German Food Update: The Great Plum Experiment

     This month I have been experimenting with plums. Why plums you may ask. Well, in my research of German dishes I have found that the German people really love plums in desserts in the same way they love a certain TV show about a talking car. This was a nice coincidence to find because plums happen to be my favorite fruit. I figured this would be perfect; they like plums, I like plums, food gold. I was more than a little surprised to see that my love of a fresh ripe plum does not equate to a love of all plum baked goods.

Plum Tart (Zwetschekuchen)
      I have never ever made a tart of any sort before this one. I have seen tarts many times in the world, but not one with a single kind of fruit. This was an odd recipe in that it had me make a huge amount of crust. I was directed to use a pie plate to press the dough into after it had sat in the fridge for several hours. I ended up not using one quarter of the dough. If I had tried to cram all of the dough into the glass pie plate there would have been about a 1/4" of space to put the plum slices into. I'm pretty sure I left too much in as it is because the crust was almost half of an inch thick. Crust thickness beside, I sliced around 8 plums and placed them in an aesthetically pleasing pattern and baked it as directed. I thought it was odd when the recipe did not have me make any kind of syrup or use an egg wash on the top of the arranged fruit. After baking I was told to add a sprinkling of sugar and then I would be done. Everyone who tasted the tart found the finished crust very tasty, if a bit thick. Everyone commented that the plums were lightly sweet, a bit tart, and a bit sour. I enjoyed the tart, but I am not sure how many other people will. The tasters were split evenly on it. Because I started with an ok recipe, I tried to find an even better replacement. 

Plum Roll (Zwetschgenschnecken)
      The second recipe I wanted to try is a breakfast-roll type of baked good. It is a dough with layers of chopped plum, slivered almonds and plum butter. The recipe made 12 bigger-than-my-fist-sized rolls. The filling was super simple to make, but the dough. . . it's always the dough that gives me problems. The recipe was very similar to a bread or pretzel dough. It was very stretchy and exceptionally sticky. The directions called for me to roll the dough into a 20" x 20" square. That is huge and I found the dough to be way too thin at that size. Since I followed the steps verbatim the first time through, I struggled when it came to rolling the dough into a huge lumpy log. The dough split and was very difficult to work with. After cutting 12 misshapen rolls and loading them into 2 pans and not the 1 called for, I loaded them into the oven. I was amazed at how much the dough had puffed up. My wife really enjoyed how these turned out in the end. The cinnamon really added a flavor she enjoyed. I was indifferent towards these. Second recipe, second lukewarm reception. In general I don't mind making dishes that I know only a few people will like, but I would like to tell people that I like what I made for them.

Plum Cake (Zwetschgenkuchen)
      The last of the 3 plum recipes I found happened to be our favorite one. Thank god, because I don't think I could have convinced my wife to keep eating plum flavored baked goods for much longer. The recipe for the cake base was very odd to me. The base was very thick compared to every other cake recipe I have ever made. It had to be scraped out of the bowl because it was so thick. This recipe had 2 characteristics that drew me to it. It was designed to be used with not-fully-ripe plums, and it didn't include any nutmeg. As anyone who buys fruit ever knows, not every piece of fruit in the store or market stall is ripe at the same time. The sugar content in this recipe was a bit higher than the previous 2 recipes I tried. I believed this helped to balance the tartness and sweetness of the plums I purchased. The lack of nutmeg in this recipe may seem like an odd positive, but when you remember that 4-6 of the other recipes I will be making for TH2 have a detectable nutmeg flavor in them, the change to cinnamon was a positive one. The part of the recipe that threw me off a little was the direction to layer the plums in any pattern you wish. This led me to believe that the pattern I chose would be noticeable after it was finished, but that didn't happen. The cake fluffed up so much during baking that any semblance of a pattern was lost. Next time I make this, the plums will simply be layered in nice, easy straight lines.

      This cake is the final dessert that will be experimented with for Thanksgiving 2.6. This gives me just under 20 different desserts to offer to everyone. I'd like all the guests to be aware that because I am creating so many different items, that there will not be a huge amount of any one item. If you know you want some zimtsterne cookies then you had better get to the gathering while the Parade is still on the video wall (between 11am and 2pm). I am going to try and make the dessert table look fancy-ish this year. I want a few nice pictures of the event this time. Until then, I have one more "birthday day" at work. I have to figure out which side dish I want to try out on my co-workers. I will take suggestions.      

