Alsatian cuisine
Alsatian cuisine, the cuisine of the Alsace region of France, incorporates Germanic culinary traditions and is marked by the use of pork in various forms. The region is also known for its wine and beer.
Food
Savory specialties
Traditional dishes include baeckeoffe, flammekueche, choucroute, cordon bleu, Vol-au-vent, spaetzle, fleischnacka, bretzel, and Zewelwaï The region's version of coq au vin is coq au Riesling. Southern Alsace, also called the Sundgau, is characterized by carpe frite. Alsace is also well known for its foie gras made in the region since the 17th century.A gastronomic symbol of the région is choucroute, a local variety of Sauerkraut. The word Sauerkraut in Alsatian has the form sûrkrût, as in other southwestern German dialects, and means "sour cabbage" as its Standard German equivalent. This word was included into the French language as choucroute. To make it, the cabbage is finely shredded, layered with salt and juniper and left to ferment in wooden barrels. Sauerkraut can be served with poultry, pork, sausage or even fish. Traditionally it is served with pork, Strasbourg sausage or frankfurters, bacon, smoked pork or smoked Morteau or Montbéliard sausages or a selection of pork products. Served alongside are often steamed potatoes.
Another famous dish is the baeckeoffe, a dish made from potatoes, vegetables, as well as three different meats. Everything is cooked together in the oven in a terrine with Alsace white wine and herbs during several hours.
The flammekueche is also very popular in Alsace. It is sometimes called the Alsatian pizza but its dough is much thinner. It is traditionally filled with a mixture of crème fraîche and fromage blanc, bacon strips and onions.
Additionally, Alsace is known for its fruit juices, mineral waters and wines.
Sweet specialties
Sweet specialties of Alsace include kougelhopf, German-style cheesecake, Mont-Blanc and streusel.The festivities of the year's end involve the production of a great variety of biscuits and small cakes called bredala, as well as pain d'épices which are baked around Christmas time and manala which are traditionally baked for Saint Nicholas Day.