Sausages, Snails and Sauerkraut

A Franco-German Feast for the Women's World Cup Match

German bratwurst sausages and sauerkraut with French garlic snails and bread

I know this dish looks and particularly sounds a little bit unusual at best but the different flavours actually worked very well together. I came up with the idea when I spotted the garlic butter snails in a local supermarket yesterday and created the dish as a prelude to the Germany v France match tonight in the Women's World Cup. If you prefer, you could split this dish to make the snails and bread your starter/appetizer before enjoying the bratwurst and sauerkraut afterwards as your main course.

Garlic snails ready for reheating

Ingredients per Person

6 to 8 garlic butter snails
3 bratwurst sausages
A little vegetable oil for frying
2 tablespoon sauerkraut or as desired
3 slices from French bread stick

Bratwurst sausages

Directions

The snails were frozen and the pack instructions were to cook them straight from the freezer. They required 10 minutes in the oven, preheated to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Gently reheating bratwurst sausages

These bratwurst were precooked but the pack contained no reheating instructions. What I did was add them to a pan with a little bit of vegetable oil and heated them on the lowest possible heat for the full ten minutes the snails were in the oven, turning them frequently with cooking tongs. This procedure worked very well.
 

Large jar of sauerkraut

The sauerkraut I used came in a large glass jar but you can buy any type you wish.

Slices cut from French bread stick

I was glad I only plated three thin slices of French bread as the bratwurst were surprisingly filling.

Sauerkraut and French stick slices

While the bratwurst are frying and the snails are in the oven, arrange the sauerkraut and bread on a serving plate.

Lobster pick, knife and fork

I served this meal not only with a knife and fork but also with a lobster pick, which is excellent for plucking the snails from their shells. Alternatively, you can very effectively use a cocktail stick or toothpick.

Snails are carefully plated open sides uppermost

Plate the snails alongside the bread and the bratwurst on top of the sauerkraut.

Enjoying sausages, snails and sauerkraut

 

World Cup Food Recipes - Germany

Roast pork on potato pancake with bratwurst sausages and sauerkraut

Germany last night defeated Argentina in extra-time to become FIFA World Champions for a fourth time overall but for the first time since 1990. No one could surely argue with the outcome of what was a magnificent tournament as the teamwork displayed by the Germans virtually throughout was exemplary. Yes, other teams had their big name stars who shone on the big stage but the German work ethic and unity ultimately paid dividends and earned them the right to lift the biggest prize in sport. I cooked this German meal last night and actually ate it while watching the final.

Sadly, this is the last of my featured recipes relating specifically to the 2014 World Cup. It doesn't seem like more than four weeks ago that I undertook to feature a recipe from as many of the participating countries as possible. This is the twenty-third recipe from the thirty-two participating nations. I have to apologise to those nine countries which I didn't manage to feature. This was down to a variety of reasons including unavailability of appropriate ingredients, an oven disaster in the case of England (I lost track of time and the dish was burned) but most of all to simple time constraints. I may try to feature something from at least some of those countries in the near future.

Roast Pork on Potato Pancake with Bratwurst and Sauerkraut

This recipe is based around a dish served in Bavaria called a schweinshaxe. A traditional schweinshaxe is a roasted knuckle of pork, served on the bone, popularly with gravy, potato dumplings and sauerkraut. I featured such a recipe on this blog a few years back. The main difference here is that I have removed the pork from the bone after it is cooked and rested, before serving it on an (almost) authentic German potato pancake with some (supermarket bought) sauerkraut and some totally authentic German bratwurst sausages.

Pork knuckle ready for roasting

Ingredients

1 pork shank/hock
Vegetable oil
Salt and black pepper
1 egg
1 tablespoon plain/all purpose flour
1 medium baking potato
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
White pepper
6 bratwurst
Sauerkraut as required/desired
Freshly chopped parsley to garnish
1 bottle of German beer to serve

Flour is added to beaten egg

Directions

The first step is to get the pork on to roast. Your oven will need to be preheated to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6. You will also need to know the weight of the pork knuckle in order to calculate the cooking time of 35 minutes per pound and 35 extra minutes. Conveniently, this piece of pork weighed exactly two pounds, meaning a cooking time of one hour and forty-five minutes was required.

Lightly oil a roasting tray (to help prevent the pork sticking) and season the pork well with salt and black pepper. Lay it on the tray and put it in the oven for your calculated cooking period of time.

Around quarter of an hour before the pork is due to come out of the oven, beat the egg in a fairly large bowl and subsequently beat in the flour to form a smooth batter paste.

