Recipe: French Bouillon Eateries, Part 2: Choucroute garnie a l'Alsacienne
Part 2 in my French Bouillon series. The prologue for what the series is follows in bold. The recipes comes after.
One thing I find fascinating is that in countries such as France and Italy, there are specific classes of restaurants that serve specific types of cuisine as well as having a set décor and style of the restaurant itself. When I say cuisine, I don’t mean other ethnic cuisines, but rather, in France that serve different types of French fair or in Italy certain types of Italian food. In America, you can, of course, go to a Chinese restaurant or an Indian or a BBQ joint, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate the price point or the type of restaurant within those culinary traditions. In France, there are the small corner restaurants, Bistros, that generally serve French staples as well as moderately priced wine and other alcoholic beverages. In Italy, the cuisine I am the most familiar with there are the local small cheap restaurants, Osterias, and then the more formal, but still reasonable Trattorias, and finally the Ristorante, much more formal with secondi as well as pasta and antipasta. The closest thing we have to the French Bistro, or Italian Trattoria, is “the diner,” although even that changes names depending on your place in our nation. On the east coast, indeed they are called diners, but on the west coast we call them coffee shops, etc. When you visit a diner, you generally know the type of food available: breakfast all day-any way, burgers, and sometimes other blue-plate dinner specials: fried chicken, meatloaf, etc.
When you visit a French Bistro, generally you know you are going to be eating Bistro food at a restaurant that caters to the middle class / local neighborhood. French Bistros have caught on in America compared to other French eateries. Some of the Bistro staples have become commonplace: steak-frites, soupe a l’oignon, braised lamb shanks; however, in France, a “new” culinary wave is taking place: the revival of French Bouillons. I recently became aware of this because of an article by the New Times chronicling the revival and reviewing six of their favorite restaurants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/travel/affordable-dining-in-paris.html
The term Bouillon comes from the French word for broth and certainly bowls of this simple comfort food would be expected in Bouillons. The restaurants started in the late 19th or early 20th century and were known for “a bargain-priced meal that promised to be surprising for both its quality and reasonable price: less than 20 euros, or about $23, for a three-course dinner with a glass of wine.” They are traditionally housed in large halls which allow them to serve a lot of people at lower prices with high turnaround. These Boullions were “working-class restaurants that thrived in Paris during the 19th century. ‘In an age of globalization, eating a meal at a bouillon is an affirmation of Gallic identity, since the comfort food we serve is so traditionally French,’ said Christophe Joulie, director of the Groupe Joulie, which owns and runs a number of brasseries in Paris, along with Bouillon Chartier, the 1896 vintage bouillon the company acquired in 2006.
By ‘traditionally French,’ Mr. Joulie was referring to dishes like marinated leeks, canard confit (duck preserved in its own fat) and choucroute Alsacienne (sauerkraut garnished with pork and sausage). ‘Everyone loves a bargain, especially at a time of economic uncertainty.’ he said. ‘A three-course meal of freshly cooked, on-the-premises food for 20 euros served in 30 minutes — has never been more popular.’ (So popular, that Mr. Joulie revived the original second address of Chartier near the Gare Montparnasse on the Left Bank in February.)”
And so, with that, I have decided to start my first cooking series on Gourmand Film Writer. Inspired by this article, I have decided to dive into French country food typically served at Boullions. As a means of saving money, many of the recipes use tough cuts of meat or reduce the amount of a protein in a meal to level out the cost. The food has been truly delightful. Fresh, complicated, and dare I say, new to me. It is indeed simple food, which in some respects remind me more of Italian cuisine, but there’s no mistaken that the flavor profile is truly French. Some of these recipes I have taken and altered from greats like Jacques Pepin; others I have been inspired by the recipe and tried my own editions.
