Dust off that dirndl and rinse out those steins. It’s time to usher in autumn, Bavarian style.
With block parties canceled and biergartens mostly empty, Oktoberfest will certainly look different this year. Instead of crowded stein-holding contests, you may indulge your family in a yodeling competition or a little backyard stump hammering, better known as hammerschlagen, to celebrate the 16-day festival. Fingerhakeln (finger wrestling), anyone?
What doesn’t have to change this year is the food. You can order takeout from your favorite German restaurant, or better yet, don your lederhosen while whipping up traditional foods that define the annual festival, including zingy sauerkraut, latke-like potato pancakes, bierwurst tucked into cheesy brioche buns like they do at Bierhaus in Walnut Creek, and creamy obatzda, the paprika-hued beer cheese spread from San Jose’s Ludwig’s German Table.
Obatzda is traditionally served with soft and chewy pretzels, another must-have Oktoberfest dish. King Arthur Baking Company’s German-Style Pretzels recipe is an easy-to-follow one designed for home bakers. You can even watch Certified Master Baker Jeffrey Hamelman create the pretzels from start to finish on episode 12 of King Arthur’s Isolation Baking Show.
For German bread newbies, pretzels are a good place to start because the dough is firm and relatively easy to work with, Hamelman says. Just make sure that you mix and develop it properly.
“If under-mixed, the pretzel will likely have an anemic structure,” Hamelman says. “If over-mixed, you could break the gluten bonds and the dough will have a slumpy result after the bake.”
Hamelman, a German bread expert, shows the difference in results between using food-grade lye and baking soda to achieve a pretzel’s signature color, as well as step-by-step photos on how to twist and roll just right.
You can enjoy those pretzels with obatzda, the beer cheese spread that’ll be featured in Ludwig German Table’s Oktoberfest brunch on Sept. 27. The San Jose restaurant is offering a family-friendly outdoor brunch with two seatings for tables of four ($132) or six ($180) that includes all the Wiesn classics, from weisswurst and cheese spaetzle to schweinshaxe and that chive-loaded obatzda made with brie or camembert, butter and cream cheese.
“We’ll still toast and do the stein-holding contest and costume contest,” owner Nicole Jacobi said. “But everything will be distanced and enjoyed from the safety of your table.”
The restaurant’s socially distanced Sept. 26 Oktoberfest — held outside for the first time with 14 tables of six instead of the 350-plus revelers that typically pack its 2,000-square-foot beer hall — sold out in a snap. If the Sept. 27 brunch is a success, Jacobi will offer it again in October. Oktoberfest would have lasted 16 days this year, and she wants to give people something to look forward to during these times.
“We’re doing this to bring some joy and normalcy,” she says. “Something with a little excitement.”
And for the ultimate excitement at home, get yourself an Oktoberfest kit from Bierhaus in Walnut Creek. The German-inspired restaurant and beer hall is open for takeout and biergarten dining, but also offering a limited-time culinary kit of Wiesn classics for $75.
“It’s the most flexible alternative we could think of during the lockdowns for individuals to still celebrate Oktoberfest,” says Bierhaus owner Mike Finley.
The kit includes eight pre-cooked sausages (four bratwurst, four cheese and pork kaesekrainer), four pretzels, a pound of bacon-laced German potato salad, a pound of braised red cabbage, German mustard and four cans of Stiegl helles lager. You can even add two half-liter beer mugs for $10.
Use the bratwurst to make Bierhaus’ epic Bratwurst Sandwich with Curry Ketchup. The only extras you’ll need are cheese, a good brioche bun and some curry powder to toast on the stove and swirl into your ketchup. Then follow the kitchen’s tips — poach the bratwurst in beer before a quick char on the grill — to make them extra Oktoberfest-worthy.
“Poaching hydrates the sausage ever so slighty, making the skin tighter, and with the grilling, you get that snap with the first bite,” Finley says.
Another trick: Griddle three ounces of cheese until it begins to crust, then press the bun face down onto the disk-o-cheese. The Bierhaus kitchen uses a blend of Gruyere, white cheddar and mozzarella.
“It’s a magic trio — Italian, American and Alpine cheeses,” Finley says. “Barnyard-y yet oozy at the same time. With the sausage and the bun, it’s just perfect beer-drinking food.”
