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- Cuisine: French
- Serves 12 as an accompaniment
This is the French word for sauerkraut, meaning ‘bitter herb’, and is a specialty of Alsace, Lorraine and parts of Germany. The dish is finely sliced white cabbage that is then salted and fermented. Traditionally it accompanies smoked pork or sausages.
Featured as part of our Cooks and their Books series, this recipe comes courtesy of Justin North, owner and manager of renowned Sydney restaurant Bécasse, and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 Chef of the Year.
More Justin North recipes
Ingredients
15 juniper berries
10 black peppercorns
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves garlic
8 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
100 g (31⁄2 oz) Wet Salt (page 9)
1 large Savoy cabbage, cored and very
finely sliced
300 ml (10 fl oz) Rendered Duck Fat
(page 274)
2 large onions, very finely sliced
300 g (10 oz) pancetta, cut into a few big
chunks
750 ml (1 1⁄3 pints) riesling
Preparation
Crush the juniper berries, peppercorns, star anise and cinnamon in a mortar then add the garlic, thyme and bay leaf and pound to a fragrant paste. Scrape into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and mix together well. Add the cabbage to the bowl and mix together thoroughly. Cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for 24–48 hours to ferment. The longer you leave it, the stronger the flavour will be. Tip into a colander and rinse well under running water to remove the salt.
Preheat your oven to 100°C (210°F). Heat a large casserole dish and add the duck fat and onions. Sweat for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the cabbage to the pan with the pancetta and riesling. Cover with a piece of greaseproof paper cut to the size of the casserole dish. Cover tightly and braise in the oven for 4 hours. Stir every 30 minutes to make sure the cabbage cooks evenly and doesn’t burn.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Tip onto a flat tray and pick out any large pieces of spice.
Recipe from Becasse: Inspirations and Flavours by Justin North with photographs by Steven Brown. Published by Hardie Grant Books.
If you enjoyed this Choucroute recipe then browse more French recipes, meat recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.
French Restaurants
Displaying 10 of 467 French Restaurants.
| Restaurant | Book Online | Suburb | |
| 1. | Perrins Restaurant |
|
Glen Iris |
| 2. | Morning Star Estate | Mt Eliza | |
| 3. | Breizoz French Creperies | Williamstown | |
| 4. | LA Chaumiere | Darwin | |
| 5. | Le Provencal | South Hobart | |
| 6. | Lebrina | New Town | |
| 7. | Arc of Iris | Margaret River | |
| 8. | The Loose Box | Mundaring | |
| 9. | Petaluma's Bridgewater Mill | Bridgewater | |
| 10. | Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant | Magill |
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