Bring on the sausage. Bring on the beer. Bring on the raucous fun and optional lederhosen. Embrace—or adopt—your Bavarian roots. It’s Oktoberfest!Can you Hendl that? People come from all over Germany and every corner of the planet to celebrate Oktoberfest every late September and early October. The locals call it Theresienwiese or Weis’n for short in honor of the wedding that started the whole tradition. The modern Oktoberfest is not just a party; it’s the largest outdoor festival in the world. The foods of choice are typical, hearty, and oh-so delicious German fare: Hendl (roasted half chicken) being the most popular; Spätzle (German noodles and cheese); Knödel, Kartoffelpuffer, and Kartoffelsalat (potato dumplings, potato pancakes, and potato salad, respectively); and of course, every Wurst (sausage) this side of Munich. We’ll get to those in a moment. First, to create your own version of the popular Hendl, we’d substitute our tender Free-Range Poussin for the half-chicken and roast to succulent perfection. Serve it alongside the spätzle or potato dish of your choice!
Wurst, Bitte! In Germany and here in the states, the big hitters are grilled pork Bratwurst on a roll with mustard and soft, light Weisswurst, boiled and served with a soft pretzel. Certainly, you can prepare these typical sausages, but we thought it’d be fun to take Oktoberfest tradition and give it a D’Artagnan twist. To take the place of the typical Brat, we chose our Wild Boar Sausage to top a fresh roll and offered a bit of whole-seed mustard for a spicy new take on the old bratwurst tradition. The boar sausage is lean but still packs a powerful pork flavor punch that can’t disappoint. To substitute for the boiled, mild Weisswurst, we boiled our juicy, refreshing Chicken Apple Sausages, still serving it alongside soft pretzels. The sweet apple flavor made it easy to follow the Germans own rule on Weisswurst: only eat it before noon! And of course, if you can’t decide which sausage to serve, satisfy all appetites with the Game Sausage Sampler.
Prost! Cheers! There are six official Oktoberfest breweries with tents at the event: Spaten, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbräu, and Löwenbräu. They each brew special beers for the occasion, some of which make their way to the states. If you’re looking for something different, we’d recommend the following: For your pre-noon Chicken Apple Sausages and pretzels, a light, crisp pilsner like Radenberger or Peroni will be quite good. For the afternoon feast of poisson, try a cream ale like Six Point Sweet Action. Finally, as the party goes into the night, and the drinking demands lighter foods, a citrusy, India Pale Ale will have you in hop heaven and offset the mustard spice of the Wild Boar bratwurst stand-in.
The official party goes 16 to 17 days in Munich. Honor the tradition by at least throwing a full-day affair! Enjoy!
