Charles Dickens may have considered a fat goose to be the de rigueur Christmas feast. But at our house last week it was all pork, all the time.
Bauernschmaus headlined the menu for Christmas Eve. Known as Choucroute Alsacienne in France, this Tyrolean specialty is a heaping mound of apple- and bacon-flecked sauerkraut hiding a treasure trove of pork sausages and smoked pork chops. It’s topped with fat, fluffy dumplings known as knödeln.
My husband and I have enjoyed Bauernschmaus on Christmas Eve (and other wintery nights) since 1977 when we discovered the “farmer’s feast” while living in Innsbruck, Austria.The impressive one-pot wonder is remarkably easy to make. First, sauté a chopped large onion or two until caramelized. Add large jar of (drained) sauerkraut to the pan; mix in two thinly sliced green apple (skin left on) and top it all with two or three strips of bacon. Cover the pan and cook over low heat for about 40 minutes, discard the bacon, and add all the goodies.
This year I used fresh bratwurst, frankfurters and knockwurst, and several smoked pork chops, all from Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad, CA. The semolina dumplings were ready-made, in a bag that I just dropped into boiling water. I hope my Austrian friends don’t read this; it’s just too embarrassing. But making the dumplings from scratch is a challenging operation and Christmas Eve isn’t the time for challenging operations. I serve the hearty feast with a half dozen different types of mustard -- Bavarian sweet, stone-ground, honey, and Dijon among them; as well as horseradish sauce.
Our Christmas Night Dinner was another porkathon, enjoyed on December 26th since the skiing on December 25 was too good to pass up and left no time for complicated dinner preparations. Our crisp, oversized Beggar’s Purses were filled with chunks of pork tenderloin, slow-braised with Anderson Valley Brewing Company Winter Solstice Seasonal Ale, onions and dried cranberries. Each slice of pork was topped with my cousin Wendy’s Red Onion Marmalade (recipe follows), then wrapped in butter-sloshed phyllo dough. It wasn’t the prettiest package at the party (I do not recommend the Athens brand's skimpy phyllo sheets), but it was festive (with broccoli puree and mashed Yukon Golds on the side) and delicious.
A couple day’s later, son Ben volunteered an exotic menu of Pork Vindaloo with basmati rice, mango chutney and naan. He made the fragrant stew in the pressure cooker (far more efficient at 9,000 feet), adapting Lorna Sass’ recipe from “The Pressured Cook.” Made with coarse-grained mustard, fresh ginger, toasted cumin seeds, dried red chiles, coconut milk, Yukon Golds and frozen peas, it was a colorful and lively antidote to the rich food of earlier nights.
Not to be outdone, son Nicholas whipped up Tacos Al Pastor for the final pork party of the week. No tacky taco shells for this guy. No quick-grilled tenderloin, or packaged seasoning mix. This labor of love involved a hunk of pork shoulder, painstakingly trimmed and sliced into fat slabs that spent the night in a marinade of dried guajillo, ancho and chipotle chiles, fresh lime and orange juices, Mexican oregano, cumin seeds, garlic and a splash of Coca-Cola. (The recipe is from Food & Wine.)
At showtime, Nicholas grilled the meat on the Ducane, along with fat slices of onion and fresh pineapple, then chopped and piled the succulent pork atop tiny warm corn tortillas from La Tortilla Ria in nearby Telluride, CO. Chopped grilled onion and pineapple added the finishing touches, along with a last-minute flurry of chopped red onion and cilantro.
All in all, a week-long pig-out to remember.
Here's Wendy Neal's recipe for Red Onion Marmalade. It makes about 2 1/2 cups.
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