Bavarian Potato Radish Salad and Homemade Soft Pretzel Sticks - Bayrischer Kartoffel-Radieschen-Salat und Laugenstangen

Today I am posting a recipe for a Bavarian Potato and Radish Salad with Veal Sausage (“Bayrischer Kartoffel-Radieschen-Salat mit Weisswurst”).

Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. It is the largest state by area, forming almost  twenty percent of the total land area of Germany. Bavaria is Germany's second most populous state (after North Rhine-Westphalia), with 12.5 million inhabitants. Bavaria's capital and largest city is Munich, the third largest city in Germany, behind Berlin and Hamburg.

This recipe for potato salad, like the recipe for the Styrian Potato Salad that I posted on July 23, 2012, contains no heavy mayonnaise but, as is typical for Bavarian or Austrian potato salads, the cooked potatoes get coated with a warm dressing containing as a main ingredient some homemade veal, beef or vegetable broth.

This salad recipe contains two of my favorite Bavarian ingredients, namely Veal Sausage (“Weisswurst”) and Bavarian Sweet Mustard (“Weisswurstsenf”), a coarse grained sweet mustard that traditionally gets served alongside the boiled, not fried, sausages, together with warm Pretzels or Pretzel Sticks.

I used to order the sausages with the mustard every single time I was in a Bavarian family style restaurant – the waiter would bring four links of sausages in a terrine filled with warm water so that the sausages would not get cold. You would take out one sausage at a time, peel off the skin and try to get as much sweet mustard on each bite as possible. Heaven. By the way, starting at ten o´clock in the morning, Bavarian butcher shop serve this as a “hearty breakfast”.

This recipe combines the two flavors of my beloved sausage and mustard together in a potato salad with an additional crunch from the radishes. Bavarians love to eat radishes too! Overall, I believe that if you like pototo salad, you will find this one to be a deliciously different !

You can pair the potato salad with homemade Pretzel Sticks ("Laugenstangen") or a country style loaf of  bread ("Landbrot").



Bavarian Potato Radish Salad and Soft Pretzel Sticks
(Bayrischer Kartoffel-Radieschen-Salat und Laugenstangen)

Ingredients
(serves four)

1.5 pounds medium boiling potatoes, scrubbed well
2 red onions
4 Bavarian style veal sausage called “Weisswurst” (you can use a different sausage or use none at all)
1 bunch of small red radishes
50 grams ( 3.5 tbsp) unsalted butter
50 ml (1/4 cup) while wine vinegar
150 ml (3/4 cup) (homemade stock, beef or vegetable
1 tbsp Bavarian sweet mustard called “Weisswurstsenf” (you can substitute coarse mustard but then must add some sugar to the vinaigrette)
50 ml (3.5 tbsp) walnut oil (you can substitute sunflower oil or oil of your choice)
Some fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper
Freshly chopped Italian parsley (you can substitute chives or cress)


Preparation

1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender when pierced with a paring knife, 20 to 25 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes).
2. Transfer to a cutting board. Let cool. Peel and then slice thinly and place them in a large bowl.
3. Peel the red onions and mince them rather finely, set aside.
4. Peel the veal sausages and slice them, set aside.
5. Clean and wash the radishes thoroughly and slice thinly, set aside.
6. Heat the butter in a pan. sauté the onions and set aside for a moment. Then fry the sausage slices ever so slightly, be careful not to let them get too dark. Add the onion and sausage to bowl with the potatoes.
7. Add the vinegar and stock to the same pan and add the mustard. Bring to a simmer on medium heat and let simmer for a few minutes, until slightly reduced and thickened. Then while whisking constantly, add the oil in a slow, steady stream.
8. Pour the hot vinaigrette over the potatoes, onions and sausage slices and gently toss with the vinaigrette.
9. Then add some freshly ground pepper and salt to the salad and add the radish slices.
10. Put the potato salad in the fridge for about two hours. After the two hours adjust seasoning if necessary and add some more pepper and salt to taste
11. Just before serving, chop parsley and add to the salad.
11. Put on a serving plate. Serve additional sweet mustard on the side and do not forget to serve some delicious homemade Soft Pretzel Sticks alongside.

Enjoy! – Guten Appetit! - An Guadn!