Serious Saturday Lunch for 8 – No Hostages

In our enthusiasm for all things Mediterranean, some more northerly specialities have got lost. I love Scandinavian food, perhaps because I spent a lot of time in Norway as a child (taken by an adored au pair, Sissel), but I love too those robust, spicily sour Germanic constructs: Pflaumenpfannekuchen, great solid pancakes bolstered with plums and weighed down with a thick layer of granulated sugar; plum tart made with shiny dark Quetschen, sliced, and cooked till a reddy, coppery cinnamon on thick banks of Hefeteig; a long-soused Sauerbraten; stuffed cabbage; Wurst mit Senf; and – we’re getting there – an astringent, tangled heap of sauerkraut with boiled potatoes, juniper berries, frankfurters, the works. The choucroute garnie of the title makes this sound Alsatian rather than uncompromisingly German. But, whatever, we’re talking about the same, hangover-salving thing.