Prost! (Cheers!) to Oktoberfest!

Get out your Lederhosen and celebrate Oktoberfest!  Oktoberfest  is a 16-18 day beer festival held in Munich, Germany.  It is the world's largest fair and begins at the end of September and goes until the first weekend in October.  For this meal, I made all traditional German Oktoberfest foods. "O'zapft is!" is the phrase the the Mayor of Munich shouts out at the beginning of Oktoberfest, meaning "It's tapped!"
Drink... 
*Chosen and written by Doug W.

Oktoberfest is a beer festival, so what else could we drink with this dinner besides beer?  Doug knows all about beer and chose a perfect Oktoberfest beer to go with my dinner.  Here is his description of the beer and why he chose it:
 
Greetings from your favorite (self-anointed) beer expert!  An important part of Oktoberfest is beer (and loudly singing Ein Prosit).  But before describing the beer, a note on pairing beer and food.  The way I see it, there are three routes one can take in selecting a beer to go with a meal.  First, one might choose a beer that is likely to complement the taste of the food being served (like pairing wine with food).  Second, one can choose a seasonally appropriate brew (many styles of beer were traditionally brewed for a specific season or time of year).  Finally, the choice might be made to satisfy the theme of the meal.  Our choice certainly satisfies the second and third criteria—you can judge whether it satisfies the first.  

             

If you purchase an “Oktoberfest beer” here in the states you are most likely to receive what the Germans call a märzenbier.  This translates to “March beer,” as in a beer that was brewed in the month of March.  Beer brewing is an old pastime and thus many of the seasonal brewing traditions reflect the necessities of pre-modern life, and märzen is no different.  Before widespread air conditioning, brewing lagers, which require cool temperatures for good results, would cease in the spring once the outside temperatures crept up (some sources also claim summer brewing was banned to stem fires).  Märzenbier is brewed in March and stored until late September, which in Bavaria is Oktoberfest, hence its association with the famous German festival. 

            

 Most Oktoberfest beer is medium brown, not very dark, but not pale.  We chose Spaten’s Oktoberfest beer for our celebration and it’s representative of the style (if you like the style, I recommend both Ayinger’s and Hacker-Pschorr’s Oktoberfest beers).  Only six breweries are allowed to serve beer at Munich's Oktoberfest, including Spaten.  Anyone who has attended Oktoberfest in Munich, or seen pictures of the same, probably noticed that most of the beer served is suspiciously pale.  Dirty little secret:  most Germans (and Oktoberfest tourists) are not beer connoisseurs, and like their American counterparts, drink only pale lager (called helles when made in the Munich style).  My advice: try a märzen if you haven’t, but drink whatever brings you Gemütlichkeit. 

Dinner...
*Recipes from: The Oktoberfest German Food Guide 
Who needs to go to a restaurant to get traditional German food when you can make it right at home? 

Laugenbrezeln (Laugen Pretzels)

While making these, I learned that pretzel making is an art and not just a science.  These pretzels turned out tasty, but not the way I expected.  They were a little harder and crunchier than I would have liked.  The only way I can think of to correct this is to roll the dough thicker and bake for less time.
Ingredients:
(Makes 6-7 pretzels)
For the dough:

• 2 3/8  cups of bread flour (I did not have bread flour so I added 2 tbs more of flour per cup...maybe this is where my pretzels started to go wrong :)
• 1/2 pkg of dry yeast (3.5 oz)
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk
• 1 tbs. coarse salt (I used sea salt)

For the soda water:

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 tbs. salt
• 1/2 tbs. baking soda

Directions:

1. Create a "starter" by mixing milk, yeast, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of flour. The consistency of the Starter should be like a watery pancake batter. 
2. Let sit for 15 minutes. Small bubbles should begin to form. This shows that the yeast is alive.
3. To the Starter, add the remaining flour and salt. 
4. Knead until dough is smooth and soft. If dough is too dry, add a little bit more liquid. Likewise, if dough is too sticky, add a little bit more flour. (I had to add more milk)
5. Let dough rest, covered and in a warm place, until it is double in size.
6. Knead dough one more time to remove all air bubbles that formed during the rising period. 
7. Divide dough into equal pieces. Roll each dough piece into a pencil-thick 11-inch string (This is where I think it should be thicker so the pretzels don't turn out crunchy). 
8. Form each string into a pretzel.
9. Let pretzels rest for 15 minutes, covered and in a warm place.
10. While the pretzels are resting, prepare the soda water. Do this by combining the baking soda, water, and salt in a wide pot. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
11. Drop each pretzel in the hot soda water. As soon as it rises to the surface, remove it from the soda water and place it on a baking sheet. Repeat this step for each pretzel.
12. Sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt. 
13. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes in a 425°F oven (I would try baking them for a little less time so they are not so crisp).

