Traditional and emblematic dishes
The first of the traditional Alsatian dishes is baeckehoffe. But what is it? It is in fact a potée, traditionally with three meats (beef, pork and lamb) marinated in white wine and then simmered with vegetables. Be careful not to make a successful baeckehoffe without a dish of the same name! This terrine is ideal to prepare it and takes its name, just like the dish, from its original preparation. Baeckehoffe translates as "baker's oven". If nowadays it is cooked for 24 hours in the classic way, it was once the women who made it and who used to put it in the baker's oven, the only one in the village, on washing days. They would prepare it the day before, put it down in the morning and pick it up on their way home.
Nowadays, sauerkraut is traditionally garnished with steamed potatoes and charcuterie: Strasbourg sausage, knack, smoked sausage, salted breast, palette, ham... Alsatian charcuterie is varied and the best known are knacks, schiffala, smoked gendarmes, cervelas or presskopf. But if when we talk about sauerkraut we think of that, it is in fact nothing of the sort. Sauerkraut ("Sürkrüt" in Alsatian, from "Sür", sour, and "Krüt", grass), in the strict sense, is the prepared vegetable, obtained by lactic fermentation of cabbage leaves previously cut into strips, and put in fermentation tanks, adding the salt necessary to preserve the product. This fermented vegetable is dietetic, on its own, and full of vitamins and elements useful to the intestinal microbiota. Alsace produces about 60,000 tons of sauerkraut cabbage on 500 hectares, i.e. about 70% of French production.
The tarte flambée, or flammekueche, is an extra-fine pastry topped with thick cream, sprinkled with onions and bacon, cooked for a few minutes by the flames of a wood-fired oven . It is rectangular, served on a wooden board in the middle of the table, to be shared by the guests. It can be eaten at almost any time of the day, like the pretzel, a bread roll dating from the 12th century whose crust is topped with coarse salt. Its shape is symbolic because you can see the sun three times.
Riesling Matelote is a mixture of several freshwater fish (eel, pike, pikeperch, carp, trout...) simmered with vegetables and a Riesling sauce, all served with Alsatian pasta. In the Sundgau, the fish speciality is fried carp. Breaded carp are dipped in a frying pan, then served with chips, mayonnaise and salad.Cheeses
Munster géromé has had a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) since 1996. Its origins date back to the 7th century, when the monks of the "Monasterium Confluentes" settled in the valley of Saint Gérôme, now the famous valley of Munster. These Italian monks are said to have invented the "Munster Kaes" (monastery cheese). Beneath its fragrant orange rind, this cheese hides a rather creamy soft paste with a milder taste than one would expect but particularly long on the palate, with frank milk flavours and aromas of hay, fruit and spices. If the Munster is the best known of the Alsatian cheeses, others are worth mentioning: the bargkass, also called barikass, is a pressed uncooked cheese made from raw milk from cows originating from the Vosges; the bibeleskaes, an Alsatian white cheese, was once made from the curd of the fresh and unsalted Munster, its name is translated as "cheese from the chicks" and is eaten with potatoes and cold meats.
Fruits and Vegetables
Each season has its own vegetable or fruit in Alsace! In the spring, asparagus is the star attraction, particularly in Hoerdt, which claims to be the capital of this vegetable. 250 producers cultivate 400 hectares of land dedicated to it and sell it to restaurateurs who dedicate recipes to it. In June, the asparagus season ends and the fruit, including the cherry, is enjoyed. It is black in Westhoffen and giant in Hedelfingen. Shortly afterwards come mirabelle plums and quetsches, also called the "blue gold" of Alsace. September marks the harvest of cabbages, cereals and hops, which will be eaten throughout the winter.
Pasta
The very first cookbook published in Alsace in 1507 already mentioned the Wasser Striebele. The pasta of Alsace is old, and apart from that because it replaces the water of Italian pasta by 7 fresh eggs per kilo. Two families of pasta are opposed: the Wasser Striebele and the Nüdle. Wasser Striebele are made from a liquid paste from which more or less thick fragments are dropped into boiling water, as in the case of Spätzle and Knepfle, whereas Nüdle are detailed strips in a paste spread out with a roller, as in the case of nests.
Condiments
No Alsatian does not make his Melfor vinaigrette and does not replace his mustard with horseradish! Melfor has been produced since 1922 in Mulhouse and can only be found in Alsace. Vinegar, herbs and honey are mixed for a sweet product. The horseradish is a grated root, pungent but whose effect does not last in the mouth and does not supplant other tastes. It is of the same family as wasabi.
