March 28, 2009

"Brats in Bier with Kartoffelsalat"

I found some nice looking "Berner Brats" at the funny meat market called "Mine & Your Butcher Shop" the other day, so it was time to cook them up on this terribly rainy and cool Saturday in Switzerland.  I have little else to report from this day, except an incredible last minute victory in the equivalent of the NHL Stanley Cup here, the Swiss National Hockey Playoff Quarterfinal match between Fribourg (a frenchy Swiss town to the southwest of bern) and Davus (a major hockey town to the far eastern side of the country, where they host a big international tournament each year going way back). 

After finishing my Saturday chores around the house (that too about 5 minutes as a bachelor abroad), and spending some time catching up on computer business back home, I turned on the TV for one of the first times and happened to catch the game just underway.  The problem was, it was in Italian!  What the heck?  So I tried to follow it for a few minutes, then it dawned on me, maybe it would be in German on another channel, so I flipped the channel and found it in French!  Oi!  Not better, but understandable since Fribourg was a French speaking city.  Okay, one more try und Prima!  Auf Deutsch, in German!  That made it so much better somehow.  I could follow the game and the commentary and eventually figure out which team was which.  The crowd was pumped.  The energy in the stadium was incredible, with the crowd singing together, cheering in unison, dancing, pulsing and rallying their team each time they fell behind a goal.  It was a tight game, 1-1, 2-2, and eventually 3-3 right to the last minute.  Then, Davus exploded down the ice and Fribourg was paralyzed for a split second as a shot was fired on their goal, hitting the steel top of the net just over the Fribourg goalie's left shoulder as the puck trickled over him and into the net.  For a second it looked like it might deflect over the goal, or out in front, but no, it was over, with 47 seconds left, Davus would take the lead and Fribourg was exasperrated, finished, done.  I was routing for Fribourg, just for the record, because one of my fishing buddy's, Roland, lives there and is a big fan.

Okay, back to dinner.  Cindy usually (always) makes the potato salad around our camp, so I tried to remember how she did it.  Potatoes, skinned and boiled perfecktly, bacon fried, onions sauteed, cider vineagar and spices, check.  It was almost perfect, but not as good as her's.  My job is the brats usually, and mostly I do them on the grill, which I didn't have, but the pan works fine.  More onions, brown the brats, add beer, simmer for an hour if you have time, I waited 30 minutes or so before diving in.  Not bad, good meaty brats, probably veal, and spiced just right.  A Guete! Enjoy!