Kartoffelpuffer Mit Zwiebel (Potato Pancakes with Onions)

These were good, but would be even better (and easier) if I would have had a food processor to cut the potatoes.  If you have one, use it!
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

• 3/4 lb potatoes 
• 1/2 a small onion, finely chopped
• 1/8 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• salt (to taste)
• vegetable oil (2 tbs per potato pancake)
• Applesauce or sour cream for topping

Directions:

1.  Peel and wash the potatoes. 
2. Finely shred the potatoes into a bowl (I used a peeler to shred the potatoes, but it was very time consuming.  If you have a food processor, use it here to get the potatoes really finely shredded). 
3. Place shredded potatoes into a clean kitchen towel. Squeeze out excess juice. Return potatoes to bowl.
4. To the potatoes, add eggs, flour, onions, and salt. Mix together.
5. Heat oil in a frying pan. Using about 2 tablespoons per pancake, fry pancakes in hot oil until the pancakes are crispy and golden brown. 
6. Allow excess oil to drip off of pancakes. Serve immediately.  
7. Top with applesauce or sour cream.

Wiener Schnitzel

This dish is typically made with veal, but that was a little too expensive for me, so I used pork, which worked great.
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)

• 1/2 lb veal cutlets (I substituted pork cutlets)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• dash of black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko breadcrumbs which are obviously non-traditional, but they worked great because they really crisp up nicely!)
• 2 tbs. butter
• 2 tbs. oil (I used olive oil)
• 1 lemon, sliced into wedges for garnish

Directions:

My workstation - ready to bread the pork!

1. Season each veal cutlet with salt and pepper (both sides). 
2. Let stand at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. 
3. In the meantime, prepare your work area. You will need 3 plates - add the flour to the first one, add the eggs to the second one, and add the bread crumbs to the third plate. Arrange the plates in a row, close to the stove. 
4. Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy skillet or pan over moderately high heat for about 2 minutes. 
5. For each veal cutlet, coat the cutlet with flour, dunk it in the eggs, then coat it with bread crumbs. 
6. Put the coated veal cutlet immediately in the hot skillet. Cook each side for about 3 minutes, or until each side is a deep golden brown. 
7. Remove the schnitzel and place on a plate lined with paper towels (to absorb any extra oil). Keep warm. 
8. Serve the schnitzels warm with lemon slices.

  Dessert... 
*Recipes from: The Oktoberfest German Food Guide

Apfelstrudel (Apple Strudel)

The recipe for the strudel dough seemed really complicated so I used frozen Phyllo dough as it suggested.  The Phyllo dough was a little crisp .  I'm not quite sure if that is how a strudel is supposed to be, but it still tasted really good! (I wonder if you could use a refrigerated biscuit or crescent dough rolled very thin in order to get a softer strudel crust?)
Ingredients:
(Serves 6)

• 1/4 cup ground walnuts
• 2 cups sliced and peeled apples
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon (I added more...probably about 2 tsp. total)
• Phyllo dough (or biscuit dough?)
• 2-4 tbs. melted butter for basting

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Grease a large sheet pan or line it with parchment paper.
3. Combine the filling ingredients.
4. Roll out the Phyllo or biscuit dough very thin.
5. Spread the apple filling across the dough, leaving about a 1 1/2 inch border from the edges. Fold over the 1 1/2 inch flaps of dough to the right and left of the filling. Roll up the dough with the filling (kind of like rolling up a burrito).  Brush the outside of the dough with butter to seal it and help it bake golden brown.
6. Poke a few small ventilation holes on the top of the strudel with a fork. 
7. Bake the strudel for about 1 hour, basting it occasionally with melted butter, until the strudel is golden brown.
8. Remove the strudel from the oven. Allow it to cool somewhat, then dust with powdered sugar. 
9. Serve warm.  It would also be good served with with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Ein Prosit!

Happy Oktoberfest!  Enjoy a meal full of good food, good beer, and hopefully good friends!