Potato and garlic are peeled and grated

Peel the potato and use a box grater as seen in the photo above to grate it on the coarsest side in to the centre of a spread out, clean tea towel. This is to easily allow you to squeeze the water out of the potato. If you don't do this, your pancake will not set properly in the pan.

Potato is grated in to a clean tea towel

Gather up the corners of the tea towel and over your sink, twist and squeeze to get rid of the water. You may be surprised by how much comes out!

Preparing to squeeze water from grated potato

Add the squeezed and grated potato to the flour and egg batter. Peel the garlic clove and grate it in to the bowl with a small hand grater. Season with salt, white pepper and the half teaspoon of thyme. Stir well to evenly combine and refrigerate for fifteen minutes.

Potato, garlic and seasonings are stirred through flour and egg batter

When you take the pork from the oven, pierce the thickest part with a skewer to ensure the juices run clear. Cover with kitchen foil and leave to rest/partly cool for fifteen minutes.

Roast knuckle of pork

The bratwurst could be grilled/broiled but I find you get much better results if you fry them fairly gently in a little vegetable oil in a frying pan.

Authentic German bratwurst sausages

Bring around a tablespoon of oil up to a medium heat in a non-stick frying pan. Add the bratwurst and cook on low to medium for around ten minutes until done, turning them around in the pan frequently.

Bratwurst sausages are gently fried in oil

The crackling/skin on the pork is considered by many to be the best part of the joint! I disagree. Not only is it unhealthy (pure fat), I find it plays havoc with my teeth. I therefore cut it/pull it off and discard it. Whether you do likewise or eat it is up to you.

Crackling is cut from roast knuckle of pork

The majority of the pork can be cut from the bone using a carving fork and knife. The final bits however will have to be pulled free by hand.

Roast pork removed from the knuckle bone

Pour a tablespoon or two of oil in to a second pan and bring up to a medium heat. Carefully spoon in the potato pancake batter and cook for three or four minutes before turning with a spatula to cook for a similar period of time on the second side.

Frying potato pancake batter

Lay the potato pancake and sausages on a serving plate. Spoon on your sauerkraut around the edges.

Potato pancake, sauerkraut and bratwurst sausages

The pork is served on the pancake. I'm not a gravy fan but if you wanted to make a simple gravy from the pork cooking juices, this would work very well poured over the top. Instead, I simply garnsihed with some chopped parsley, opened my weissbier and tucked in. Prost!

Authentic German beer is served with the best German meals

Schweinhax'n mit Reiberknodel und Sauerkraut

Confused? Well, pictured above is a roasted shank of pork, Bavarian style. It is served with a potato dumpling and sauerkraut, a combination which is particularly popular in the restaurants and beer halls of Munich. Although I have eaten this precise combination in Munich on many occasions, this is my first attempt at making it myself. I will, however, be totally honest and reveal that the sauerkraut is out of a jar. As making sauerkraut from scratch takes several weeks, I decided to leave my attempt in that respect for another time.



Preparing the Pork

The first step in this recipe is to prepare the pork and get it in to the oven. It will take around two hours to roast.

As can hopefully be seen in the image above, I have first of all made two cuts with a sharp pair of scissors along the length of the pork shank, through the skin, at either side of the under part. This will allow the skin to shrink and crisp up on top and expose more of the meat directly to the heat during cooking for a better roasted effect. I then rub the shank all over with salt and quickly seal it all around in a hot, dry frying pan.

The oven should be pre-heated to 325F/170C/Gas Mark 3. One pint of fresh chicken stock should then be heated in a pan until almost boiling. The pork should be placed in a large roasting tray, importantly ensuring that the flatter side with the two cuts through the skin is made to be the underside. Around half of the chicken stock should be poured over the pork before it is placed in to the oven.

The pork shank should be basted every twenty to thirty minutes. The leftover half pint of chicken stock should be kept ready, as it is likely that it will be required during cooking to top up the liquid levels in the tray.



Preparing the Potato Dumplings

The following ingredients will make two potato dumplings, each approximately 3" in diameter.

2 medium potatoes
2 tsp plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp farina/semolina flour
2 tsp fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 beaten egg
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and white pepper to taste

When the pork is in the oven, the potatoes should be peeled and chopped. They should be added to a pot of cold water and the pot put on to heat. When the water is boiling, the heat should be reduced and the potato pieces simmered until soft, around twenty-five minutes. The potatoes should then be drained, mashed, covered and left to cool while the pork roasts.



When the pork is ready, it should be removed from the oven to a large plate. Remember that it is imperative to ensure that the pork is fully cooked. The easiest way to do this is to stick a skewer in to the thickest part of the meat and ensure that the juices run clear. The plate should be covered with aluminium foil and the meat left to rest while the potato dumplings are prepared and cooked.



