps remain, then season it with salt and pepper.
4. Line a braising pan with bardes of pork fat and put in the sauerkraut.
5. Add, for 5 kilos of sauerkraut, the carrots, the clove-stuck onions, the bouquet garni, the juniper berries enclosed in a small cloth bag, the goose fat or lard, and the blanched belly bacon.
6. Moisten just level with white Consommé, cover with bardes and bring to the boil.
7. Cook in the oven, covered, for 4 hours, withdrawing the belly bacon after one hour of cooking.
8. Withdraw the vegetables, bouquet garni and juniper; drain the sauerkraut well and dish it up in a timbale.
9. Surround it with thin slices of ham, rectangles of bacon and poached Frankfurt or Strasbourg sausages.