October-Feast

It's just been cold enough lately for thoughts to turn to Fall and comforting, cold weather food. Something about October . . . and perhaps the small percentage of German blood I have running through my veins, but this is the month I crave hearty German dishes, soft pretzels and popcorn and of course, the delicious beer that goes along with it. Bring on the carbs!

Not to mention the fall produce - apples and pumpkins always put me in the mood for pie. I am definitely NOT a good pie crust maker, so I usually have to get my pie fix somewhere else made by someone else's hands to really enjoy the experience.

So far this month, true to my pattern, I have managed to find some new places to find and fulfill my October-Feasting, that I thought you might be interested in knowing about as well.

Craving #1: Handmade Sausages
Something about the look and smell of a perfectly grilled handmade sausage really says October to me. Boiled in beer with onions and caraway seeds, then once the insides are fully cooked and juicy, taking the sausages outside to the grill to crisp up the skins or casings to get that perfect snap when you bite into it. Whether it is served sitting on top of a bed of kraut, apples and onions or snuggled into a hearty brat bun with a squeeze of spicy brown mustard, I love to eat them this time of year.

To buy good quality sausages, I usually go to Fritz's Superior Sausage Company at 103rd and State Line or Werner's Fine Sausages on 57th and Johnson Drive. Both have a really excellent selection of various kinds of German sausages. Werner's was introduced to me by my grandmother when I first moved to Kansas City, as they have been making German sausages for over 30 years. Fritz's is a little closer to where I live now, and I have enjoyed their selection of ethnic sausages and always pick up one from the grill outside for my lunch when I stop in to purchase my wurst, the German word for sausage.

I had my biggest sausage surprise of all yesterday, after my son's soccer game. We all decided to go out for a bite to eat and we let my son choose the place. He grabbed his Daddy's iPhone and hit the Urban Spoon utility (which I have come to love as a feature on my phone as well) and with Magic 8 Ball accuracy we were pointed towards Barley's Brewhaus & Restaurant in Shawnee, KS on Midland Drive.

My son was very excited to be going to this unknown place, but my husband and I were a little less enthusiastic. Our memories of this place were neutral, not bad, but not really good either in terms of the food. It was brew pub food. Boy, were we in for a surprise when I spotted this little note printed on the menu that said "Sausages made fresh daily." What? I thought, no way. We called the waitress over and asked her about it, and she confirmed that "Yes, Lorenzo has been making them from a family recipe by hand, since the day they opened the place." That was it, my husband ordered the Bratwurst sandwich and I got the Kielbasa sausage on grilled sauerkraut with sweet herb butter on the side and cole slaw. Fantastic sausage, both of our sausages were indeed handmade and smoked by the smoker in the back of the place. The sauerkraut with herb butter was delicious and even the cole slaw appeared to be house-made with a little sweetness to it.

I was pleasantly surprised and will be going back to Barley's for the sausage. Lorenzo, dude, keep up the good work.

To make really good sausage is a skill (much like making good pie crust) . . .trust me, after eating my share of sausages as a BBQ judge at the American Royal Barbecue Competition last weekend, I do know there is such a thing as really awful handmade sausage. I also know there are several people in that competition who are very talented at it.    

Being a BBQ judge for the first time really opened my eyes and my palate to what different people enjoy in a sausage and all of the different variations there are out there. Some of them being quite excellent and unusual, and some of them being just plain bad. I was judging the amateur competition, so it was my job to eat and judge the meat turned in from all of those tents parked outside the Royal. 

But as evidenced here, I did take an oath "to judge the meat with all fairness, to the best of my ability and palate, until death do us part, with liberty and justice for all. Amen." (Well, the actual pledge that we had to take went something close to that, perhaps not exactly, but you get the drift.)

Walking in and out of the judging on both Saturday and Sunday, I realized that the American Royal experience at the tent level is really just one big frat party, with 30-something year old men with their ball caps on backwards, drinking too much beer, playing with rather large fires and eating way too much meat. I think all that sun and fun stirs up their testosterone in an unpleasant and rather tribal way. Let's just say, it is not safe for a lady to wander the tents of the Royal alone. I never feared for my physical safety, but the comments were enough to steer me out of the campgrounds and back to my car quicker than I anticipated. There are only so many, "Hey baby, I'll be back to pick you up later." Mr. Microphone comments one girl can take from the Karaoke machine left over from the night before. Seriously, where is Brutus, my bodyguard, when I really need him? All I wanted to do was find the serious boys that wanted to talk some 'Que with me. Geesh!

