Oktoberfest

Last night Mrs. Essen and I made an Oktoberfest dinner. We had local bratwurst from Claremont NH, sauerkraut, mustard, homemade pretzels, and beer. Unfortunately we don't own any German march music, so we made due with Die Prinzen and the Commedian Harmonists' "Judeo-Marxist caterwauling," as Goebbels put it when the group was blacklisted.


These aren't particularly German pretzels, but they're tasty. This recipe comes from a Chowhound contributor. I was pleased with how chewy they were. The dough should be stiff, but you may not be able to incorporate all 5 cups of flour. We used about 4.25 c last night. Your flour will absorb more liquid in dry weather, less in humid weather. So you will be able to incorporate less flour in dry weather.

I have changed the recipe a bit. Our yeast was not very lively, so I fed it with some flour before adding the sugar. If you add the sugar first, it will retard the yeast's growth. Sugar will dry out the yeast cells as water leaves through osmosis. Since this recipe doesn't include any rising, I wanted the yeast to develop as quickly as possible.

These pretzels would probably be tastier if you let the dough rise, but they're good as they are. They are plenty salty with the sprinkled salt; I didn't miss it in the dough at all.

Soft Pretzels

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 1/3 c + 2 Tbsp warm water (125 degrees)
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour
You also will need extra flour, coarse salt and baking soda.

Preheat oven to 475 F.

In a large bowl mix warm water & yeast until yeast dissolves. Stir in 1 c flour. 5-10 min later (depending on the strength of your yeast - smell it) add the brown sugar. Slowly add 4 cups flour to mixture stirring constantly. Continue stirring until mixture is smooth and does not stick to sides of bowl. Knead until smooth.
Grease 2 cookie sheets (or use parchment paper) & lightly sprinkle with salt. Pinch off 16 pieces of dough & shape them into pretzels.

Bring about 2 inches of water to a boil in a wide pot. For each cup water add 1 Tbsp baking soda. Carefully lower each pretzel into the water. Count slowly to 30. Using a spatula, lift the pretzels onto the greased or lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with kosher salt & bake 8 min.

Serve hot.

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Yogurt tasting

Mrs. Essen and I tasted 3 different yogurts recently: sheep, goat, and water buffalo. Only the water buffalo yogurt was local.


The water buffalo yogurt was our favorite. It comes from Woodstock VT. It's thick and rich, with an unusual stiff and spongy texture. If you stir it, the yogurt becomes smooth. I prefer the unstirred texture.

The goat milk yogurt tasted like goat. It was similar to the taste of fresh goat cheese, the stuff labeled chevre, only not as good. This was our least favorite yogurt.

The sheeps milk yogurt was good. I meant to buy plain, but accidentally got maple flavored yogurt. This was the most similar to cow's milk yogurt, maybe slightly thicker, with a nice tangy flavor.

All of these yogurts cost considerably more than cow's milk yogurt. The water buffalo yogurt is worth the extra cost, but I probably won't buy the other two again.

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Ginger Cream Scones

Mrs. Essen made these scones today, from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. They were very good with Earl Grey tea. You definitely need to drink or eat something with them to cut the richness. Some fruit would be good.

I highly recommend this recipe. It was fast and easy. The crumb was light and tender, and I liked the candied ginger bits. We used half and half instead of cream, but we got it from a local dairy, and I think it is richer/creamier than supermarket half and half.

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Baked Eggs With Creamy Leeks

This is another of my favorite ways to eat eggs.

Thinly slice some leeks (use 1-2 leeks per egg -- I like lots of leeks). Saute the leeks in butter until tender. Add a bit of cream, salt and petter to taste. Add a pinch of ground nutmeg as well. We usually add just enough cream to coat the leeks. It shouldn't be soupy or have big puddles of cream. Spoon the creamy leeks into well-buttered ramekins. Break an egg into each ramekin, then add a spoonfull of cream on top. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper.

Bake in a water bath (the hot water should come halfway up the sides of the ramekins) at 375 F for about 10 minutes, until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny.

Warning: the ramekins are a real pain to clean afterwards, even though I butter them well.

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