So many things to make from flour ....from noodles last month to the many styles of the food we call in the new world Dumplings.
Sometimes the lines are blurry between , a noodle, dumpling , Spaetzle, Krapfen, and other dishes.
The one thing in common is they are boiled or steamed.
Springerle
I am putting this cookie recipe out early if you want to do it. It is one of the more challenging. It is so important a tradition in so many German families.
Just wanted to share some of the recipes that have come through the forum when a simple topic is brought up.
Lo and behold one recipe leads to another and new dishes I have never heard of pop up that are unique and
there are new challenges in my kitchen and I am sure others.
Recipes include Lentil soup with Franfurter, Rose Hip Jam (Haggebutte Konfitüre) Blaue Zipel, Bratwurst simmered in
a sweet and sour broth with onions and carrots. and a Goulash from Dieter Monka.
This is my granda Emma's recipe that is over 100 years old that uses old fashioned dry curd cottage sometimes called farmers cheese or Handkäse. You can also rinse off the cream from store bought cottage cheese so you can crush it to make it creamy. You can also make your own dry curd cottage cheese, Which is as easy as adding a bit of lemon juice to milk at the right temperature, below there is a link to a pictoral recipe.
Apple Krummeltorte Apple filling surrounded by a crumby pie crust pastry.
Pflaumenknödel Plum Dumplings, the best dessert!
Chicken Roulade Sabine's recipe for bacon wrapped stuffed chicken breast done on the grill.
David Beale's wife's Apple Krummeltorte, Pflaumenknoedel, one of my favorite of ALL
Desserts, and Chef Sabine Woern's great BBQ Chicken Roulade. Renate Smith
visit to the historical medieval city of Rothenburg, another fun Vid by Roy Denman
and of course some music to warm us up for Oktoberfest.
Aug. 12, 2012
Pflaumenzeit ist Zwetschgenzeit! It's Plums and Plums Time!
Folks have been writing me that their plums are ripening, and that has always been an exciting time for me. Growing up in the Northwest we had lots of plums and grandma had so many Zwetschgen, (what she called an Italian plum) that we gathered them off the ground. She made not only plum kuchen but put up lots of an extraordinary jam that she called Prune Conserve.
Cold German Potato Salads How are they different than hot German potato salads?
Swabian Potato Salad
Becky's Potato Salad
Potato Wurst Salat
My grandma always made German Potato Salad the hot way with bacon, onions, vinegar and sugar. I thought maybe all German's thought alike :-)))) When I first had one without the bacon and it was even chilled and it was nothing but potatoes and a nice clingy dressing that made the salad hold together,... I thought wow that is good for just taters.
This style of salad I found out is often referred to as Schwabisch or Swabian potato salad which is made with a waxy potato and just an oil and vinegar dressing but also Beef broth or maybe chicken. I had heard about making a potato salad with beef broth from some German friends and I thought , wow that sounds strange!
Karen Kinnane sent me a book that I think is one of the best books on German cooking in English that I have read called The Cuisines of Germany
It had a recipe for ...The Definitive German Potato Salad by Alfred Walterspiel, who was a famous German Chef and Hotelier in Germany and author of "My Art in Kitchen and Restaurant". Though this style is popular in lots of areas of Germany, the Swabians put their name on it. Swabia is an area in Germany including a small part of western Bavaria and the southern part of Würtemberg, named after a medieval tribe. This potato salad has variations, but we will go over the basics.
Last year at the Camelot restaurant's Oktoberfest in Palm Springs, I got a taste of the best German potato salad like this, from a German lady chef.
I wondered how to make this light and fresh tasting salad.
It is a great summer salad for picnics because there is no mayonnaise in it.
I have had fun making this salad, now several times.
some recipes say that steaming the potatoes is a good way to go, so that they
don't get water-logged and the precious vitamin C gets leeched out.
As I was researching this potato salad I came across Andrea Meyers Version of Swabischer Kartoffelsalat and she said as she was traveling through Swabia they often got this potato
salad as a base, then topped with a green salad.
Also use the left overs for a breakfast dish or any meal topping
it with some fried eggs.
Yukons and Fingerling potatoes have the advantage of having a lower glycemic index.
They are preferred by trainers and health watchers as well for their carbs.
Lynn operates a small resort town newspaper in Ellicottville {western} NY., She often shares her German heritage recipes. Her family immigrated in to Cleveland Ohio when she was 7 years old. (1954 )
This is another way to celebrate Spring with this delicious torte
that is similar to a sponge cake, layered with cream,
then this nice jelled fresh strawberry topping.
This is a German- Turkish- Hungarian fusion dish that is very popular in German Roadside stands. It is unique to me in that it is the first Kebab style dish that is braised rather than BBQued.
The sauce is absolutely delicious.
So I am curious how come a Cuban Sandwich sounds really German?
Except for the Cuban bread. I had one the other day and Pork , Ham Swiss Cheese, Pickles, Mustard and Onion seem like my kind of cooking, so I decided to do a Rouladen
with them. Check it out plus a 1907 recipe for Rinderrouladen from Germany and other styles as well as the classic Beef Rouladen with pickles, bacon, onions and mustard.
Fresh dandelion greens on top of a smashed potato
and topped with hot bacon dressing with hard boiled eggs.
Burr Fischer sent me a picture of a meal they just made that was a tradition in the Pennsylvania Dutch area where he grew up.
