German Foodie Files: The Possibles Part 1

I thought I would give the Thanksgiving 2 fans a look into the possible German foods they will be seeing, and my thought processes in choosing these dishes.

As of today (April 26) I have 17 dishes to test out.
2 types of Sauerbraten: A German Pot roast, where the meat is marinated for a couple days ahead of time, served with several vegetables.
Spaetzle: A German dumpling or noodle
Hessian Pan-Fried Meatloaf: This is exactly what it sounds like.
Bierocks: Meat turnovers with cabbage and spices.
Frikadellen: A traditional German hamburger.
Hasenpfeffer: A rabbit/hare stew with onions and wine.
Spargel: White asparagus.
Maultaschensuppe: Meat filled dumplings in broth.

Sweet & Sour Potatoes: This is a variation on German potato salad.
Zwiebelkuchen: An onion pie from Swabia, served in the fall.
Karotten in bier gedunstet: Carrots cooked in a dark beer with butter.
Brotchen Rolls: Chewy and firm dinner rolls. 
Gugelhupf: This is a Bundt cake with raisins and almonds.
Stollen: A moist heavy bread filled with fruit which is popular in Dresden.
Strawberry Bavarian Cream: A dessert similar to a pastry cream flavored with strawberries
Christmas Gingerbread loaf: A bread-like Gingerbread cake

I had a couple reasons for selecting these recipes. They do not duplicate anything that I'll be making from the traditional dishes. You'll notice that there are no turkey dishes. Also, I tried to find dishes that are somewhat different from one another. The only real issue I have is that the German Christmas baked goods tend to have several flavors in common.

I am going to split the individual dish descriptions into two entries. If I describe the different foods in the blog enough times I will have them all memorized by the time TH2 comes around.

The sauerbraten recipe is a dish I knew I wanted to include from the beginning. I learned that it is one of the national dishes of Germany. I am mildly concerned that because of its simple nature that it won't entirely be consumed. The second milder issue I have is that it may taste similar to the Ox-Tail Stew that I am bringing back from last year. They are both a braised meat dish with a meaty sauce and veggies. Perhaps, if I set them far apart from one another on the serving table no one will notice the similarities.

Spaetzle is the other staple German food I knew I needed to include. Something as simple as an egg noodle/dumpling will be a nice side. I can push it as palette cleanser. As of right now I am light on authentic side dishes. I may have to make a couple batches of these. On a different hand,it will be good practice to learn how to make another type of noodle. It seems every other time I try and make chicken and dumplings I wreck the dumplings. (which is why no one has ever had them at my house)

The pan fried meatloaf will probably be the final stop on the main dish train. The pan frying is what originally caught my eye. I have made a few varieties of meatloaf before, but nothing that will have this crispy (I hope) texture. The only worry I have over the meatloaf is how similar will it be to the frikadellen. 

The bierocks may be the recipe I'm most afraid to make. Bierocks are a meat turnover. A flaky dough filled with beef or other red-style meat. I am not very familiar with combining dough and meat in anything. I don't think hamburgers and buns count. The recipe appears to be fairly simple, but I'm still nervous. I am debating on making smallish turnovers and placing them on the appetizer table for some variety. Assuming these taste good, I could make some veggie versions with soy crumbles. I'm sure my wife would appreciate that.

Frikadellen is the German hamburger, also known as the original. For as many times as I have grilled during the summer months I have never gone back to the original recipe. It seems that these will be a softer texture than an American burger. I thought it would be boring to just make these in the regular size 3-5 ounces), so I've decided to make frikadellen sliders. The little buns that I'll buy for these can do double duty for the turkey sandwiches that have become popular over the last 2 years.

Hasenpfeffer is a rabbit stew. I can count on one hand how many people I know who have had rabbit, let alone rabbit stew. The recipe will have me marinating the rabbit in wine overnight. I'm hoping that when I make this the first time that the gaminess will be at a minimum. Other then using rabbit as the meat this seems like a very basic stew. Assuming I like the flavor of this then I'll be making a single batch of it. I am too afraid of making a ton of it and then having no one eat it.

Spargel is simply white asparagus. I happen to like asparagus cooked on the grill, but the recipes I have found are more traditional with sauces and such. If I find myself short of vegetables I may just throw some over the fire for fun.