The Great Beer Search 2013

     The most time consuming, but interesting “research” I have done for this year’s Thanksgiving 2.6 was finding the correct beers to serve our guests. Germany is the beer capital of Europe to most people (I prefer Belgian beers in general). Trying to find a selection of beer that represents a wide variety of the German beer styles has been rough this year. Especially tough because of the state I live in. We have some of the more archaic beer laws in the U.S. and that means I have to do a lot of extra running around to find the brands and even the quantity I want. Join me as I recount some of the “highlights” of the Great Beer Search. 

     The very first step to finding German beer is to research the German beer. Most of the beer that is popular and readily available in America is of the lager style. I knew I was going to have a lot of American ales at TH2 so I decided to focus on some of the major German styles. I wanted beer that fit into 4 categories: 1. Brewed in Germany, 2. Under $4 a bottle, 3. Not made by AB-Inbev or SAB Miller, 4.Tastes good to me and 2 other people I know. With my guidelines in hand I could start my quest. I started at the local Wegmans. I had an easy time finding the dunkel,hefe-weiss, marzen, and doppelbock. I realize this is not a full list of all lager style beers. TH2 isn’t a large enough operation for that yet. I picked styles that are different enough from one another and that had strong enough flavor to cut through all of the food. The difficulty I ran across was in finding the final German beer. . . the pilsner. The simplest and most straight-forward beer style, what a pain this turned into. Most of you know that Budweiser, Coors, and Miller’s most popular beer styles are pilsners. They do not taste very good. They are an Americanized version of the traditional pilsner. I wanted to find a German version that really showed the differences. Using my 4 guidelines I had several choices that were readily available to me, Bitburger, Weihenstephaner and Hofbrau. Hofbrau is the easy answer here. It is the cheapest, always available and fairly well known. Bitburger is the middle ground, a bit cheaper, a bit harder to find and middle of the road in taste. Weihenstephaner is a bit tougher based mostly on cost and it’s a bit tougher to find in a case or 12-pack form. I decided based on taste. I hope that the Weihenstephaner is enjoyed by the crowd at TH2. Pilsner is such a light flavor I will be telling the guests to try it first if they are going to taste multiple styles.  

     On to the American beer! I thought I had a great plan, little did I know how many different places I would have to go or how I could have saved myself a lot of trouble. Like a lot of the population in my area of the U.S. that enjoys an alcoholic beverage or two, I started my search for beer by crossing the state line. We had a wedding to go to that was out of state, so we combined the wedding with a jaunt over to Total Wine and More. The goal was to pick up 10-12 of the beers needed for TH2. I have no issue with purchasing the higher ABV (alcohol by volume) beer because I have a very dry basement to store them in until December. I found 3 of the 12 I wanted. Since I found so few on this first trip I knew I’d have to try their other location at a later date. So much for one-stop shopping. Around a month later I ran down to the closer location of Total Wine and was hoping to pick up the remaining 9 beers. It wasn’t meant to be because I found 2 of the 9. Not once, but I was twice burned by the neighboring state’s beer store. 

     After that second trip down the highway to buy beer I decided to forgo all of that business and stick to the 2-3 stores really close to my house. I would have to pay more, but I’d be home for dinner after the shopping at least. I know I talk up my local Wegmans a lot, but when I saw the quantities of the supposedly harder-to-find seasonal beers they have, I knew I could find virtually everything I needed there. So over the last 4 weeks I have picked up all but 3 of the beers I need. I am waiting to purchase the pilsner and hefe-weiss because they come in clear bottles and they are low (relatively) in alcohol, so they won’t store all that well. The final beer I need is Founders Brewery Backwoods Bastard which doesn’t come out for a few more weeks. Thankfully, I’m very close to having the most complicated and painful beer shopping experience I have ever been a part of. I learned a lot from this though. Next year I will make a single trip to the larger Total Wine. It will be in late September, right as the Oktoberfests, and pumpkin seasonals are making their first appearances. If I do not find the entire list of items I will not make a return trip. I will happily go to Wegmans and the closest beer distributor to my home. This should be a happy process, not one that causes heartache. 

     Don’t forget to check out the FINISHED BEER menu. If you fancy yourself a beer aficionado and are coming to TH2.6, I would highly recommend getting there very early in the day.

