Though I’m loathe to admit it, fall has arrived (come back summer!). The air is cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and Halloween items have taken over store shelves. And while I will always be a summer girl at heart, there are some things about autumn that I will happily embrace. That includes Oktoberfest and all of its accompanying activities, drinks, and foods.
In honor of the upcoming Spokane Oktoberfest (October 27-29th at CenterPlace Regional Event Center in Spokane Valley), I decided to try my hand at making a German-style dish for dinner Saturday night. I chose Oktoberfest Stew with Lager and Smoked Sausage from Pinterest, as it looked relatively easy but tasty at the same time. Considering this was my first attempt at German stew, easy was very appealing.
The stew ingredients included: beef smoked sausage, onion, cabbage, German-style lager beer, potatoes, chicken stock, and apple cider vinegar (along with some spices like salt, pepper, and caraway seeds). If you’ve checked out some of my Pinterest:Impossible posts from the past, you’ll know that now I’m going to relate what ingredient substitutions I ended up making (I’m a creature of habit, what can I say?). My boss offered me some of his homemade elk sausage, so I used that instead of beef. I misunderstood the call for Russet potatoes and ended up with Red potatoes. And TheFather was in charge of providing the German-style lager. He got a bottle of Arrogant Bastard Ale after deciding it had a great label.
So really instead of Oktoberfest Stew with Lager and Smoked Sausage, I made Oktoberfest Stew with Ale and Elk Sausage.
Well okay, what I basically made was Oktoberfest SOUP with Ale and Elk Sausage. Because while I cooked everything the way the recipe said and used most of the proper ingredients, my broth never thickened up at all. My theory is that it was a potato issue – the Red potatoes didn’t soften up or break up like Russet potatoes might have. And softened/broken up potatoes would have helped thicken up the broth.
Oh well. Even if it was soup and not stew, the finished product was pretty tasty. The elk sausage came apart a bit but it tasted fine. The ale meshed well with the flavors of the chicken broth, cabbage, onion, and potatoes. The only complaints I had from TheFather (my constant new recipe guinea pig) was that there could have been a bit more sausage and cabbage than what I included. I also thought I could have used a bit more onion than I did.
All in all, I’m going to call Oktoberfest Stew with Lager and Smoked Sausage a Pinterest WIN. The soup was tasty (if not truly stew-like). It paired well with crusty bread and a One Tree Hard Pumpkin Cider. I would totally make it again – if I ever made a recipe twice.
Be sure to check out authentic German food at this year’s Spokane Oktoberfest, October 27-29th 2017. Tickets on sale now!
SOURCE – Oktoberfest Stew with Lager and Smoked Sausage
