Sea sauerkraut with three fish Alsatian recipe

A sea sauerkraut with three fish (haddock, salmon, cod) with an ultra-delicious sauce that is much lighter than white butter. Adaptation of the recipe from Alsatian Chef Baumann, its inventor.

Guy-Pierre Baumann takes over the management of the Alsatian Kammerzell house at the foot of the cathedral in Strasbourg in 1987. Thanks to this recipe for sauerkraut with three fish, he made this establishment famous.

Arrived in Paris at 18 with CAP in hand, became emblematic ambassador of Alsatian gastronomywith several Alsatian establishments, it is a bit one of the pioneers of chefs who approach catering as a businessman with multiple large breweries.
He remained the owner of the Kammerzell house until 2009. He died in September 2022, at the age of 82, his signature dish is still served in the establishment.

The original recipe for sea sauerkraut

It can be found on the website of Maison Kammerzell, invented by chef Guy-Pierre Baumann.

Ingredients for 4 people:
Sauerkraut: 1.2 kg of sauerkraut, 3 small onions, 3 cloves of garlic, 10 g of juniper berries, 5 g of cumin, 1/2 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme, 2 to 3 pinches of coarse salt, 5 to 6 turns of the pepper mill, 20 cl of dry white wine (Riesling, Sylvaner or white Sancerre), 1 glass of water, 70 g of fat goose.
The fish: 400g of smoked haddock fillets, 400g of salmon fillets, 400g of halibut, 300g of mussels.
The sauce: 400g of butter, 4 chopped shallots, 15cl of spirit vinegar, 10cl of white wine, 15cl of crème fraîche

The chef’s instructions :

• Sauerkraut is prepared by browning onions and garlic in goose fat. Then we add the raw sauerkraut previously washed in lukewarm water twice, the aromatics (juniper berries, cumin, bay leaf, thyme) in a closed muslin, two glasses of white wine, a glass of water, coarse salt and freshly ground pepper. Leave to simmer covered for 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Fish: the haddock is reheated in milk for 10 minutes. The white fish is baked in the oven in a dish with salt, pepper, butter, chopped shallots, white wine and a glass of water, covered with aluminum foil, in a hot oven for 5 minutes. The recipe on the site does not mention cooking salmon or mussels!
• The sauce: We fry and reduce chopped shallots, vinegar and white wine until dry. When there is no more liquid, add the cream. Then the butter little by little, stirring with a whisk. Add salt, pepper and filter through a strainer.

The difference between Baumann’s recipe and mine

Sauerkraut

I use already cooked sauerkraut, the one that delicatessens sell for classic meat sauerkraut. It works really well and makes this dish so easy and quick to prepare!
But if you feel like it, then follow his recipe, I don’t have anything better to suggest!

So I use cooked sauerkraut with 2 onions that I previously browned in butter or when I have duck fat. Sometimes with some smoked bacon.
I reheat the sauerkraut with these pan-fried onions by adding a little water and possibly a little dry white wine.

Potatoes

I add potatoes. I make them cook peeled in steam or salted water. Once cooked, I add them to my casserole dish on top of the sauerkraut.

I leave on the heat or leave at medium temperature in the covered oven, at around 70 to 90°C.

For the three fish

For fish I use salmon, smoked haddock and cod instead of halibut. No mussels.

For cooking:

• 1/ for haddock, the same I reheat and soften in milk. But as with my haddock vegetable soup and my leek and haddock quiche, I definitely don’t throw away the milk which is so fragrant. I reserve it and add it to my sauce.
• 2/ for the salmon I cook it in steam or in a dry pan on the water side and on one side. I cover and let the fish cook slowly.
• 3/ for the cod I cook it by steam or in a pan as follows. I place parchment paper at the bottom of my pan. I place my pieces of cod on top. I add salt, pepper, several knobs of butter to the fish, cover with a lid and cook gently.

The sauce

For the sauce, Baumann’s recipe is a kind of white butter with butter, a lot of butter, really a lot! 400g for 4 people makes 100g per person! And extra crème fraîche.

For my part, I’m starting with a base of white butter without vinegar by doing brown the chopped shallots with white wine and add a large knob of butter.
When the liquid has reduced, I add the zest and juice of a lemon and some cream. I season with salt, pepper and a little Espelette pepper to lift it up a little. It’s optional because it’s not very Alsatian!
I mix and reserve until ready to serve. SO I add more butter and the haddock milk.

This makes a nice amount of sauce but since the sauerkraut, potatoes and fish are without juice or sauce, it’s good to have a nice, generous sauce.

Filter the sauce or not? And there it is the choice, either like me you serve the sauce as is, or you pass it through a strainer to keep only a creamy sauce and throw in the chopped shallots which have returned to the white wine and a little acidity. As Chef Baumann does in his traditional fish sauerkraut recipe, and as we do for an authentic white butter.
It’s a question of taste. I admit, as for my favorite lemon and cream sauce to serve with any type of fish, I don’t do it. Up to you!

For the big stages

Preparation in advance

• I prepare the base of my sauce. I cook the potatoes. I soak the haddock in milk.
• I prepare my sauerkraut with pan-fried onions that I add my sauerkraut. When it’s hot, I put my cooked potatoes on top And keep in the oven at medium temperature covered that keeps warm without cooking or drying out.

15 minutes before serving

• I postpone gently heat my sauce.
• I do thisheat up my haddock in milk. I cooked my salmon and cod to the pan.
• When the haddock has heated for 10 minutes, I put the pieces of haddock with the sauerkraut and potatoes.
• Iadd butter to my sauce and pour in the remaining milk from the haddock. I taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Optionl, this is where we pass the chinese sauces if we want to remove the shallots returned to the wine.
• All that’s left to do is prepareevening the fish served separately or placed on sauerkraut and potatoes. Ideally serve the sauce separately otherwise everything will mix with the sauerkraut. You can also prepare individual plates.