Generously season pork loin and shoulder all over with salt and pepper. If you’re more prepared than I am, you should season these cuts a day or two ahead of time and let them rest on a cooling rake on a baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 250°F. In a large Dutch oven, heat your 1/4 cup of fat (lard, goose/duck fat or oil). Add onions and cook, stirring often, until softened but not browned, about 10 minutes (this is called “sweating”).

Season your onions early in the process with salt. They’re release some of their water which you’ll want to cook off.

To your sweated onions, add wine, stock, and cheesecloth.

Then add pork shoulder, slab bacon, and ham hock and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cut a parchment paper lid sized to fit Dutch oven and set directly on top of meats and liquid. Transfer to oven and cook for 1.5 hours.

While the shoulder braises in your Dutch oven, put your seasoned pork loin in a small skillet or baking sheet and cook on a separate rack in oven about 1 hour. You’re shooting for an internal temp of 120o- 130o.

Set aside.

Next you’ll prep the sauerkraut. In a colander, lightly rinse sauerkraut under cold running water, then taste. If you want less of a “sauer” taste, rinse thoroughly, until you reach the desired taste. I used good quality uncooked ‘kraut from my local hippie market. My wife, of occasionally questionable pallet, doesn’t like sauerkraut, so I really rinsed mine. In hindsight, I would have preferred more of the sauerkraut flavor to compliment the wine in the braising liquid.

Once you’ve reached your desired tartness, squeeze all liquid from the ‘kraut.

After meats in Dutch oven have cooked for 1 1/2 hours (#3), add sauerkraut to Dutch oven, mixing thoroughly. Increase temperature to 315°F re-cover and cook until meats are very tender, about 1-1.5 hour longer.

When the meat in the Dutch oven is nearly cooked, braise your sausages with 1 cup of wine and water to fill your pot to ½ full. Simmer sausage until cooked through, about 10 minutes for raw meat, 5 minutes for fully cooked sausage.

In a cast iron skillet, sear your pork loin in oil or fat turning often, until well browned on all sides. Slice when finished.

Add sliced pork loin, smoked pork chops, and cooked potatoes to Dutch oven. Allow everything to heat through in the Dutch over for 10-20 minutes.

To serve, remove all meats from Dutch oven and set aside (best on a warmed baking sheet). Season sauerkraut with salt and pepper to taste. Arranging sauerkraut and potatoes on a platter. I recommend using tongs or a slotted spoon to allow you drain off excess braising liquid. Arrange meats and sausages all over mound of sauerkraut and potatoes as artistically as possible. Serve with sausage, dry Reisling or good Pils lager.