A large pot of water should be put on to reach a boil while the potato dumpling ingredients are mixed together in a large bowl. When the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together - the easiest way to do this is by hand - the resultant dough should then be split in to two equal portions. If the dough appears too wet to hold together in a rolled ball, a little more flour should be added until an effective consistency is achieved. The dough should then be rolled in to spheres and gently deposited in the boiling water. The heat should be reduced to achieve a simmer and the dumplings cooked for fifteen minutes.

When the dumplings are almost ready, the remaining stock from the pork should be reheated to be served as gravy. It should be lusciously thick and tasty. The pork shank can then be added to a large plate, the gravy spooned alongside and the sauerkraut and potato dumpling sat in the bed of gravy. A little freshly chopped dill leaves scattered over the potato as a garnish complete the dish.

A Bavarian Beer is Essential with a Schweinhax'n!



In Munich, a schweinhax'n will often be served with a mass (litre) of local beer. For a true Bavarian experience, therefore, try to get a Bavarian beer from your local supermarket and ensure that this traditional meal is enjoyed to the full.

Polish Kielbasa with Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut and Crispy Potato Pancakes

Today's post on, "What Should I Have for Dinner Tonight?" is the latest guest post. It is my pleasure to introduce a meal prepared for us by Mary Bishop - who writes very successfully for Helium.com under the pseudonym, Tierney O'Hara. Mary (Tierney) has not only prepared this meal for us but even gone to the bother of preparing settings and drinks accompaniment suggestions.

Without further ado, I will hand over to Mary - in whose own words this wonderful and delicious recipe appears...



It's late and I'm tired and hungry. I want something that is filling, that is easy to prepare and something that exists in my pantry or refrigerator right now. I throw on some sweat pants and a tee shirt because on this rainy day, I want comfort - in my clothes and in my food.

The pantry yields a large can of sauerkraut, a new bag of yellow onions and three pounds of russet potatoes. A quick look in the fridge says I have dry vermouth sitting on one shelf and a jar of Plochman's Kosciusko mustard on another. A six pack of Stella Artois sits cold and golden next to the mustard, and there are a couple of eggs still left in the carton. I open the freezer door to take a look see, and a loop of Polish sausage just about calls my name.

It was then I knew exactly what I should have for dinner tonight:

Polish Kielbasa with Caramelized Onions, Sauerkraut and Crispy Potato Pancakes

Preparation is simple, cost is minimal, calories? I didn’t count them, but I suggest you eat this meal on a day when you’ve skipped lunch.*

Ingredients

16 ounces Kielbasa
16 ounce can of sauerkraut
2 large onions
2 large eggs
5 medium potatoes
2/3 cup dry vermouth
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cut the Kielbasa into about 10-12 pieces on the diagonal. Place them into a non-stick skillet and heat on low. As the sausage cooks, the fat will seep out of the sausage and into the pan to add incredible flavor and color to the onions and the sauerkraut. After about five minutes, put the heat up to medium and add the two onions which have been cut into a large dice. Cover.

Next get your box grater and place it into a large bowl. Remove the skin from 5 potatoes and rinse and dry them. Grate the potatoes and when done, spill out the darkened water. Then add about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of flour, 2 eggs and salt and pepper. (Don’t add grated onions or garlic as they will soften the pancake and it won’t be crisp.)

Heat a second non-stick pan to medium. Lightly grease the pan with vegetable oil and using a large serving spoon, drop potato batter on to the hot surface. Cook until the edges are very brown, and then flip. Keep warm in a hot oven by placing them on a rack over a cookie sheet.

After about fifteen minutes, remove the lid from the sausage and onion pan and stir. Continue to stir to color the onions with the caramelized juices that have accumulated in the pan. Let the mixture cook until the juices have almost evaporated, then pour in the vermouth. Stir again, then push the sausage and onions to one side of your frying pan. Add in the can of drained sauerkraut and cover again. Let simmer on low until you are ready to serve.

On the next damp, rainy day when you are tired and hungry and you just don’t know what you should have for dinner –cook up this quick and simple peasant meal and I promise you that you will love it.

*Okay so it isn’t the healthiest meal but it’s not the worst either. Sauerkraut is low in calories and good for you as are onions and potatoes. The Kielbasa today is quite lean compared to years ago and my favorite Hillshire Farms brand has an unbeatable flavor. You can’t have a smoky sausage with hot mustard and a crispy, potato pancake without a beer, can you? I think there’s a law that says you can’t...