  

*You will notice that there won't be any IPA (India Pale Ale) or Pale Ales on the beer menu. There are two very good reasons for that. 1.Both styles are very bitter, especially the West Coast versions. They can be so bitter as to corrupt your taste buds for anything except an even more bitter beer/food. I want everyone to taste all of the food as it was intended. 2. I am not a huge fan of excessively hoppy beer. If there is an IPA or Pale Ale that fits the theme of a future TH2, then there will be some on the menu.

What to Expect When Your Expecting a Good Time

      This entry is more for the newcomers than the Thanksgiving 2 regulars, but I’ll also cover the subtle differences from last year’s successful event. I want you to be able to walk in from either direction and have some idea of what to look and where to head if you’re hungry, want to watch a holiday classic, need a drink or if you simply want to sit next to the fire.

      So you are in your car and driving up to the “Home of Everlasting Warmth and Holiday Cheer” that is our house. The first thing you will do is find a parking spot within a couple blocks of the house. With 60 people scheduled and around 30 cars among them this is going to be a bit rough, but persevere and you will be rewarded. Our neighbors are used to my gathering at this point. Let’s say you walk in at the front door. You will be greeted by the scent of a roasting turkey, hot fresh pies and apple and cinnamon hitting your nose. If I meet you I will direct you to take your coats/outer garments up to the second floor and remind you that the back-up bathroom is up there. 

      Since you are now ready for fun, I’ll lead you to one of the 2 name-tag stations. There will be a card that will tell you how to fill one out. These will be voluntary and the amount of information you choose to share is up to you. (I promise I won’t send your name tag info to any advertisers or other companies.) They are here to help break the ice and maybe create a conversation. Now it’s on to the good stuff. 

      The living room is a combo room. It is the first room with food in it and it's also the movie room. You'll notice a small assortment of appetizers, rolls and apperitifs. The movie/holiday special schedule will be posted soon. If you enjoy a little movie or parade with your food, this is the room for you. The parade starts the day off and then leads into holiday classics. Since you're in the living I'd appreciate it if you take a moment to admire the Christmas tree. 

      When you have made your way past the Christmas tree or decided you'd like something more substantial to eat then make your way past the tree and into the middle/dining room. I am sure you'll see a small group gathered here marveling at our library and dragons amidst their conversations. Hopefully

      The dining room tends to be a popular gathering spot for conversation. There is another appetizer table here, but the finger foods will be different in this room. If you would like a hefty conversation over some tapenade or just a piece of cornbread to have with your turkey, this is the room for you. The middle room tends to be a calm area. It is literally in the middle of everything.

      After you’ve pulled yourself away from the gripping conversation in the middle room you’ll head into the kitchen. The kitchen is less a gathering spot and more the buffet room. All of the main courses and side dishes are here and most of the desserts are here for the taking. The plates, forks, knives and spoons are right near the inner doorway. Now, don’t be silly and pass these up. Grab them before you start sniffing. If I can make any suggestions as to how to hit the food it is this: take small amounts on your first trip through. After the first trip through you will know what flavors you like. A lot of the dishes will probably be new to you because of the German theme. 

      Now that you’ve wondered at the Christmas trees, had an enlightening conversation and created an impressive plate of German themed foods I am sure you have developed quite a thirst. Well, have I got the place for you. Just outside the back door and on the porch/tented backyard is where you’ll find the drinks. We have the whole gamut of drinks for you to choose from. Just make sure if you grab a bottle of beer that you also grab a glass or cup. Beer is meant to be poured in a glass and I encourage sharing! Just keep in mind to check both sides of the tent. The pre-mixed cocktails, wine and a few desserts will be out there only. The tented are is a major congregation area. Card games have been played and much happy conversing is done outside. Just outside the tent is the fire pit and seating area. This is my favorite place to gather near the end of the night. I find it calming after a long week of preparation. 

      Now with your mental road map and knowledge of food locations and activity sites you are ready for fun. Take a look at the layout page if you want a quick refresher. We are almost at Halloween and regular Thanksgiving is on its way. I can wait!

Sophistication Comes to Thanksgiving?. . . Aperitifs and Digestifs join the Party

Apéritif: An alcoholic beverage usually served before a meal to stimulate the appetite.

Digestif: An alcoholic beverage served after a meal, in theory to aid digestion.

