Alsatian Cuisine

Before we left, Lori spoke with a colleague and got some great advice on what to eat in the region. She told Lori about a casserole dish called a Baeckeoffe which loosely translates to Bakers Oven. The story we heard at the restaurant is housewives used to prepare this dish the day before laundry day. They would drop it off at the bakery in the morning so it could be cooked all day while they did the wash and pick it up on their way home.

It's made with layers of potatoes, onions and various kinds of meat. The one Lori ordered had beef, pork and lamb. It's sealed with a layer bread dough during cooking.

I went for a sauerkraut dish but in the Alsace it's called Choucroute. Where I come from you get sauerkraut as a one of the trimmings when you order sausages or ham hocks but here the sauerkraut is the star and the sausages and other meats are the trimmings. This restaurant put juniper berries in theirs and they gave it a great flavour.

When I tried Lori's I said that it was good, but mine was better. When she tried mine she said it was good, but hers was better. I guessed we ordered correctly.

db