Craving #2: Bierocks

Okay, I honestly had never even heard of German Bierocks until a few days ago when I stopped into You Say Tomato for lunch on Friday and decided to try their Veggie Bierock with house-made Tzatziki sauce. A traditional bierock is a pastry that is filled with meat, potato and cabbage (also available at You Say Tomato) and then baked into a small pocket of bread or pastry until golden brown. The origins are thought to be German or Russian - they are also thought to be the same thing as a Runza and a cousin to the Pierogi.

This was what threw me for a loop when I went to read about them, apparently they are still made and known mostly in Kansas, North Dakota and Northern Oklahoma. Really? Being from Northern Oklahoma and now living in Kansas, I can assure you I had never heard of Bierocks until Friday. 

The Veggie Bierock (pronounced "Beer Rocks") at You Say Tomato was filled with curried lentils, raisins, and chunks of potatoes all wrapped in a crunchy on the top, but chewy on the bottom pocket of dough. The spice from the curry needed the cooling that their house-made Tzatziki provided. Mine needed a little salt and I would have doused my with Tabasco to provide a little additional heat, but other than that it was really a tasty new treat.

Craving #3: Pretzels

I love soft pretzels. I have always been a freak for bread of any kind, which is why soft, salty pretzels are a definite weakness for me. I love the ones they sell at the mall with their cloying fresh baked bread and movie popcorn butter smell, and I love the ones I make at home.

Yes, you heard me, I found a great recipe to make these little babies at home. The recipe is very simple to make. It was torn out of my August 2006 Tastebud Magazine and I make it every October without fail. It took a few times to get the recipe just right, and the brown color is not always as even as those you find at the mall, but bite into them and they are the real deal. You can doctor this recipe up a million ways to make different flavored pretzels, but I like mine plain and simple.

Easy Pretzel Recipe

1 package of active dry yeast, add to that 1/8 cup warm water (105 degrees)

1 1/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup brown sugar

5 cups of flour

Box of Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Dissolve the yeast in 1/8 cup warm water. Stir in remaining warm water, brown sugar and flour. Beat until smooth by hand or electric mixer. Knead dough until smooth and elastic.

In a medium saucepan, measure 2 Tablespoons of baking soda to each cup of water you place in the saucepan to boil the pretzels in. Place enough water to fill the saucepan. Bring soda and water to a boil on the stove.

Tear off a chunk of the pretzel dough and roll it into a pencil shape. Pick it up by both ends and cross to form bunny ears, then twist the ends and pull them back to rest on the loop. Place the twisted pretzels in the water for 15 seconds, until the pretzel dough is golden or yellow in color. Remove pretzel from boiling water and place onto a salted cookie sheet.

Salt the top of the pretzel with course salt. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the pretzel is golden brown.

Craving #4: Kettle Corn

I think my love for popcorn around this time of year started when I first moved to Kansas City, as I am not a big popcorn fan on my own. But every year around this time, my Grandmother, who was born and raised in Kansas City, would always buy me a large tin of our own local Velvet Creme flavored popcorn. I can remember watching the beginning of every new Fall Season of TV with a large tin of this tasty treat sitting next to me on my couch compliments of Grandma Betty. My favorite was the cinnamon flavored popcorn or you couldn't beat the good old cheese flavored popcorn. 

Now, I am not sure if I would call the Velvet Creme flavored popcorns, Kettle Corn or not. To me the Velvet Cream variety, would be considered more Carmel Corn than Kettle Corn. In my mind Kettle Corn is something else all together, although just as tasty and delicious. Crunchy, corny, sweet and salty this combination is what makes Kettle Corn worth eating in my opinion. 

I used to only be able to find fresh delicious Kettle Corn at fairs and festivals around town, until I recently spotted this cute little log cabin shaped trailer holding court in the back of the Ward Parkway Shopping Center making and selling fresh Kettle Corn, until the weather forces them to close for the season.

They call their place Cravin' Haven Hillbilly Kettle Korn, and they make and sell their delicious stuff in three sizes of bags for you to take home with you.

I stopped by to meet the owners recently, a lovely husband and wife team who have had their Kettle Corn truck on the fair and festival circuit for many years. However, due to health issues, they needed to stay put this season, so lucky for us, they took their trailer with the permission of the nice folks at Ward Parkway Shopping Center and have parked it in the back of the main parking lot selling their delicious Kettle Corn to anyone who stops by.

They are ready to sell until the end of the year, as their Kettle Corn makes wonderful holiday gifts, hostess gifts or just to have on hand when company comes to your house. Provided you can keep your hands off of it. No worries, if you can't, they will happily make more.