     I had an idea the other day to add a new albeit subtle layer to this year’s Thanksgiving 2.6. I came across several foodie articles and I realized that I was missing this very European custom in my lunch/dinner presentation. What I was missing was the presentation of an aperitif and a digestif to my guests before and after the meal respectively. In many areas of Europe before the main meal the guests have a small amount of a moderately alcoholic drink before they eat, possibly with an appetizer of some sort. The bookend to the pre-meal drink is the partaking of a digestif. After a nice big meal when everyone is just sitting around and much talking is being done is when digestifs join the party. While these are common practices in mainland Europe, it is rare to see them served in the U.S. The only time I can think of that this is ever done on a regular basis is at a wedding reception. The “cocktail hour” is as close as we get to drinking aperitifs before a meal. Although if you have been to a wedding lately I would not call the drinks served during the "cocktail hour" light, dry and refreshing. The tradition of after dinner coffee is about as close as most Americans come to drinking a digestif. While this might not be a huge tradition in Germany (this years theme) I still want to attempt this idea this year. It's very likely that the themes for the next few years will keep us in Europe, so why not try it out now when there will be a large focus on beer. 

     I plan on introducing the aperitifs to the guests as they come in and while I show them where the nametags and food locations are. Not that there is ever a problem with getting people to eat at TH2, but if there is a way to stimulate the appetite in a new way of even a few of the guests I will be happy. Also, I am providing another reason to hang around the living room and dining room. If a few people stay in the living room while eating some cured meats and enjoying a glass of Aperol then I will be a happy host. I am always looking for ways to spread people out and draw people away from the natural gathering point of the kitchen. Since we are losing the "game room" upstairs to draw people away, the use of the living and dining rooms will become especially important this year. I  am going to place 1-3 different aperitifs with a bottle of soda water and a few lemon twists on the appetizer/roll tables in the living and dining rooms. 

     It is thought that the digestif wasn't widely adopted in America because of our love of restaurant culture. Restaurants do not usually want customers to hang around and discuss topics of the day after they have finished eating. Even though it never caught on, I feel like TH2 is a great way to introduce the idea to our guests. Luckily, because of the 2 Polar Paloozas I have gotten to tend bar at, I happen to have some digestifs already because they are a common cocktail ingredient. We already have Bailey’s Irish Cream, Galliano, a brandy and homemade limoncello. I may purchase a bottle of port from one of our favorite wineries (Mount Hope Winery) if there is any interest in this idea. On the dessert table in the kitchen I am going to present 2-4 different digestifs to choose from. I will have 2 or 3 ounce glasses on the table, as opposed to a rocks glass or something similar. The glass size will encourage tasting and sharing, which is what I want. I'll be a happy host if at the end of the night I see several people sitting around the fire with small glasses and unusual bottles sitting on a table.  

        I am hoping that the locations of these spirits near the food will highlight their specialness. If I am out of position when someone new stops by then maybe they will ask questions about these bottles that are hanging out on the food tables. These two simple additions may not add much flair to the event, but sometimes a subtle addition is all that's needed. 

So You'd Like to Host Your Own Thanksgiving 2

As much as Thanksgiving 1 is a North American holiday, I would like to think that Thanksgiving 2 has the power to cross borders, nay, oceans and become a worldwide holiday celebration. You may be saying to yourself "But it seems difficult and super time consuming to put together a Thanksgiving 2 celebration". Let me put your minds at ease. It is much easier then you may think, and it can be supremely enjoyable if done correctly. I’ll go over the few steps that are necessary and some that could be added in to fancy it up. I believe that one day I will meet or hear from someone who is throwing their own TH2.

      It may seem daunting at first, but over the years I have found that I only need 3 things to pull off a successful Thanksgiving 2 event.

1.      The willingness to put the event together.

2.      The time to prepare the food and/or decorate.

3.      A group of people who would enjoy my Thanksgiving 2 celebration.

     Your willingness is probably the hardest one to gauge. I’m going to guess that if you’re still reading this post that you have the inklings or very beginning of the want. If you enjoy having people over to your home or if you like throwing parties now then you are only a step or 2 away from throwing a TH2 event. 

     The time element is very dependent on how many people you think will be joining you for the event. I am planning on 60 people this year. I will be spreading the prep time out over a week and a half with a break for Thanksgiving 1 and Black Friday (we go Christmas shopping that day). Look at the chart below to get a rough idea of how much prep time you would need. My estimates are based on a single person working alone and time spent after a 9-5 job. If you have to clean your home I’d add a day or 2 depending on the size of your entertaining area. The very best way to figure out how much time you will need is to plan out your menu first (which is a whole other subject). If you know what dishes you are going to make then you can plan out which dishes are made on what day, or which ones need to be made the day of (the turkey for instance). Your schedule will almost build itself at this point.

