Traditional Baeckeoffe

Baeckeoffe translates as “baker’s oven,” because that’s where this dish was traditionally cooked in Alsatian villages. Before the advent of individual home ovens, everyone in town shared the bread baker’s huge wood-fired oven. They’d marinate their meats and vegetables overnight, drop their casseroles off in the morning, and pick them up at the end of the day, along with a loaf of bread. To keep their stews from drying out, they’d seal the lids to the pots with a strip of dough (just