I’ve said it again and again…..one of my favorite regional dishes in Europe is a platter of choucroute garnie (garnished sauerkraut), as served in Alsace, France. The difference from choucroute garnie as served in American bistros and brasseries is enormous. Oh, sure, we do fairly well on our shores in keeping up with the kinds of cured meats and sausages that ride on top of the sauerkraut. But where we fall down, time and time again…..is in the sauerkraut itself! Alsatian sauerkraut is remarkably light, almost fluffy–much of which derives from its incredibly thin cut. Forgive my cross-cultural stretch, but choucroute in Alsace seems like angel hair compared to the thick, spaghetti-like sauerkraut we see here. It truly makes all the difference.

Last week, in the midst of cabbage harvest season, I had the rare opportunity in Alsace to observe the creation of this frilly miracle. There is a sauerkraut producer named Frank (funnily enough) in Vendenheim, just a few miles from Alsace’s capital, Strasbourg. There I was, on a Friday morning, watching the trucks of enormous cabbages come in (some of these green orbs nearly basketball size), observing their entry onto the conveyor belt. There, an enormous corer stamps out the hard center. Then, a trio of machete-wielding Alsatians whack away the tough, dark-green leaves on the outside.

The cabbages roll into the cutter at that point….a whirring blade that renders them into incredibly fine strips in seconds. Are all strips so fine? Of course not, because cabbage has patches of thick leaves inside. So, just as you’d see a grape-sorting line at a winery, you see a cabbage-sorting line at the sauerkraut factory, where workers pick out the “flawed” cabbage pieces…..i.e. the ones that are too thick.

I had the opportunity to taste the raw cut cabbage at this point, and I was already in heaven: not only was it light and fine, but it was amazingly sweet, as well…..an agricultural triumph.

At this stage, an automatic salter shakes salt over the cut cabbage on the conveyor belt, after which (with nothing else added) the cabbage is ready to ferment…..which it does in containers that range from 25-ton capacity to 70-ton capacity! The cabbage rests there, fermenting, pressed by its own weight, for three weeks–at which time the choucroute crue (raw sauerkraut) is ready to be sold. If you were to buy this form of sauerkraut, you’d need to cook it for four hours to bring it to perfection.

And that is why the Frank company (and all the others) also sell a cooked form of sauerkraut. They shovel the raw stuff into huge pressure cookers, season it with juniper berries and goose fat, and cook it for two pressure-filled hours–which brings it to the stage at which it’s ready to heat and serve. Just place it in a big pot with an array of cured meats and sausages on top, steam the meats through over the sauerkraut (approximately 20 minutes)…..and dinner’s ready!

Unfortunately, I do not know of a source for Alsatian sauerkraut in the U.S. However, I do know of a pretty good alternative–available from the Schaller & Weber company, based in New York City. They bring in foil pouches of a cooked German sauerkraut–Kühne Weinkraut Choucroute (from Hamburg, Germany)–that has a light, fine, frilly quality as well. Order some cured meats from Schaller & Weber–or supply your own (kielbasa does well!)–and you’re ready to pack that pot for 20 minutes of steaming.

And there’s one more great detail about Alsatian-style sauerkraut: it is incredibly wine-friendly, as long as you pick a light, dry, acidic white. The local tipple, of course, is Riesling–but not the big Grand Crus, or Grand Cru-style Rieslings, coming from Alsace’s top producers. All you want is a basic dry Riesling from a producer dedicated to the dry-and-crisp style: Trimbach, Klur, and Leon Beyer lead my personal list of choucroute faves.

Guest blogger David Rosengarten is a food writer, cookbook author, TV chef and wine writer. He is best known for his 2,500 shows on the Food Network, and as author of The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook.

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