Alsatian Valley
Continuing down the Alsatian Valley we rolled into Colmar. A good way to describe this fairyland is Germany meets France in Disneyland.
Colmar
Sausage display
We saw some great sausage displayed at a stall and indulged in their locally smoked variety and a piece of Tomme de chèvre for our dinner. We also picked up a cool sausage storage box with a carving knife.
Hotel picnic
The lady assured us that you can keep her sausage out of the fridge in this vented box for up to 3 months (it would never last that long anyway). Since we had no fridge and needed a knife it was a no-brainer. Add a jar of duck terrine, a baguette and, the chilled Pinot Gris from Strasbourg and dinner is served. We picnicked in our hotel room and surveyed what activities we would enjoy the following day.
Isenheim Alterpiece
Waking up the next morning to turbulent weather, the decision was made to head to the Unterlinden museum to check out a particular painting of the crucifix and see what else was exhibited. We managed to make it in the front door just before the rain came down. The main attraction did not disappoint, Mathis Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece is incredibly emotional and profound.
Alsatian feast
Leaving the museum late in the afternoon, starving from the several hours of intense art viewing, we persevered knowing that night we would reward ourselves with a real Alsatian feast.
Choucroute garnie
Ever since cooking school, when I heard the master chef (and dean of studies) André Soltner describe the wonders of a true Alsatian choucroute garnie, I have wanted to eat one. Choucroute is a “porky pot au feu” served over a haystack-sized pile of homemade sauerkraut. Usually served with 5 different cuts of pork (we saw them with as many as 8) it’s slowly braised in wine-soaked sauerkraut and spices.
Falling off the bone
Ham hock, bacon, Frankfurter, ham steak and a few potatoes are pushed into the wet croute. It’s cooked low and slow until everything is falling off the bone tender and all the flavours are melded together. The dish is usually served with mustards on the side (hot and sweet) a basket of bread and let’s not forget the beer. I chose an Edelweiss wheat, which was a touch sweet but worked well with the croute and pork. You could also go with a nice cold Gewürztraminer. Nat, scared of the plethora of pork, opted for a nice half roast chicken and spaetzle with a porcini cream sauce (eating light tonight!).
Pig out
As hoped, the choucroute was a real “pig out”, tangy, fatty, huge, it was the definition of bourgeois fare and it was delicious. Nat’s plate was equally delicious and we traded bites at our little table in the square in front of the Koifhus.
St. Martin’s
Fertility and good luck
On top of the church sits a huge stork nest in a wire frame. We noticed a lot of wireframes on church tops. The stork is Alsace’s emblem and having a stork nest on your house is said to bring fertility and good luck.
Brink of extinction
Storks were on the brink of extinction in the 70’s and 80’s. Only 10% would come back each year from their annual migration to Africa, because of the droughts and being eaten by people in warring areas. A huge repopulation effort was started and is obviously working because we saw loads of the huge birds on rooftops and in fields.
Kugelhopf
Next to the cathedral, we spotted a small bakery selling another Alsatian speciality that we had to try. Kugelhopf
Plan your own Alsatian feast with this tasty choucroute garnie recipe.
- 4 small fresh ham hocks
- 1/4 cup duck fat or oil
- 2 small yellow onions, peeled and finely chopped
- 5 cups sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 2 1/2 cups Alsatian riesling
- 1 lb. boneless pork loin
- 1/2 lb. smoked ham
- 1/3 lb. slab bacon
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 9 medium Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes, peeled
- 4 fresh pork sausages
- 4 smoked pork sausages
- 4 European wieners
- 1 head garlic
- 3 whole cloves
- 6 juniper berries
- 2 tsp coriander seeds
- Place ham hocks in a large pot. Cover with water and simmer over medium heat for 1-1/2 hours. Drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt duck fat in a large heavy pot with a lid, over medium heat.
- Add onions, cook until soft, add sauerkraut, wine, ham hocks, pork loin, ham, bacon, and spice sachet. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and cook in oven for 1 hour.
- While this is cooking, brown sausages in a frying pan and parboil potatoes.
- Add the sausages and potatoes to the choucroute and return to oven for 20 to 30 minutes (total cooking time 1 1/2 hours).
- To serve, remove ham and bacon and slice. Pile sauerkraut in middle of plate and garnish with a few potatoes and a portion of each meat. Serve with sweet and hot mustard.
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