Main Course

Walliser Gsottus

Valais Boiled Dinner

A Valais specialty that takes a little planning, but is a true delicacy: dried and smoked meats simmered with vegetables and pears.

A Valais specialty
From the Valley EchoSpring 2024
Walliser Gsottus in copper pots: smoked meats, sausage and bacon over cabbage and potatoes, with a pot of cabbage alongside
Photo: Valais/Wallis Promotion (valais.ch)

Zutaten

Ingredients
Portionen · Servings
4

Tick off ingredients as you go.

Nährwerte

Nutrition · per serving

Energy3653 kJ / 871 kcal
Fat36 g
of which saturates14 g
Carbohydrate38 g
of which sugars25 g
Fibre12 g
Protein92 g
Salt10.7 g

Meat counted as half dried meat, half smoked pork. Soaking removes part of the salt, so the salt value is an upper estimate.

Estimate for the original amounts, per serving. Salt added to taste is not included. Calculated from the Swiss Food Composition Database (V7.1, FSVO).

Zubereitung

Directions
  1. 1

    Fill a wide pot with cold water, add the meat and bacon, and let soak for 12 to 14 hours. The meat must be completely covered with water.

  2. 2

    Stud the onion with the bay leaf and cloves and add it to the pot. Bring to a boil and let the meat simmer for about three hours. As the pieces are cooked, remove them and set aside.

  3. 3

    Add the sliced potatoes, white cabbage, leek, beets and pears to the broth and cook for about 15 minutes.

  4. 4

    Return the meat to the broth to heat through.

Tipp · Serving

Enjoy with Valais rye bread or white bread and Valais mountain cheese.

En Guete!

Bon appétit · Buon appetito · Bun appetit · Enjoy your meal

First published in the Arizona Swiss Society's Valley Echo newsletter, Spring 2024.

A bit of history

Geschichte

Where Walliser Gsottus comes from, gathered from reliable sources such as the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory.

Gsottus belongs to the traditional cooking of Upper Valais. The Virtual Walser Museum describes everyday mountain meals there: meat was rare, Fridays and Lent were meatless anyway, and the Sunday meat meal was usually Gsottus. People preserved meat by air-drying it as dried meat, ham, bacon and house sausage. In 2011 NZZ Folio watched a chef in Ernen make it: he soaked dried and cured meats, beef brisket, mutton, bacon and Schnörrli, simmered them with onions and small Siederli sausages, then added potatoes, rice, leek, garlic and wine. Folio called it a pot-au-feu, Upper Valais style.

Sources

  1. Ässu · Virtuelles Walsermuseum
  2. Hüere güet! · NZZ Folio
  3. Saas Mutton Gsottus · Slow Food Foundation, Ark of Taste