Finally, for this entry the maultaschensuppe reminds me of the many other filled dough foods that I have never made before. Frozen pierogies do not count. This is a recipe I am going to have to try a couple times. The recipe I'll be trying is almost a soup. The maultasche cook in the broth. I'm hoping that this will make it a little more forgiving and allow me to make it a few days ahead of time.It seems like I'll need an additional Crock Pot.

I know I have plenty of time to make all of these new recipes and I'll get to make them at least once before the big day (Dec. 7th btw). The hardest part is getting each one tested/tasted by several different people. I know what good food tastes like, but I always feel a little better if a few other people enjoy what I'm making. It was brought up in a comment last week that if anyone wants a recipe of something that's listed please ask.

Tune in next time for the second half of the list, and catch the desserts.

German Dessert Double Header

The April birthday day has just come and gone at one of my jobs. I had a semi-difficult time deciding what to make this month. Whereas I have found a lot of main dish and side dish recipes to experiment with for TH2.6 I only have a few dessert choices left to choice from (a few to me). As of right now I have around 8 desserts planned. chocolate nut bars, lebkuchen, pie assortment, my fruit cake, gingerbread cookies, pistachio ambrosia, apple cake, and walnut rolls. I still have several recipes to try out: Zwetschgenschnecken (Plum Rolls), a German style Gingerbread loaf, a christmas bread, streusel kucken, and waser kipfels (water lillies), zimtsterne (cinnamon cookie), and nougatkugeln (nut nougat-like ball). If I keep making about one a month I will have work-possible recipes until November. This month's "Birthday Day" seemed to come out of nowhere. I chose to make the nougatkugeln. It was the simplest recipe in my list, and unlike anything I have ever made.

The nougat balls from this recipe are a different kind of nougat then what is in your average mass produced candy bar.They are a mix of ground nuts, cocoa, and powdered sugar. I used macadamia nuts instead of the hazelnuts that were called for in the recipe. I did not like the raw flavor of the hazelnuts at my local shop. The texture is smooth with hints of the ground nuts and a strong vanilla flavor. They are then coated in melted chocolate and dusted w powdered sugar. Overall,I thought they looked pretty nice. However, I had an odd experience with these nougat balls. I didn't like them, and neither did my wife.

I am pretty open minded when it comes to non-mint flavored foods, but this just didn't do anything for me. Somehow the combination of flavors did not agree with us. I had a dilemma on my hands. Should I bring a food I do not like to work or should i make a whole new dessert? After looking through the unmade recipes I had left I decided to do both. I made 1 batch of the zimtsterne. The lightly cinnamon flavored and very delicate cookies are very good. The recipe makes around 60 cookies because the dough is rolled so thin. I now had something I could feel comfortable bringing to work. 

Since neither of us really enjoyed the nougatkugeln I figured I could take them to work because I had the zimtsterne to bring with me. Maybe a few people would like the nougat balls. I brought around 20 nougat balls, and 40-ish zimtsterne cookies. Something happened that I was not expecting. The nougat balls were a "work hit". I figure half of them are true and the other half are people being nice, then I have the answer to my future question. I was stunned that they were all gone by 2pm. I'm guessing that whatever flavor that we didn't like was the flavor that drew the other people to them. Perhaps this flavor stimulates the same part of the brain as mint (Mint is awful btw). The cookies were a quiet hit. They disappeared slowly throughout the day. I'll take that as the second positive sign. 

 I have decided to make both recipes for TH2.6. I will only be making a single batch of each as of right now. Thankfully both of them can be made well ahead of time. This early bake time will keep my final week of preparations for other more time sensitive recipes. Two more recipes down and about 12 to go. 

The German food experiment begins

This is the first year I am going to Europe for my Thanksgiving 2 sub-theme. Last year’s theme was a journey into the past, into Colonial America. The German beer selection is what really led me to that country this year. Whenever I have encountered German food in the past I can definitely say I liked it, but I can't say it's my favorite cuisine. The choice for this year is really based on the beer. As of today I’ve now made 5 dishes of the 20 or so I have found. I think I'm going to like this experiment a great deal.

