Choucroute garni (shoo-kroot gár-knee) simply means “sauerkraut with garnish.” Sounds a lot fancier in French, doesn’t it?

This traditional dish comes from Alsace, that border region whose culinary and winemaking traditions are a wonderful amalgam of French and German influences. The basis of the dish is sauerkraut (“sour cabbage”), but instead of the pungent, sour, salty, pickled cabbage that Americans are used to eating with a hot dog or on a Reuben, this recipe soaks the kraut to remove much of the sauer brine, and then mixes it with onions, carrots, and apples, and slowly braises it with chicken stock and white wine until rich and mellow. Cooked in this way (with potatoes, of course!) it makes a perfect bed for a winter feast of pork: bacon, smoked pork chops, sausages, etc.

The recipe that follows may not be a “true” or authentic choucroute, but it’s close enough, fairly easy, and entirely scrumptious. This is really hearty peasant food, and the ingredients are very flexible: feel free to reduce or leave out what you don’t like and add more of what you do like. If you’re going to be gone all day, just turn the oven temperature down to about 300 F; you can put it together in the morning, leave it in the oven all day, and then add the potatoes and meats when you get home to finish cooking while you chillax with a glass of wine.

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In the frugal farmhouse tradition of letting nothing go to waste, I made this with the trimmings from my Newsom’s ham. If you’re slicing into your ham slowly, just keep a Ziploc bag in the freezer, where you store up your trimmings until you have enough to cook with. This is mildly seasoned, with just salt, pepper, and a little ginger, to keep it in the comfort food category. The sorghum gives it a little sweetness, but with a lighter flavor than molasses.

Skin and fat trimmed from your Newsom’s ham plus ham chunks
2 lbs. of navy beans
3 medium onions, chopped into small dice
4-6 carrots, chopped into small dice
2 stalks of celery, sliced thin
1 28-oz. can of tomatoes, puréed
2-3 teaspoons of ginger
¼ cup of sorghum
salt and pepper to taste

The day before or early in the day, soak the beans in cold water or bring the water to a boil, and let the beans soak in this for a few hours. Drain any remaining water off. In the meantime, put the ham skin, fat, and any trimmings from the dried out end cuts into a pot with a gallon of water and simmer gently for hours.

When you’re ready to finish the beans, skim off some of the rendered fat and use this to cook the onions, carrots, and celery for a few minutes, until tender but not browned. In an ovenproof dish, combine the beans, any ham chunks, some salt and pepper, and enough liquid from your ham stock to cover. Cook in a very low oven (not more than 300) for the better part of a day, adding more ham broth as necessary to keep the beans from drying out. An hour or two before serving, when the beans are cooked and the liquid thick, add the tomatoes and ginger, and adjust the salt or pepper.

Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup, or a salad with some smoked walnuts sprinkled over it. Enjoy it sitting in front of the first fire in the fireplace this season or sitting around a bonfire outside.