Method

Welcome to the wonderful meat lovers dish known as Choucroute Garni. I hope you’re hungry because this is a big dish!

First of all you need to prepare the meats. In a large saucepan, add the ham mocks and cover with cold water and bring the pan to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, remove any scum from the top, cover and cook until meat is tender which should be about two hours. Top up with water as needed

Once the ham hocks are done, remove them carefully from the pan and keep them to the side

Pop the Bacon Joint into the same water, ensuring it's covered as well and bring to the boil. Once the pan reaches boiling, pop the lid on and let it simmer for 45 minutes

Remove the meat from the Ham Hock and put into a bowl and pop into the fridge for later

After 45 minutes the Bacon joint should be ready to remove. Take this out of the pan and leave on the side to cool

Turn up the heat to a boil and reduce the cooking liquid from the ham hock and the bacon joint. You're going to need about 500 mls. Decant the reduced cooking liquor and let it cool down

When the bacon joint is cool to touch, carve it into thick slices

At this point you can store all the meats and cooking liquor in the fridge the day before your dinner

Preheat oven to 180 C.

In a large casserole dish on a medium heat add a dollop of oil and fry off the bacon slices until they are crispy and place to one side. Then add the bratwurst slices and cook both sides until brown and also place to one side.

With the meats out of the way it's time for the vegetables. In the same casserole dish used to fry off bacon and bratwurst add a knob of butter and add the onions, spices and bay leaves and cook until the onions are soft before adding in the sauerkraut and giving a good stir

Add the Ham Hock, Bacon, Bratwurst and the other sausages into the pan before pouring in the reserved cooking liquid and wine. Bring it to a boil to drive off the alcohol, cover the Choucroute with a lid and pop it into the oven for 1 hour

Before the Choucroute itself is ready, boil the potatoes until tender, drain and roll in parsley

Serve the dish straight from the oven with a range of mustards