In Germany, preparations are now in full force. Restaurants are readying beer and brats, stores are selling beautiful dirndls, and hotels are bracing for the five million revelers that descend on Munich for Oktoberfest. It’s the world’s largest fair and this year’s 16-day celebration is slated to run September 22nd through October 7th.
If you’re lucky enough to be there, I hope you’ll have a bier for me. As for the rest of us here in Philadelphia, why not celebrate by taking a food field trip to the region’s most authentic German butcher & grocer — Rieker’s Prime Meats.
Founder and figurehead Walter Rieker, who passed away this spring, opened this specialty shop in 1970, filled with hand-made German luncheon meats and sausages. His son Marcus took over the business in 2004 and continues to serve our greater region with authentic tastes of Deutschland.
While Rieker’s is a butcher shop first and foremost, offering an enormous variety of sausages and meat, there’s also numerous grocery items imported from Germany. Look for vinegars, gravies, dumplings, dried späetzle and other items that complement the meats. A good variety of meats and sundry goods are available for online order too.
But in-store is where you’ll find many of the specialty items. “My dad was more of a butcher, and while I have those skills, I really love to cook and have built up that side of Rieker’s,” Marcus told me. “We offer a lot of soups and prepared meals, from beef burgundy and noodles to cabbage rolls, that many people come in to pick up after work.”
We found a variety of favorites here. Muenchner bratwurst is a long, skinny weisswurst, a mixture of lean pork, veal, parsley and chives. Schwaebische Rauchpeitschen is a snacking sausage; hickory smoked at a low temperature to keep them soft. Bacon knackwurst is infused with diced bacon and toasted onion in this traditional sausage recipe.
And speaking of bacon, Marcus said, “Germans find a way to put pork in everything! We go through 400 pounds of bacon a week, and smoke it all on the premises. Our bacon is heavily smoked so much so that you can eat it raw — it’s dry cured, like prosciutto.”
While the traditional Oktoberfest celebration only comes once a year, Rieker’s offers their Oktoberfest special year-round. It includes Oktoberfest bratwurst, old-fashioned knackwurst, a spicy Bavarian bierwurst, roast pork, späetzle, sauerkraut and rye bread for a mere $5.95 per person (10 person min.)
Now that’s something I can raise my stein to. Prost to a great Oktoberfest!
Rieker’s Prime Meats is located at 7979 Oxford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA.