The first dish I decided to try was the molasses/honey cookie lebkuchen (pronounced leeb-khoo-ken). The February "birthday day" at my office came up and I knew I was going to participate. I chose this cookie because I felt it would keep all day and be accepted. While making it I found the lebkuchen to be a dry dough, but overall a very easy recipe. I used dry fruit instead of the dried candied fruit peel that the recipe calls for. I think this single substitution was a good one. It came out tasting like a cross between a moist gingerbread cookie with just a hint of "rock cake". (The rock cake is a scone-like cookie I have made for Harry Potter Movie Marathons over the years)  Everyone that tasted the cookies at work seemed to genuinely like them, but it is an office so I wasn't taking the verbal compliments to heart. I’ve found that the best way to judge at any office is by how quickly the item disappears. My friends and family have also enjoyed them. The molasses provides most of the flavor, while the fruit and almonds add small hints of flavor as you hit them, and the honey keeps the cookies very moist and soft. I've decided that the lebkuchen are definitely making an appearance at TH2 this year.

The second experimental food is one I haven’t had before this month, the bratwurst. I am on a quest for the next 6 months to try and find and then eat at least 5 different types of German sausages. I have found one German market/butcher near my office. I thought it would be best to start with the easiest and simplest sausage I could find, the readily available Johnsonville bratwurst. Thankfully, I enjoyed them. I am curious to buy them at the butcher and see what the differences are. I have a feeling that the huge Amish community in PA may help me with this sausage experiment also.

The third dish I tried is German Sausage Chowder. It has kielbasa, cabbage, potatoes and Swiss cheese. As with most soups it’s a fairly easy recipe to make. Basically, toss ingredients into a pot, boil it and add the cheese. The only issue I have with this is the choice of Swiss cheese. I’m not a huge fan. When I made the chowder for the first time, I followed the recipe line for line. I wanted to get an idea of what the writer was going for.The positives I found: The thickness was perfect. It looked and tasted like chowder, it had a very smooth mouth-feel, and the cheese flavor was just right. The Swiss was not overpowering. I found only one negative: The sausage flavor was not very evident unless I had a piece of sausage on my spoon. After some thought, I came up with a way to improve it. I’m going to cut down on the cabbage by a bit and I’ll be replacing it with more onion. Also, I'm going to brown the sausage in the pot before the whole process starts, and then caramelize the onions in the fat from the sausage. Finally, I will be adding a 2^nd pound of sausage, which will probably be bratwurst. I’m hoping these few changes will make me feel more comfortable with serving it to other people. I made a second pot of this for an event I was going to. I brought an entire Crock-Pot and left with only 25% of it. For the amount of food that was at the gathering and I think that's pretty good. I liked the browned sausage and onions. This one will be making the trip to TH2.6.

Th 4th dish is one I was a bit concerned about. It's gurkensalat or cucumber salad. It is like a coleslaw more than a lettuce salad. I made the first batch of this for the just passed Easter dinner. I liked the flavor of the dressing, but I found it a bit watery. I thought I had removed a large amount of water, but to me it didn't feel like enough. My parents and wife enjoyed it, so It has 4 positive reviews so far. I found it a bit sweet, but not too much so. I was able to taste the dill and the paprika, but the parsley disappeared. I have a few small changes to make, but I will make it at least once more, just to get a larger review pool.

Finally, the March “Birthday Day” at work came up and I went back to dessert-land. I found a German Apple Cake recipe that was pretty simple, yet tasty. The recipe calls for a rectangular flat glass pan, but I’d prefer to use a tube or a Bundt pan for aesthetic reasons. I proceeded to make it twice, once in the glass pan, and once in the Bundt pan. The glass pan produces a crisper crust, while the Bundt pan created a nicer shape and an exceptionally moist cake. I clearly need to practice another time or two to lower the moisture content a little. This was a big hit at work. 90% of it was gone by lunchtime. I will take that and my wife's endorsement as enough praise. There will be German Apple Cake!

If I can keep up this pace I should have just about 20 German dishes in my repertoire for Thanksgiving 2.6. I had 10 Colonial themed dishes last year. If I can narrow it down to 15 dishes by the beginning of November then I’ll be in good shape. It seems like Thanksgiving 2.6 is very far away, but by keeping it in my mind all year it feels like it will be less hectic as the day gets closer.