I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Germany several times, visiting Munich, Herzogenaurach, Frankfurt and Bonn. I fell in love with everything about Germany, the beautiful landscape, the architecture, the history and, of course, the food and bier!
But I have to admit, the bier halls were always my favorite part of the trip. Every town and city I visited seemed to have a great bier hall where I could sit down, enjoy the atmosphere and raise a stein, or two, or three of Germany’s finest biers.
So, combining my love of German cuisine and bier with my love of New Jersey, I decided to create a dinner that brings a little bit of Germany and a whole lot of Jersey together on one plate.
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Oktoberfest is upon us and it’s time to break out the traditional cuisine.
For this recipe, I wanted to capture the traditional flavors of Germany while taking advantage of the incredible Jersey Fresh ingredients, we’re fortunate to have right here in the Garden State.
The star of the dish is a tender German-style pork tenderloin paired with an apple-cranberry chutney made with Jersey Fresh apples and cranberries grown right here in South Jersey, the same region that supplies the cranberries we know and love in Ocean Spray products.
I knew the pork would be the perfect match for two German classics: red cabbage and warm German potato salad.
The result is my own German-Jersey combination traditional German flavors with a Garden State twist. So, give it a try, sit back, and enjoy! And whatever you do, don’t forget the beer.
Raise a glass to Germany, raise a glass to New Jersey, and, if you have one handy, raise a glass to Big Joe, too!
Prost!
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German-style pork tenderloin
Big Joe Note…read all the notes before you prepare this meal so that you can adequately prep and time out your dinner service.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
Rub: Can be prepared ahead of time and left overnight in fridge to marinate.
- 2 lb Pork tenderloin
- 1 ½ Tbl of Brown Sugar
- 1 Tbl of Nutmeg
- 1 Tbl of Coleman’s Dry Mustard
- 1 Tbl of Fresh Sage
- 1 Tbl of Fresh Thyme
- Salt and Pepper (generous course)
Apple Cranberry Chutney:
- 1 ½ Apples (Fuji) diced (sprinkle with lemon juice to hold color)
- 4 Cups of fresh Jersey Cranberries left whole
- 1 Cup of Orange Juice
- 2 Tbl of Honey
- ¾ Cup of Brown Sugar
- 1 Tsp of Cinnamon
- 1 Tsp of Ginger
- ¼ Cup of Cider Vinegar
- Pinch of cloves
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Take pork loin out of fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Prepare rub…Salt and Pepper the entire pork loin first.
Mix all rub ingredients in a bowl…generously rub pork loin so that entire pork loin is covered…let rest or you can cover with plastic wrap and set in fridge overnight to marinate.
Place tenderloin on rack and put in 425 degree oven. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 140 – 145 degrees. After cooking let rest uncovered 10 minutes.
Make the Chutney.
In a large sauce pan add orange juice, honey, vinegar and brown sugar. Over medium high heat, stirring constantly bring to a boil once boil add the cranberries, apples , ginger, cinnamon and pinch of cloves. Salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a rolling simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally. Should reduce nicely in about 25 minutes…cook more if you want it thicker…let rest and serve warm over pork.
Once pork is rested serve slice into ½ inch slices fan pork on plate and serve chutney on top of the pork.
Photo by Hícaro de Castro on Unsplash
Big Joe’s Authentic German Red Cabbage
This is the real deal I have had this recipe while on my visits to Germany. Like any other recipe, some regions of Germany or individuals vary this recipe by an ingredient or two but I think this recipe represents the true German Red Cabbage that’s both sweet and sour and is going to go great with our pork loin. I thought I may add a little caraway to this dish to add a “rye bread flavor” to the mix and I was almost beheaded at the thought of using a Mediterranean spice in a German dish. Oops! So no caraway. Just a note this takes time to cook, over two hours, so if you have time you can make this a day ahead and it will taste better as the flavors will have blended.
Ingredients:
- 1 Medium head of Jersey Fresh Red Cabbage (very thinly sliced suggest using a mandolin slicer cuts down cooking time)
- 1 Medium onion (sweet or Spanish is good) finely sliced
- 1 Large Jersey Apple Fuji or Red Delicious peeled cored and diced
- ¼ Cup of Cider Vinegar
- 1 Stick of unsalted Butter
- 2 ½ Tbl of Cherry Preserves or Red Currant Jam
- ½ Cup of Vegetable Broth
- 3 Whole Cloves
- 1 Whole Bay Leaf
- 1 Tsp of Sugar
- Generous Salt and Pepper
- 1 Tbl of All Purpose Flour to thicken
- 2 Tbls of Water
Directions:
In a large Dutch oven, over medium high heat add butter, when melted, add medium onion, cook until almost caramelized add apples, sauté’ for about 5 minutes, then add cabbage continue to sauté’ add the bay leaf, sugar and cloves, salt and pepper. Stir and sauté’ for 5 minutes. Add the preserves/jam and cider vinegar stir and sauté’ for 3 minutes. Add broth then bring to a boil. Keep at a boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Simmer for at least 2 hours. Check on cabbage every half hour stirring mixture. At about the 1 hour mark, taste and if necessary add more vinegar, spices etc, also at this time mix water and flour, making sure there are no lumps. Add the flour mixture to the dish stirring generously then cover and continue cooking.
Photo by Sergio Kian on Unsplash
Big Joe’s German Warm Potato Salad
German potato salad is a great side dish. It’s simple and pretty easy to make. As with all “authentic” recipes there are variations. This is my pretty close “authentic” take on a dish I think you’ll really enjoy.
This takes about an hour to make and can be made ahead of your dinner day of. I don’t recommend you make it the day before because it shouldn’t be refrigerated until stored for leftovers. Trust me, you’ll love this and there’s a good chance there won’t be any leftovers.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
- 5 Medium to large Red Skin potatoes, peeled and large diced
- 5 Slices of thick sliced bacon (I like Applewood smoked)
- 1 Medium white onion diced
- 3/8 Cup of white vinegar
- ¼ Cup of sugar
- 3 Tbls of water
- 2 Tbls of Fresh parsley (I like Italian leaf parsley)
- Salt & Course ground pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot place peeled potatoes fill with cold water so that potatoes are covered. Add salt to water and bring to a boil.
Cook potatoes for 10 – 12 minutes or until tender to fork. Remove potatoes drain and set aside. In a large frying pan cook bacon until crispy and brown.
Drain bacon on paper towels and set aside. To the bacon grease add onions, cook over medium heat until they start to caramelize, to that mixture add vinegar, sugar, water, salt and pepper and bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes while stirring.
Add potatoes to frying pan with half of the cooked bacon and half of the parsley mix thoroughly.
Cook for 5 – 7 minutes making sure that potatoes are covered in sauce. Transfer to a warmed serving dish and sprinkle remainder of bacon and parsley on top.
Serve warm. Enjoy!
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