In pursuit of our next food adventure, we stumbled on a gem. Once a year, a German town not too far from Austin, named New Braunfels, holds a huge German festival called Wurstfest. It is a 10 day festival of food, music, dancing, and beer.

It was not complete happenstance that we found this festival though. We learned about it through friends we made while at a wedding in Germany in the spring. They mentioned that their band would be performing at this event, and that we should meet them for a pint when they are in town. We took them up on the invitation, and got to enjoy the performance of their very talented ensemble. Declan even got to enjoy his first chicken dance song.

Aside from the great time mentioned above, we were able to find several wonderful sausages and deserts, which delighted our little play gourmet.

He ate a couple different sausages on a stick.

Lucky for me, our little Play Gourmet is an excellent sharer.

Although he couldn’t take time for a picture with a German chocolate pie in front of him.

One of the finer points, aside from all the great sausage was the sauerkraut that was served with each sausage. I have always loved this side dish. Really good sauerkraut goes down very smooth. It is not too vinegary or salty, yet has a difficult-to-describe richness that perfectly compliments a salty meat, like a sausage, or pork chop.

Here at the Play Gourmets laboratory, we sought to replicate the fine balance in delicateness and richness, where a really good sauerkraut should live.

We started with sautéing some onions until translucent.

I hear doing this in bacon grease is the best way to start your sauerkraut, but decided to tone it down with just some olive oil.

Next I empty some store bought bottles of kraut into my pot of onions. I have decided not to include all of the juice that comes with the sauerkraut, however, I do not rinse it. Next I add some water to it, and get it on its way to a nice boil.

While that is going on, I prepare my secret ingredients. I use an apple and some white wine, both for their natural sugars. While stewing together, this sweetness will breakdown the sharpness of the sauerkraut to give us that balance we are looking for.

I peel the apple and slice it thin before adding.

And in no time you have that perfect side dish!