Sweet sweets
The bredele, or bredalas, are small dry Christmas cakes whose recipes are passed down from generation to generation. Iced with sugar or lemon, jam, cinnamon, gingerbread, hazelnuts and almonds... there are almost as many recipes as there are families and they are a must here, almost as much as the kugelhof! Prepared all year round, the shape of this one is inspired by the headgear of one of the Three Magi, a turban set with diamonds in the shape of an almond. Queen Marie-Antoinette is said to have introduced it to Alsace during her stay at the Palais des Rohan in Strasbourg. It is in fact a brioche. Sweet, the kugelhof contains raisins, whole almonds and is sprinkled with icing sugar; salty, it includes nuts or roasted bacon.
Made in Alsace since the High Middle Ages, gingerbread is very widespread in Alsatian culture, especially around Christmas. The gingerbread capital of Alsace is Gertwiller, a village in the Bas-Rhin where you can visit the Gingerbread and Alsatian Popular Art Museum. And what would a gingerbread be without honey? There are more than 35,000 hives distributed among more than 3,000 beekeepers in Alsace. A Protected Geographical Indication was awarded to Alsace fir tree honey in 2005.
To taste it too, Alsace offers good things, for example chocolate with the "Route du chocolat et des douceurs d'Alsace". If you don't like chocolate, why not a slice of bread with jam? Those of Christine Ferber, from the Climont, have been in the media for a long time and, as good Alsatian women, they may be flavoured with gewurtz marc, schnapps, or kirsch.Alsatian Waters
For more than 150 years, the Sources de Soultzmatt have been bottling Nessel mineral water and Lisbeth spring water from the Vosges mountains to be enjoyed natural, light or sparkling. The company also offers a wide range of drinks including flavoured waters, lemonades, Elsass Cola, T'Glacé de Lisbeth, or Pom' de Lisbeth, the Alsatian schörle.
Wattwiller offers water with very little salt and guaranteed zero nitrate, particularly suitable for infants. It is also available in flat, light or sparkling versions. It has been adopted by all gourmet restaurants, from France to Japan and the USA.
Celtic is a mineral water from the Northern Vosges, packaged in Niederbronn-les-Bains: very low in sodium and uranium, it is perfectly suited to bottle preparation.
The last Alsatian water is Carola. In restaurants, when you ask for one, you will be answered: blue, green or red? It's a bit confusing but the colour simply corresponds to flat, medium fizzy or very fizzy.Alcohols and wines
From aperitif to dessert, in Alsace we always taste good wines and good spirits.
To start the meal, or after a day's work before going home, there's nothing like a good thirst-quenching beer! In the 13th century, the first professional brewer settled in Alsace. Previously, women brewed beer at home by hand. In 1789, there were 33 brewers in Strasbourg, mostly Protestants, while the wines were rather reserved for Catholics. Beer was then consumed in breweries and outside of meals. In the 19th century, the brewery became a real source of great income for the region. Pasteur's scientific discoveries on fermentation as well as the advent of the railroad which will allow to send beer trains from Strasbourg to Paris allow for many to intensify the production of Alsatian beer. Even today, the Bas-Rhin is still the largest producer of hops in France (97%), and the hop plantations are characteristic of the Alsatian landscape.
So much for beer. Then comes the time to eat, and that can't be done without opening a good bottle of wine! In Alsace, it is the grape variety, and not the terroir, that gives its name to the wines that are obligatorily bottled in this region in elongated flutes with a very characteristic shape. Alsace wines, to be tasted between 6 and 8°C, come from seven grape varieties: sylvaner, pinot blanc, riesling, muscat, pinot gris, gewurztraminer and pinot noir.
The Alsatian vineyard stretches from Strasbourg to Mulhouse and covers more than 15,000 hectares of vines planted on hillsides. The region is the largest producer of French white wines. Thanks to a very favourable geographical situation and very different soils, Alsatian wines are very varied and many of them are Appellations d'Origine Contrôlée. Among these wines are the Vendanges Tardives, the Sélections de Grains Nobles and the Crémants d'Alsace, some of which are worth a Champagne. Alsace has 51 Grands Crus in Riesling, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer. The wines of Alsace are so varied that one can always find one to match any dish, from seafood to meats, cheeses and desserts and even world cuisine.
If you've tasted beer and wine in moderation, you'll be tempted to try the "schnapps" and eaux-de-vie d'Alsace for dessert to digest well! Traditionally, they are made from mirabelle plum, cherry (Kirsch), raspberry, Williams pear or wild strawberries. However, today's distillers are trying more and more flavours: cumin, pinot noir marc, fir buds, ginger, lime blossom, wild sloe... Many local and family distilleries open their doors to visitors to help them discover this special world.