The slogan they used to use to call people to their booth when they would do fairs across the country went something like this: 

Cravin' Haven Hillbilly Kettle Korn where:

Tryin' leads to Likin'

Likin' leads to Lovin'

Lovin' leads to Cravin'

Cravin' leads to Havin'

Havin' leads to Haven

Cravin' Haven Kettle Corn, that is.

Stop by to see them and tell them Foodie sent you . . .

Cravin', I mean Craving #5: Homemade Pie

With many places in Kansas City to get great pie, (my personal favorite is The Pie Lady in downtown Lenexa, KS)  I did not expect to have to cross state lines this month to enjoy the best pie I have had all season.

But it is getting closer and closer to Election Day, and so my trips back home to Tulsa to support my best girlfriend running for US Congress, Georgianna Oliver, are getting more important and more frequent. 

Our days are spent on the phone fundraising, and our evenings are spent going to various local functions to meet the voters all across District 1. She is coming into this race as an unknown and is having to introduce herself to the voters in District 1 via their television screens through expensive television commercials and by attending these local events to meet them one on one.

The fundraising helps to pay for the television commercials and the events keep her shaking every hand she can touch with her campaign. It is a grueling schedule, but one that she has taken to with the passion of someone who really believes she can make a difference.

(And a lot of help at home from her husband Jack, who puts her signs all over Tulsa all day, and at night is the official dinner-fixer, homework advisor and bed-time ruler for their eight year old adopted son, Teddy Oliver. Now, that is teamwork.)

One of the last trips to Oklahoma, I had the pleasure of going with my friend, the candidate, to Coweta, OK located in Wagner County. Georgianna had been invited to come and meet the crowd gathered at the Disabled American Veteran's Hall for a good old-fashioned pie auction.

We were running a little late due to the never-ending construction in Tulsa, but arrived just in time for her to take the microphone before they started their pie-auction fundraiser to introduce herself to the crowd and tell them how hungry she was for some homemade pie. 

Just as she said that, I realized what a pie auction was . . .table after table, filled with delicious homemade pies made by the lovely ladies who support the Disabled American Veteran's. Every single pie was made from scratch and with love by someone there.

When Georgianna was done addressing the group, I turned to her and said: "What happens now?" She said: "Now we watch to see which pie we are going to buy to take home to my family for dessert tonight." She whispered that her husband liked nuts, so we should bring him home something with nuts.

Awesome! Foodie was officially going pie shopping for the Candidate, and after the first couple of pies were literally auctioned off to the crowd . . .it hit me, most of these pies were seasonal, made with the last of the summer fruit and using some of the new fall fruit. Homemade pie crust and fresh local fruit fillings were hand-picked and baked in these pies. I turned to ask the candidate if I could borrow her bidding paddle, a pie was definitely going home with me that night.

There were pies that the candidate had made in her honor by local Veteran's ladies that were auctioned off - A mile high Coconut Cream pie, a Banana Cream pie and this rich Chocolate Chip and Coconut pie were all those that were made in Georgianna's honor. It was fun to watch as the local Veteran's and their supporters fight over the pies that were their favorite.

For Georgianna's husband, Jack the nut-lover, we ended up with a still warm in the pan, locally picked, Pecan pie and a bag of Pecan brittle. Georgianna popped open the bag of brittle and offered me a taste. It was not at all hard and teeth-cracking crunchy, but instead was light and crispy breaking easily in my mouth and the brittle appeared to have air bubbles - a sign that baking soda was used.

Afterwards, I chatted with the lovely lady who made the brittle and she did confirm that she used baking soda, brought it up to a boil then poured the whole mixture into a pan and did not smooth it out, leaving the bubbles to cool inside of the brittle giving it the light texture. What a great tip.

The candidate had a fresh, homemade pumpkin pie purchased for her and given to her by a supporter which was so very nice, and I ended up purchasing a Texas Buttermilk pie from a lady who told me her Mother-in-Law was from Texas and taught her how to make them. It was lip-smackingly delicious and I took it home to share it with my mother and brother once I had my fill of it.

The pies that seemed the most popular were peach pies. And having tasted the juicy peaches we had this season in Kansas City, I could only imagine how good the local Porter Peaches from Porter, OK tasted when baked up in a flaky pie crust. 

The nice Veteran across the table from me bid and won not one, but two, Porter peach pies. I couldn't help but lean across the table and ask him if peach pie was his favorite. He was a gentleman probably in his mid-seventies and he responded, "Yes, ma'am it sure is, and I won't get peach pies much longer this year so I am stocking up."

He was a man hoping to make his peach pie stash last "at least until Election Day", he told me.

Enjoy!