SCHNITZEL THURSDAY

This finished meal

We love the time we spent in Germany.  One of the things we became accustomed to was traditional German cuisine.  Though we have several German restaurants in the area, none of them do justice to the food we had in Germany and the prices are relatively high.  Like most food, the stuff we make usually tastes better than we can get in any restaurant, so we often decide to make it at home for a fraction of the price of going out.  Our German themed night was very basic and also very delicious.  Schnitzel, Sauerkraut and kasespaetzle with all but the spaetzle noodles made from scratch.

Schnitzel:  Traditionally pork or veal is used.  We went with pork.  This is a piece of meat pounded thin with a mallet, then breaded and fried.  We are fortunate enough to have a corner grocer and butcher to get our meat sliced any way we want it.  Even more fortunate is that the patriarch of this family owned business is an immigrant from Germany who knows the ins and outs of all things German.  He was able to slice schnitzel to the perfect thickness.   Thank you Joe from Joe's Meat Market and Grocery.

Breaded schnitzel frying in the pan

Sauerkraut:  We ferment our own cabbage to make kraut.  We started this last fall and have gotten progressively better throughout the batches.  If you like sauerkraut as we do, it simply does not get any better than this.  See our old post about the making of kraut.  Please keep in mind that we have gotten much better at sauerkraut making since our initial attempt.

Kasespaetzle:  This literally means cheese noodles.  We cheated on this one and I purchased some dried spaetzle noodles at the Fort Dix Commissary.  We have made spaetzle noodles in the past from scratch, but elected not to this time.  The trick with spaetzle is to add some sauteed onions into the mix and then the cheese.  Bake in oven....  DELICIOUS!!!

Baked kasespaetzle

We love our German food, despite it being a little heavy.  The only thing we forgot was the Jager sauce (brown gravy) for the schnitzel.  If you want recipes send us an e-mail or comment on the blog.  We are more than happy to help you recreate this wonderful meal.