Partying with the King
Every year during the last week of September and the first week of October it’s the best time to brush up your German language skills. Oktoberfest - it all started when King Ludwig from Bavaria threw a big Volksfest (translated from German meaning “large party for the people”) in the capital, Munich, honoring his new wife Therese. Like a German version of Disneyland but not only fun rides also delicious foods and of course Beer.
Internationally known Bavarian brew houses like Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr (there are about 15 well known brew houses) release a young, malty, easy drinkable Oktoberfest brew and served at the Wies’n (and sold all over the world) which is the location where the Oktoberfest happen every year. What I always thought was funny is that Germans consider their Maß as food. Maß is the word for a quarter gallon of beer, served in a humongous glass by mostly female servers in their traditional “Dirnd’l” dress. The Germans drink it plentifully in any public space like you’d eat a sandwich...now that’s a way of living.
An Excerpt of the Menu
Every year an international crowd of over six million festival visitors are squeezed into huge tents (the biggest one seats 12,000 people) where big bands play German oompha music. People indulge on Würstel which are specialty sausages with sauerkraut, Brez’n which is a large soft pretzel sprinkled with crunchy rock salt and Jaeger schnitzel (meaning “hunter” in the Bavarian dialect). Jaeger schnitzel is a breaded and fried slice of meat most commonly made with pork then smothered with homey mushroom gravy.
(left picture; white Bockwurst a pork sausage with a touch of lemon and parsley, Kaesekrainer - a pork sausage with bits of Emmenthaler cheese)
(right picture; big pretzel sprinkled with rock salt, house-made horseradish mustard)
Michelin Starred Roast Chicken
Apprenticing in a fancy three Michelin star restaurant close to where Oktoberfest was happening we young cooks took off a few days of work during that time. We made a good amount of cash that way. One of my tasks was to make Hend’l which is the word for roast chicken. It was simply putting whole chickens on a spit and rolling them in a salt/paprika/rosemary mixture then hanging them on huge rotisseries for roasting – all day long - hundreds of them. Certainly a repetitive job but besides the extra cash, a bonus was a free flowing tapped barrel of beer were where we could “hydrate” and nourish as much as was required.
Needless to say it felt somewhat strange to me basting a few truffle stuffed chickens a night back in the fancy restaurant after having had fun working at the Oktoberfest…and there were no beers on the line.
I’m Austrian, not German but I certainly took a real liking to the traditions and habits of the Oktoberfest and every year add Oktoberfest specialties to my restaurant’s menu like a fancy veal schnitzel with porcini mushroom sauce, house-pickles and a cupcake version of black forest torte.
(black forest cup cakes with a cherry & kirsch brandy filling)