As I’ve grown older, I’ve developed a palette for two of the often lesser thought about tastes: sour and bitter. As a child, I liked sour candy, but sour “food” meant food that had gone bad. I enjoyed pickles, but I didn’t like other pickled vegetables. Don’t even think about getting me started on German Sauerbraten (although I love the dish now). I preferred creamy dressings to vinegar heavy ones. My… how times have changed. But, even I went into this particular dish, Choucroute garnie a l”Alsacienee,” with some hesitation. I like sauerkraut (what the French call choucroute), but usually as a condiment for a sausage or a hot dog. This particular dish took the sauerkraut and made it the “starch” in a meal. This recipe, adapted from Jacques Pepin’s incredible recipe, made it simple and delicious. I’ve never had sauerkraut quite like this: soft and velvety, delicate and slightly herbaceous with a good amount of black pepper and cooked with smoked sausage and pork to provide that unctuousness that is exquisite.
This dish from the Alsace region of France is generally eaten during the winter, but I found it wonderful to have during the spring as well.
One of the tricks Jacques Pepin has you use is to begin with store bought sauerkraut and doctor it to make it your own. I tried once following his recipe and liked it, but I missed an herbaceous element and ended up adding some herb de provence, giving it a wonderful hint of herbs to counter the bold flavors of the bayleaf, black pepper, juniper berries, and caraway seeds.
This is the second entree in my “Bouillon” series about French country food. In France, the tradition was that there was one oven in a town and so women would take family meals to cook in the oven in the morning, after the baking of bread was done, and then pick it up later in the day. This dish cooks in the oven, low and slow, providing a wonderful depth; but, like much country food, it leans more heavily on vegetables (in this case sauerkraut/choucroute) than proteins. The pork and sausage are really used as a flavoring in this dish. Cooking them in the choucroute makes the entire dish.
Serving this with a number of different mustards is a must. I like a hot mustard and or a grainy one, but using any is welcome. Also serving it with a big piece of bread to help sop up liquid is a great idea.
Ingredients:
2 28.5 ounce jars of sauerkraut or if you can get it the fresh in a bag, it’s even better.
1 lb of pork “steaks” with bone in. You want a cut of pork that will take a long time to cook, aka, not lean pork chops but country ribs or pork steaks, etc.
Pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
10 juniper berries
3 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon of caraway seeds
1 teaspoon herb de provence
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup of dry white wine
1 cup of chicken stock
1 smoked beef sausage
Mustard for service
Begin by open the jars or packages of sauerkraut and placing them in a colander. Rinse them under cold water continually, using your hands to delicately toss the sauerkraut for 2-3 mins. Then allow to sit in the colander and drain.
In a large dutch oven, begin by heating 2 tablespoons of peanut oil on medium high to high heat. Then using a towel, make sure that your pork steaks are dry. Rub with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar. Place into the hot pan and sear on both sides. Do not overcrowd; you want the meat to sear, not steam. When they are browned on both sides, remove and reserve on a plate.
Take the last tablespoon of oil and add it to the pan if it needs it. If there is a lot of oil still, no need. Add the onion and saute the onion over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. You are not trying to add color to it, but rather cook it through till tender and translucent. When that is done, add in the garlic and stir for another minute.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Make sure to stir the bottom of the pot to release all of the browned pork bits. This will flavor the sauce.
At this point, you want to preheat an oven to 325. After starting that, you begin adding to the wine, onion and garlic mixture on the stove: the bayleaf, herb de provence, caraway seeds, and juniper berries. Bring to a boil.
At this point when it is boiling, add in the 1 cup of chicken stock. Add the pork steaks back to the pan one at a time. You want to layer this. So 1 pork steak goes in. Take the smoked sausage and cut it into pieces. Add a couple of pieces into the pot. Then top with sauerkraut and stir, making sure the spices are spread throughout. Then repeat with each steak until done. If there is not enough liquid, simply add water to make sure that all of the pork is covered. Place a lid on top and slide into the oven for 3 hours.
When it is done, you may want to drain some of the liquid off, but strain to serve and break the pork into pieces and mix throughout. Serve with mustard and bread.
