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Beer Braised Beef

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Potato Dumplings
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Potato Dumplings

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Our Family
Cookbook

Recipes
from a
German Grandma

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Comes with 28 Bonus Step by Step Recipes with color pictures.

See the Whole List Here of Recipes Here

16.97

Special Goodies Package to go with our Cookbook

Bratwurst

Old Fashioned Home Made Noodles

Apfel Strudel

Sauerbraten

Martinstag or St. Martin's Day

I woke up yesterday morning and found this nice link that Kim Krett sent about St. Martin's Day that she will celebrate next week in Stuttgart. It is traditional to serve Roast Goose on that day with Rotkohl ( sweet and sour red cabbage) and potato dumplings.

Martinstag is named after St. Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk after being baptized as an adult. He eventually obtained sainthood from the Catholic Church for being a kind man, who cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm.

So far so good, but what about the lanterns?

Ah yes, in many parts of Germany it is traditional to hold a procession of paper lanterns in remembrance of St. Martin – well, children do, that is. They make their own little lanterns in school or kindergarten and then gather on city streets to sing songs about good old Marty and their lanterns. Often a man dressed as St. Martin with a long red cloak leads the parade on horseback.......

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Yummy! But why goose?

According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become a bishop as an honor for all his good deeds, so he hid in a stable filled with geese to escape from the Church officials. Martin might have been a very kind and gentle man, but he apparently wasn't the smartest. Otherwise he would have considered a different place to hide than a pen filled with gabbling geese that ended up giving away his location.

Others I have read will eat something other than goose. November was also a traditional time to process the geese on the farm. A goose has lots of fat in it and I remember my dad telling me on the relatives farm in Milwaukee, Oregon they would save the fat and some would spread it on toast. I have heard it is also excellent for frostbite.

Einzi Johnson a dear friend and contributor that I met through this newsletter, grew up in Germany and absolutely loves to roast goose for Christmas celebration. Here are some notes on the family's traditional way to cook goose.

Turn the oven to preheat about 425° and then turn lower once the goose is in for about 30 minutes.

I salt and pepper the goose inside and out , let it rest while I do the rest of the preparation. Then I put a pot of water on to boil, in the meantime I cut my carrot, onion,celery and apple into fairly big chunks. Find myself some sage or rosemary sprigs, depends on what you prefer .I take the goose and lay it into the pan, put some of the veggie chunks inside( make sure that ALL the apple is inside the goose)put the rest of the veggies around the goose. Then I slowly pour the boiling water over the goose until it looks opaque.

By the end I usually have about an inch or two of water in the pan. It also helps preventing your fire department to knock on the door, because of the smoke from the fat drippings. However I must say that I like my meat from the goose almost falling of the bone. It is all dark meat and has almost no fat, however the skin is where it all is. Crunchy,crispy and full of flavor. If someone enjoys a little fat in their food a goose it a must! Side dishes I recommend Red ( Blaukraut= blue cabbage) Cabbage and silken Potato Dumplings and of course all covered in gravy. A Buttercup or Endive salad on the side and I am in heaven.

I was reading about your cookie problem. I think I know what the cause is. When you bake the cookies they come out perfect and then you put them on a plate or in a bowl and leave them on the counter or table? The problem is ,especially if you live in a cold climate, people want heat right? Heat dries out the air and sucks all of the moisture out of your cookies.

Therefore you have to put them in a cool unheated place. Like the garage maybe? Put the cookies in a plastic container and add an apple. The same trick will work for hardened brown sugar.

Make sure you check regularly, because you don't won't the apple to go bad. After a while the apple will shrivel some( if it shrivels a lot, exchange the apple) the moisture from the apple will go into the cookies and make them soft.

German Sour Cream Potatoes

Ingredients:
6 potatoes baked , boiled or microwave
6 hard boiled eggs , chopped
1 bunch green onions chopped
1 / 2 lb. lean bacon
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 / 3 cup vinegar
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 / 2 pint sour cream

Directions:

1. Chop warm potatoes into a bowl, depending on which kind of potato you use you may want to peel them.

2. Add the chopped eggs and most of the green onions. Reserve a few of the green tops of the onion for garnish.

3. Fry bacon until crisp and crumble over potatoes, retain the bacon fat.

4. in that pan that you fried the bacon, add the vinegar, sugar, sour cream, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.

5. Pour over the potatoes, sprinkle with reserved green onion tops and serve.

Donated by Sylvia Norris

Roy Black was only 48 when he passed away and his idol was Roy Orbison from whom he took on the black hair !

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