In the old days before freezers and supermarkets often you went all winter without a fresh green vegetable. When Spring came one of the first plants to sprout would be dandelion greens. Now when I was growing up they were always a pest in the lawn.
I can imagine though when you are hungering for a salad, and your body needs Vitamin A and C that these would be a welcome sight!
We don't often talk about breakfast dishes
because most of Germany doesn't eat bacon and eggs, omelets or pancakes dishes
similar in the U.S. for breakfast. Breakfast in Germany is called Frühstück,
don't ask me to pronounce it.
When I try to talk to our German guests
at the hotel they can't understand me. Those umlaut letters ü
just seem to make my tongue trip over itself.
Eggs and pancakes are often served for dinner, although a German pancake is not the "Hot Cakes" we have in the states.
A typical German breakfast (Frühstück) that I see our German guests eat falls somewhere between what we'd call a deli platter and a continental breakfast. Cold meats (including their famous sausages) and cheeses are served along side a variety of breads and sweet toppings like jam, marmalade and honey. Soft-boiled eggs, sometimes cereal and fruit and yogurt.
These are some dishes though that resemble a lot of what we serve for breakfast in the states, we would call them a "Breakfast Skillet" or a "Hash" or something similar.
My friend George Moser sent me some Pot Pie Noodles that he made from a recipe from his Childhood growing up on Cabbage Hill in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, called Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie. This is the heart of Penn Dutch area so I always wanted to make the real thing! But this Pot Pie isn't made with a pastry crust but with big wide noodle squares. If you make it you will realize why the big squares. Why is this called a pie? I will explain that ,
and also how they make 2 dishes out of 1, a Fried Chicken Pot Pie.
This is my new favorite bread recipe, adapted from Bob Packer's Sour Rye Bread. it is like basic bread. I am definitely a lover of the rye, and wheat blend.
Konigsberger Klöpse
This is a unique German meatball recipe. They are cooked like you would a dumpling. The sauce is so good, you best have some of the Farmer's Bread.
Celery Root
and Apple Salad
If you have never worked with Celeriac you should try it. I see it more and more in supermarkets and the clerey flavor is double what you get in the stalk.
A stew that Sylvia Pollack a reader shared with a long long German history. It is characterized with really tasty broth and meat created by using a bone in beef shank. Along with the carrots and leeks this stew gets good body from both Spaetzle and some good firm potatoes. Then to distinguish this dish even more some fried onions on top.
When you see beef shanks on sale grab em and freeze them, save them for this dish.
Birnen Bohnen und Speck
Braised Ham with Green Beans and Pears
One of the more unusual sounding German classics. If you haven't tried it you must!
You use green pears and cook them whole with the ham and beans. The result is a delicious tender soft pear , the perfect accompaniment to a nice smoky sliced meat and beans.
Sour Beef and Dumplings
Maryland style Sauerbraten ]
The perfect Crockpot recipe, for this style of Sauerbraten.
Marinating the beef with the unique German spice mix, blending with the technique of shredding the beef, and serving it over dumplings became a popular dish in Maryland, USA...and now carries the wonderful states name.
Ohh the Joy of stuffing a lowly cutlet and bringing it to elegance.
The aroma of apples and onions filling the room with the pumpernickel and Westphalian ham, the surprise package inside the pork chop, are a symbol of what I like about winter!
a different kind of cabbage I saw on a menu in a German restaurant is perfect creamed with a light cheese sauce, Knödel and Frankfurter Kranz Torte that my friend Ann Moot just got done making for her mom's birthday!
I approach the subject of baking German style bread with much trepidation,
as if I can hear my German Grandma with her Hoch Deutch accent telling me
I don't know what I am talking about.
I use to dread her rebuke and now I miss it ..well.kind of
I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that the bread over in the New World
isn't like what they make in Germany, and how can I make bread that will taste like
what I can get in Germany.
In this newsletter some basic information about the History of Pumpernickel and
How to make Bavarian Pumpernickel bread. Also some music by inga and Marie.
Eatons German Potato Salad blended with iceberg lettuce,
Recipe adapted from Nancy Eaton's Grandma from the Pennsylvania Dutch country.
This twist gives this popular German salad a nice crunch.
Kassler Ripchen with sauerkraut
also with Himmel and Erde
This is a classic German dish using smoked pork chops braised with sauerkraut and potatoes mashed with apples.
Fondue Tips
My sister and family love to do Fondue. Fondue is one of
the national dishes of Germany's nearby Switzerland.
It was a fun family meal that was interactive.
Eating Herring Salad (Herringsalat) at the Stroke of Midnight
I am dedicating this one to Herring salad because if you want
to make it you should get your herring or a substitute
and give it time to marinate. Also I thought you would love to know
about how important Herring was to our ancestors to survive.
Charles Weishar contacted me and said that in the September 28 newsletter I was comparing different styles of Bratwurst in different regions of Southern Germany, and said that in Munich the bratwurst is steamed so as not to break the skin. I was showing Weisswurst and not Bratwurst and that they are not even similar. Since Weisswurst is such a tradition Munich it is worth going into. Especially since they ARE so different .
The German Thanksgiving called Erntedankfest (Festival of Thanks) is usually held the first sunday of October in Germany, although sources I read say it is not a big national holiday but celebrated regionally and is not the big national holiday that it is in the U.S. or Canada.
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Konigsberger Klöpse
Lebkuchen Valentine Hearts
Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing
Fondue Tips 
German Buffalo Style Wings 
