Modern Jagerschnitzel

First, why? Jagerschnitzel by itself is one of those things that's so beloved because it's so simple and tickles all of our little tastebuds appropriately. It's like spaghetti and meatballs or peanut butter and jelly; it ain't broke, so doesn't really need to be fixed.

But there's a reason... Two of our dearest friends came down back in May 2024 and we did a tasting menu for them on May 4th. Then, on May 5th - Cinco de Mayo - we did a menu of tacos, specifically fried cod tacos on homemade flour tortillas with homemade avocado crema; homemade quesabirria vampire tacos; homemade carnitas street tacos with cape gooseberry & picked shallot salsa, and, for our five year old, the most generic American tacos with ground beef, shredded lettuce, cheese and diced tomatoes. With blue corn pre-made taco shells so he could eat the purple.

These friends that came down happen to be 100% Mexican. So the balls on Laura and I to think we'd make tacos for them. And to be fair, they helped immensely (on the fish tacos) by making the crema and the tortillas. The night before, we'd make "soft boiled egg illusion" and we used the lime jalapeno whipped cream with those tortillas and just crushed it.

So, if they were coming down, how do we follow-up making Mexican food for incredibly well-traveled (I've gone around the world with my friend SALSA (his callsign) including multiple trips to Hawaii, Qatar, Germany and Japan; he and his wife have gone to Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru in just the last two years). On our last trip to Germany, we ended up at Oktoberfest 2023 in Munich on our last night there, and that, combined with our trip to The French Laundry in June, meant it was time to reach into our heritage - Laura is half German and I'm over half German - and make elevated German food.

This recipe and the pictures don't exactly line up because after eating our dinner, we all critically dissected the food and thought about what we'd want to do differently, and this recipe result is the output of that conversation: how we'd execute it if we made it again.

Considering we're planning an "Around the World" tasting menu coming up, miniaturizing this entire dish into a canapé or an amuse-bouche is probably going to occur, but that tasting menu will get its own massive blog entry when we finally make it.

For this, we originally made the sauerkraut gel as it is in this recipe - it's basically incredible as-is, the pork belly is made as-is in this recipe, because it too was awesome, and the ingredients of the gravy is the same (we just decided not to foam it in the future). The beer spheres were tasty but superfluous and the temperature difference was distracting rather than complimentary, plus we did both doppelbock and hefeweizen, and the hefeweizen didn't really add the flavor profile we needed. Additionally, we forgot to plate the mustard dust in our hurry to plate, and we also probably over-liquified the potato puree. Thus, some changes were made to that as well in the recipe below.

Recipe

Ingredients (For 4 Servings):

Pork Belly:

• 2 pounds pork belly, skin on
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup crushed saltine crackers (for breading)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons avocado oil

Purple Potato Purée:

• 1 pound purple potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ½ cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Mushroom Gravy:

• 8 ounces maitake mushrooms, sliced
• 10 pearl onions, peeled
• 3 cloves black garlic
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour (or cornstarch for thickening)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Smoked Sauerkraut Gel:

• 1 cup sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons agar-agar

Mustard Dust:

• 1 tablespoon mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• Pinch of salt

Doppelbock Foam:

• 1 cup doppelbock beer
• ½ teaspoon gelatin (or agar-agar)
• 1 tablespoon butter

Recipe Instructions:

1. Prepare Pork Belly:

• Preheat your smoker to 225°F (107°C). Use mesquite wood for smoking.
• Season the pork belly with salt and pepper. Place it in the smoker and cook for about 2-3 hours until tender.
• Once smoked, sous vide the pork belly at 135°F (57°C) for 36 hours.
• Rest in fridge for 8+ hours.
• Sous vide again for 18 hours at 165° F (74° C).
• After sous vide cooking, crush a sleeve or two of saltine crackers in a bag (or even the wrapper) with a cooking mallet, then bread the pork belly (run it through an egg wash) and the crushed saltine crackers.
• Fry it in a pan with avocado oil until crispy.

2. Make Purple Potato Purée:

• Boil the purple potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15-20 minutes.
• Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Add butter and cream, mashing until smooth (I used a masher then blend in a Vitamix until absurdly smooth).
• For a thicker consistency, reduce the amount of cream or add a touch more butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• For thinner consistency, use more cream and to achieve a truly smooth texture, then pass through a thick chinois or a sieve.

3. Make Mushroom Gravy:

• In a large pan, sauté the maitake mushrooms, onions, and black garlic in butter over medium heat until softened, about 8-10 minutes.
• Sprinkle in flour (or cornstarch) and cook for another minute, stirring constantly.
• Slowly add the chicken stock, stirring to incorporate. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, or until the gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Blend with stick blender until richly combined.
• Pour through a chinois with larger openings, squeezing as necessary into a gravy bowl.

4. Prepare Smoked Sauerkraut Gel:

• Smoke water using smoking gun in a drink smoking chamber.
• Blend the sauerkraut and smoked paprika with smoked water until smooth.
• In a small saucepan, bring the mixture to a simmer, then add agar-agar. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the agar is dissolved.
• Pour the mixture into a shallow dish and let it set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Once set, blend again until smooth.

5. Make Mustard Dust:

• Mix mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Set aside for garnish.

6. Prepare Doppelbock Foam:

• In a saucepan, heat the doppelbock beer until it begins to simmer. Sprinkle in the gelatin and whisk until fully dissolved.
• Once the gelatin is dissolved, remove the mixture from heat and stir in the butter for richness.
• Let the foam mixture cool slightly, then strain it into an ISI charger. Charge the foam and shake well.

Plating:

1. Place a scoop of purple potato purée on each plate.
2. Arrange the fried pork belly slices on top of the purée (on one side; not centered).
3. Spoon the mushroom gravy over the pork belly and onto the center of the potato purée.
4. Add a dollop or sliver (however you choose) of sauerkraut gel next to the pork belly.
5. Lightly sprinkle the mustard dust over the dish.
6. Top with a dollop of the rich doppelbock foam.