# of Guests	PSMU’s needed (8-12 hours)		Food	Days to prepare food (minimum)
10-20	120-240 psmu’s		1-2 turkeys, 8 sides, 5 desserts	2
20-3020-30	240-360 psmu’s		2 turkeys, 10 sides, 8 desserts	4
30-40	360-480 psmu’s		2-3 turkeys, 12 sides, 10 desserts	7
50-60	600-720 psmu’s		3-4 turkeys, 16 sides, 12 desserts	10
		*sides refer to appetizers and side dishes combined *PSMU=Personal Single Meal Unit

     The third and most important step is the crowd finding. Without guests to share TH2 with you are just sitting alone eating a ton of turkey by yourself, and no one wants that. I can only make some suggestions here because I’m hoping you have friends already. Here are a few additional ideas to add people to your guest list. I am a big proponent of social media, and I find it to be the easiest way to tell everyone about Thanksgiving 2. Why only use word of mouth when you can “talk” to 40, 50 or 120 people at a time? You can encourage your invites to "share" the invites with friendly people to encourage more guests. Finally, the best suggestion I can make is to use a quote from the most famous cooler in the world Dalton, “Be nice.” If you meet new people during your travels then you have an opportunity to invite them to your Thanksgiving 2 celebration. 

     Now once you have had your first successful TH2 event, and you feel like a second one can be done, but you’d like to add a few extra flourishes here are some simple suggestions.

1.      Add holiday decorations

2.      Create a movie watching schedule

3.      Add a food/drink tasting

4.      Find a theme to unite the dishes

     The simplest addition is to put up decorations of some sort. I say this is the easiest because a lot of people I know already have their Thanksgiving or Christmas decorations handy when it comes to the end of the year. It depends on when you decide to hold your TH2. I prefer to have my winter holiday decorations up after Halloween, so my house is ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas  by the end of November. If you choose to hold your TH2 before you would normally have your house decorated then here is your chance to decorate early. I have always thought that if you are going to put all of the effort into making your home look nice and festive, why shouldn’t you enjoy it for a long time. 

     Since just about everyone I know has a largeish tv nowadays the addition of a movie schedule just makes sense. Why have this piece of equipment and not use it at social functions? This is an idea I have been flirting with this year. I have always had movies playing on my wall, but I haven’t ever run them on a schedule. If the guests have a favorite movie then they can plan their meal times around it, or even make sure they show up in time to watch their favorite holiday classic. The only suggestion I will make that I learned from a friend who used to do many movie marathons is to plan breaks between showings. I plan to run the Macy’sThanskgiving Day parade from 11am-2pm and then start National Lampoons Christmas Vacation next. I will put a 30-45 minute window in between them. I am currently taking a poll to see what others movies to watch, one of which will be Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. At first having a movie on may seem anti-social at a gathering like this, but I have found that with a lively crowd it becomes a very social experience. 

     Last year I tried a drink tasting on a tiny scale and I think it went very well. I had 8 infused vodkas to taste and when a bit of a crowd gathered it gave us all something new to share together. To throw together your own tasting requires very little. Decide what you'd like to feature, then set a specific time to do it. This is a good portion of your event that you could delegate to a good friend or loved one. As long as you have a nice semi-secluded space and some adventurous guests this can add a great element that will be remembered I will go over the tasting component I am thinking of adding on a later entry. 


      My favorite embellishment that can be added is the thematic element of the last 3 Thanksgiving 2's. Finding a theme that you both like and can pull off is the key. You have to find one that unites some or all of your dishes, drinks or decorations. I would say look towards countries (like I do), regions of the globe, or where some of your favorite foods come from. Another interesting way to go is a theme based on a movie or TV show. For example: the Harry Potter book and movie series has a lot of food references in them. It would be very easy to have a Potter themed Thanksgiving 2. The only word of caution I will give you is this, remember that you are hosting a Thanksgiving event. You do not want to go too far off of the generally accepted Thanksgiving menu for your first or second time around. I have a heavy German theme this year, but I will have the traditional turkeys, mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing and pumpkin pie. The rest of the dishes will be the on-theme supplemental dishes. If you can find a theme that you are interested in, and one that you will enjoy researching then your prep work will not feel like a chore, but an interesting experience.

     If anyone out there thinks that they would like to throw their own TH2 gathering please let me know. The 60 people coming can not be wrong. Someone threw the very first New Year's Eve party hundreds of years ago. Don't you want to be a pioneer?