German Feast

On Saturday night, we watched an episode of Three Sheets where the host traveled to Munich for Oktoberfest. Something in Julia's German heritage was so inspired by the sight of sausages and pretzels, that we cooked up an Oktoberfest feast last night.

Julia baked pretzels, trying two slightly different preparations. One batch was dipped in boiling water and then baked, while the second was brushed with an egg wash and baked. There was a slight difference in texture, but not much else particularly different between them. The boiled ones were a little chewier. The egg brushed ones might have had a slightly different color on the outside... hard to tell. Apparently to make pretzels the dark color that people expect, real German pretzel makers use lye or something. Yeah. That was a little much. But Julia's pretzels came out great, especially when dipped in a spicy brown mustard.

We also braised some Bratwursts. Sliced up onions and browned them in some butter (margarine), then emptied a jar of sauerkraut on top of the onions in the saucepan. Next, we added some thinly sliced apples to bring some sweetness to the kraut. Finally, placed the sausages on top of the sauerkraut and added enough beer to submerge all the 'kraut and sausages (ended up being 2 bottles of Sam Adams Oktoberfest). Left the whole shebang simmering over medium heat for about 20 minutes or so (added some sugar near the end when a taste revealed that it was still a little too sour), before removing the sausages and pan frying them briefly to get a little color and texture on the outside. Drained most of the liquid from the 'kraut, served with a selection of mustards. Delish.