Every year my husbands’ family traditionally finished off the ham from Christmas day with a sauerkraut potato salad, this has never been my favorite meal of our marriage, so this year we decided to do things a bit different. Thanks to our Bradley Smoker we had made Apple cider brined, hickory smoked pork chops for Boxing day and decided that mustard Spaetzele would be the perfect accompaniment, along with escarole salad (close to cabbage, right?) The fun we have right now with the smoker is making our weekends a little food focused, but there could be worse things to concentrate on, and the laughter and conversation that takes place along the way make it better than any marriage counselor! At the moment I am the goddess of brine and my husband is the master smoker, but I am sure the roles are fluid, and look forward to the reversal.
I chose a brown sugar / salt brine and added some apple cider vinegar and bay leaf to the mix then cured for 12 hours. The Smoke Master chose Apple wood for the smoke and we were set. 2 hours of hot smoke did the trick and as we let it temper we made the spaetzle, I don’t know how many of you out there have had the pleasure of making spaetzle but it is a blast! Little wiggles of pasta “plop” into the water and float to the surface to be scooped out and set to dry. Then you sauté them in butter and they are delicious! The mustard we incorporated into the dough really “popped” once the spaetzle was sautéed and all that was required was a simple escarole salad and a nice wine to finish.
The wine we chose was the PETERSON SAUVIGNON BLANC and it worked beautifully. For those of you who are raising your eyebrows right now about the choice of wine, let me tell you a little secret… this isn’t just any Sauv Blanc this wine has a lovely French twist, spending 2 months in a mixture of New French Oak, French Acacia and Neutral Oak, and 2 months in Stainless steel after to settle and bring it all together. The wine has a full creamy palate with a mixture of tropical fruit and lemon peel on the nose. The balance of the oak and fruit give the wine a beautiful middle palate which supported the smoky meat and mustard spaetzle perfectly.
This is a wine to savor, be it the glass you sip as you prepare your meal or the wine that sees you through your meal in style and class.
Here’s to new traditions!