Oktoberfest Celebrate the season with German gemutlichkeit

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 11, 2006 | by Jackie Burrell, MEDIANEWS

FOR NEARLY 200 years, Bavaria's capital city has hosted Oktoberfest, the beloved beer and sausage extravaganza that draws 6 million revelers a year and inspires imitations around the world. These days, you can hoist a bratwurst at Oktoberfests from Honolulu to Savannah. And the Bay Area's German festivities continue weeks after chilly autumn weather brings Munich's celebrations to an end.

Last week, the oompah bands and grilled bratwurst were at Alameda's Speisekammer, a cozy German restaurant that closes down Lincoln Avenue every year and turns it into an expansive biergarten, with seating for 1,500. Dirndled women dance, lederhosen-clad men raise beer steins, and the intoxicating scent of grilled sausages and pork steaks wafts from the restaurant's outdoor grills.

Of course, you don't need accordions and tubas to host your own Oktoberfest at home, just a hefty dose of gemutlichkeit and a good source for bratwurst and weisswurst, the parsley-flecked veal sausagebeloved by generations of Muncheners.

Germany's trademark gemutlichkeit -- cozy warmth and friendliness -- are key, says Phil Hadley, Speisekammer's general manager.

So is the food: Bavarian sausages, pork steaks, sauerkraut, marinated red cabbage, potato salad and those famous salt-encrusted Bretzen, which Speisekammer buys from Pure Grain, a German bakery in Vacaville.

Everyone's got a favorite potato salad recipe -- and Americans are partial to what they call "Hot German Potato Salad," usually laced with hot bacon drippings. But most Bavarians prefer their potatoes dressed simply, with a light vinaigrette, chopped parsley and plenty of salt and pepper. Some white-haired Omas dilute the vinegar with water first, adding a dash of sugar and sliced onions, and letting the mixture marinate for several days before using.

It's the same mixture they use on their "gemischtes salat," a composed salad found on German biergarten and restaurant menus, and usually consisting of a small butter lettuce salad, a sliced tomato and parsley salad and either celery root or grated carrot salad, all artfully arranged on a plate.

But atmosphere is an essential part of gemutlichkeit, and Speisekammer's Oktoberfest is, well, "really cute," says Hadley.

"We close down the street, put a bunch of beer tents out there and traditional biergarten tables," Hadley says. "There's traditional German music, German dancers dressed up in their lederhosen. It keeps the German community close."

We tend to think of Oktoberfest as a giant kegger, but Munich's first Oktoberfest was actually a wedding reception for Crown Prince Ludwig and his bride, Princess Therese, in 1810. The royal couple invited Munich's hoi polloi to join them on the fields near the city gates for five days of revelry, parades, music, food and a horse race that proved so popular, the event got an encore the next year. And the next. And the next.

By 1818, a carousel and two rides had been added, and by 1896, the informal beer stands had turned into huge, semi-permanent beer tents and halls, sponsored by Munich's six premiere breweries. As the event grew, organizers moved the start date back into September to take advantage of the warmer weather.

Those fields are known now as Theresienwiese or Therese's meadow, and the Oktoberfest itself -- a massive affair with 6 million liters of amber lager, trendy Champagne bars and brilliantly hued tents capable of seating 3,000 to 9,000 people at a time -- is dubbed "Wies'n."

It boasts carousels, roller coasters, brass bands and millions of pounds of bratwurst, 87 spit-roasted oxen, 460,000 roasted chickens, and innumerable vats of sauerkraut, marinated red cabbage and potato salad.

And hanging everywhere: elaborately decorated and beribboned gingerbread hearts that proclaim "Oktoberfest" or "I love you" auf Deutsch.

Munich's next Oktoberfest runs Sept. 22 to Oct. 7, 2007, but you don't have to wait that long to celebrate. Fort Mason turns into Munich West -- very, very far West -- this weekend for the eighth annual Oktoberfest-by-the-Bay, complete with music by the 21-piece Chico Bavarian Band and dancing by the Schuhplattlers. Schroeder's, the 113-year-old German restaurant in San Francisco's financial district, celebrates Oktoberfest every Friday night through October.

And you can always do the gemutlich thing at home.

Oktoberfest menu

Grilled Weisswurst, Bockwurst and other German-style sausages Bretzen and Brotchen (Pretzels and Rolls), mustard, Rotkohl (Marinated Red Cabbage), Kartoffelsalat (Potato Salad), Gemischtes Salat (Composed Salad) Apfelstrudel and Gingerbread Hearts.

Rotkohl (Marinated

Red Cabbage)

Recipe courtesy of Suppenkuche restaurant of San Francisco.

2 heads red cabbage, sliced thinly

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 clove

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 onions, thinly sliced

Butter

1/4 cup cranberry sauce, or more to taste

Mix the cabbage, vinegar, juice, sugar and spices together, stirring well and tasting for flavor. The taste should be sweet and tart. Cover tightly and marinate overnight.