In Germany and Austria, especially in countryside villages, the ancient rite of the maypole ushers in the long-awaited spring. The people do more than dance around the maypole.
When he was growing up in Vienna, remembers chef Thomas Ferlesch of Pilsener Haus in Hoboken, hams and sausages were tied with ribbons to the top of the maypole. Maypoles could be as much as 60 feet high and two feet thick. Originally they were trees shorn of branches, except at the top. Modern maypoles are anchored firmly in holes dug deep in the ground.
“People actually applied grease to the pole to make it complicated to climb on," Ferlesch recalls. "All the young men of the village would try their luck at grabbing the hams and sausages and throwing them down.
"Most of the time they were inspired by some young lady they wanted to impress. It’s fun to watch, especially if you’ve had a couple of beers.”
When most people think of oompah bands, steins of lager and men in lederhosen eating wiener schnitzel outdoors, Oktoberfest comes to mind. But Maifest (pronounced my-fest) is equally delicious and rousing, as it welcomes the merry month of May.
Ferlesch, 55, came to New York City at the age of 21 after graduating from Culinary School in Vienna and cooking in Switzerland and Bermuda. He headed the kitchen of Vienna 79 in New York from 1979 to 1984. In 1982 he received four stars from Mimi Sheraton, then the restaurant critic of the New York Times.
He later ran the kitchen at several French restaurants, most notably George Lange’s famous Café des Artistes, between Lincoln Center and Central Park West, from 1991 to 2002.
For the past two years, he has been introducing the flavors of his homeland at Pilsener Haus, the atmospheric, retro-industrial-styled biergarten and restaurant.
All this month, he will serve a traditional Austro-Hungarian spring menu—chilled cucumber soup with yogurt and dill; asparagus in gribiche (caper, anchovy and parsley) sauce; chicken roasted with smoked paprika; schweinsbraten (roasted pork shoulder); and more. Spring salads include pickled beet, cucumber, cabbage and lentil.
The schweinsbraten, boneless and butterflied, is given a dry rub of salt, pepper, garlic and caraway overnight, then is braised for several hours in sweet apple cider.
“It’s so tender you don’t need a knife,” Ferlesch says.
With this main dish, Ferlesch serves labor-intensive "pretzel dumplings." He starts by making traditional soft German-style pretzels, then cuts them into thumbnail-sized pieces.
The pretzel bites are mixed with sweet caramelized onions and covered with an egg-and-milk custard. The mixture solidifies overnight in a pan. The next day, it is formed into sausage shapes. Each is wrapped in foil, and the whole batch is poached in salt water.
Finally, the cylinders are sliced into disc-shaped dumplings and sautéed in butter until crisp.
“The traditional dish is called a serviettenknoedel” Ferlesch says. “A serviette is a napkin—in the old days they didn’t use foil; they rolled the dumpling in a wet napkin and poached it.”
Of course, no German/Austrian meal would be complete without beer, and there will be no shortage of maibocks available throughout the month.
The classic May brews are considered helles lagers, meaning light in color, “but color is where the lightness stops,” Ferlesch says. “Everything else is strong.” That includes the hoppy flavor, as well as the alcohol content, typically 6.3 to 7.4 percent alcohol by volume or higher.
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A time-honored maibock drink is the Radler.
“It is meant to be lighter and more thirst quenching,” the chef says.
The traditional recipe is half beer, half club soda. Ferlesch takes his Radler de Blanche de Brussels to another level by adding house-made lemon sorbet to a 50/50 mix of Belgian weiss beer and club soda.
“You can’t stir it too much…or it will start to foam like crazy," he warns. "But it’s delicious!”
To add to the Maifest fun, Pilsener Haus will present live bands this month playing traditional German music, as well as jazz, blues and rock. A Family Fun Day is scheduled for May 19th.
More Maifest Fun: On May 21st, World Yacht and the German American Steuben Parade will transform Manhattan’s Pier 81 into an outdoor beer garden for (click for link) Maifest on the Hudson. There will be German beer, food, dancing, live music and even a maypole. Guests will vote on which of three finalists will be crowned Miss German America.
SUZANNE ZIMMER LOWERY is a food writer, pastry chef and culinary instructor at a number of New Jersey cooking schools. Find out more about her at suzannelowery.com.