Day Twenty Six - Germany

Guten tag! Welcome to Germany, land of Oktoberfest. The recipes tonight were inspired by that yearly celebration, one that my buddy Rex attends every year. I hope to one day join him (maybe as an "Elliot leaves for college" present to myself...)

There were many different ways to go with the food for tonight, but I tried to keep it simple (some of the best tour stops this month have involved me doing that). So grab your boot of beer and strap in for a trip to Deutschland!

Bratwurst

5 links bratwurst (I used the local store brand)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups beef broth

1/2 tablespoon olive oil

To start, I heated the oil in a skillet and cooked the onions down on medium heat.

Next, I added the bratwursts and cooked until they were browned on either side, about 5 minutes total.

When I saw that the onions and brats were burning or getting too hot, I added a splash of the beef stock. I continued to do this for another 15 minutes.

Potatoes and onions

2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped finely

1/2 onion, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

This was my attempt at a hot German potato salad. First I heated the oil and then cooked the onions for a couple of minutes.

Next, I added the potatoes and cooked on medium high heat for about 15 minutes, stirring so they would brown but not burn.

Cabbage with apples and bacon

1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

Two gala apples, peeled and cored then chopped

3 slices of bacon

First, I cooked the bacon in a large skillet until browned but not over done.

I removed the bacon from the skillet but left the bacon grease. Next, I added the apple pieces and cooked for a couple of minutes.

I then added the chopped cabbage and stirred constantly, making sure it all cooked evenly, for about 5 minutes. I crumbles the bacon and added it back to the mix and cooked for another couple of minutes.

The result...

...brought us to Munich. Served with a German beer, tonight's meal was very flavorful and not as heavy as I was expecting. The potatoes and onions were  not too oily, and the onion and beef broth added a great taste to the bratwursts.

The cabbage side dish was interesting. A mix of the sweet from the apples and the salty bacon, with the cabbage right in the middle to hold it all together. While not the healthiest way to cook, how can you go wrong with using bacon grease to cook vegetables? (Ok I am sure there are libraries of clinical research showing just how wrong you go with this plan, but for the sake of tonight, we will call it a good idea).

We are rounding out this journey around the world rather well, and it's making me antsy to plan out our next trip that will actually involve a plane, train, or automobile. I'm going to lobby hard for Germany. Brats and beers...my kind of people.