Guten Tag,
Wow it seemed to take forever to get this newsletter out. Will do better next time.
In doing more research on the Bierocks which Heidi wanted me to refine my recipe that didn't have enough flour. I made a recipe for Beer Buns (Ukrainian Bierocks ) donated by Judy Lancaster, that were very authentic of the American Bierock only it had sauerkraut instead of cabbage.
Gert Reitner sent along the link to a book that gave great background from an American plainsman that had a whole chapter dedicated to this wonderful meat pie, and how to make authentic ones. This dough recipe is fantastic and so I used it also to make the plum dumplings.
I really enjoyed making these, and all were surprised as to how "toothsome" they were. Schmect gut! The Vanilla sugar cubes I made for the dumplings were fun also.
Also John King told me that it may sound crazy, but try to pickle your potatoes like you would a cucumber and then make Hot German potato Salad with them. They were very interesting so I thought I would share!
Barb Rokitka sent an interesting Oxtail soup that is pureed. I love to Puree soups!
If you can help with the recipe requests that would be fantastic!
To finish I included a page on some German Societies in America and some excellent German videos so why don't you go ahead and turn them on and check out the recipes!
Last newsletter I had a recipe for Bierocks. First off the recipe had a glitch in it and Heidi Weber found it. I reworked this recipe but also Judy Lancaster also sent me this recipe for Beer Buns which she says are Ukrainian Bierocks. All the recipes I have found for Bierocks focused on the dough making it a sweet dough instead of just a bread dough. However this dough also uses sour cream in it.
Plains Folk 11 The Romance of the Landscape
by James Hoy and Tom Isern
I found this book sent to me by Gert Reitner gave a lot of good info on the history of Bierocks, whose popularity is huge in the Texas, Kansas, Missouri area.
Some interesting points are that they are Russian not German, and that they MUST use a sweet dough. The true ones use more cabbage than meat. There popularity according to the authors has to do with the portability of them for the hard working plains folk. This of course is true also for Cornish pasties and Australian meat pies that were good for the miners to take with them down in the coal mines. Every culture seems to have their own meat pie that was a very functional part of their daily life.
Ingredients:
2 lb ox tails,disjointed or
1 onion,medium, sliced
2 T vegetable oil
8 c water
1 t salt
4 peppercorns
1/4 c parsley,chopped
1/2 c carrots,diced
1 c celery,diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 c tomatoes,drained
1 t thyme,dried, crushed
1 T unbleached flour
1 T butter (or margarine)
1/4 c madeira
Directions:
1. In a 4-quart Dutch Oven brown oxtail and onion in hot oil for
several minutes.
2. Add water, salt and peppercorns; simmer uncovered
for about 2 hours. Cover and continue to simmer for 3 additional
hours.
3. Add the parsley, carrots, celery, bay leaf, tomatoes, and
thyme; continue simmering for 30 minutes longer or until the
vegetables are tender.
4. Strain stock and refrigerate for an hour or more.
5. In a blender puree the edible meat and vegetables and reserve.
6. Remove fat from top of stock and reheat. In a large, dry fry pan brown flour over high heat. Cool slightly. Add the butter or margarine, blend. A little at a time,
add the stock and vegetables. Correct seasoning and add madeira
just before serving.
Denny Kerwin wrote me and told me to look up the German American
society web page in Omaha.
It looks like they have too much fun!
I started a web page with other great societies in America.
If you have one let me know. Also if you have one in a different country
I would love to hear about that as well.
I order from the German Deli more frequently than ever.
I try to get in bulk to make the shipping dollars count.
Also there are sales all the time I like to take advantage of.
They are nice folks. If you don't believe me call them.
and tell them Stephen Block sent you from the German Goodies Newsletter.
Our Retail Store has moved!
Our new and improved retail store is now open in Colleyville!
The address: 5100 State Hwy 121 Colleyville, TX 76034
(817) 354-8101
Hours of operation:
Mon - Sat: 9am - 9pm
Sundays: 10am - 6pm
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Kitchen Tool Review
The hand held Immersion blender to puree the oxtail soup in this newsletter.
WOW, yes right in the pot, no doing it in batches and cleaning another large kitchen blender with all those parts. A good quality blender will puree a soup in less than a minute. The not so good ones will still be battling clumps of broccoli or pesto even after a minute.
I have the Braun and it works very well but it is a little spendy. Cooks Illustrated tested many of the hand held immersion blenders and they found the Kitchen Aid to be the best and under 50 dollars most places. They DIDN't recommend the Oster, The Farberware and the Cuisinart, all products that you would think would be good!
I really appreciate all of you that donate recipes, and help answer
folks requests. Most of the newsletter is based on what folks request and
what you donate. I love to research the recipe and then put it on here
for all to enjoy.
When you email the recipe to those that request please send the recipe to
me also at
stephen@kitchenproject.com
Guten Tag Stephen, Do you know of this crumb cake with a cheese or maybe a cream cheese at the top? My boyfriend has mentioned it and hasn't been able to get the real name so I can find the recipe. I have found several recipes for German Crumb Cakes but none of them have anything like that at the top. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We have enjoyed so many of your delicious recipes. I am truly grateful to have them. Thank you!
On a trip to Germany a couple of years ago my favorite meal was a wonderful dish of egg noodles with Steinpilze that I had in Lindau. I have looked unsuccessfully for a recipe for this. Also, I have not seen the same kind of mushrooms here in the US - do you know what the closest substitution would be? Is it really porcini?
