June's German food experiment update

     Welcome back to the newest installment of the Great German Food Cook-Off! In case you’re new to the blog I throw a gathering every year called Thanksgiving 2. TH2 is way to guarantee that everyone I know who wants a nice Thanksgiving will get one. This year the minor theme is German food. I have been testing out a series of around 20 recipes for this event in December. These last 40 days saw me make 4 very different recipes. I found 1 definite inclusion, 1 possible and 2 misses. I forgot to post about the May “Birthday Day” recipe, so I will include it here.

     I'll go over my first big recipe misfire that I've had. For the May “Birthday Day” at my office I made a Christmas Gingerbread. As with many of the dessert recipes I have tried so far the gingerbread had cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and a citrus component. It was mildly sweet and chewy, but not as moist as I was expecting. It definitely tasted like it was a winter bread/cake, but the texture was hard to identify. I don't know if I would describe it as a cake or a loaf of bread. It was too dense to be called a cake, but not quite chewy enough to be called a loaf of bread. I debated on whether or not to make an icing or try the cake/loaf on its own. I decided to bring it to work and let it stand alone.

     Clearly the gingerbread was not enjoyed as much as some of the other items I have brought into work. I was a bit disappointed that there was some left over at the end of the day. I was hoping that it would be like the nougatkugeln. I didn't care for the nougatkugeln, but several people really liked it, nevertheless it wasn't meant to be this time. I think that the because it wasn’t sweet enough to be put next to the desserts, and not savory enough to sit next to the salsa really hurt the gingerbread’s chances. The lack of butter or some spreadable topping probably didn't help either (I am afraid to bring in butter at work and leave it out all day). Maybe the extra moisture would have made it more appealing to the public. Either it simply didn't taste good enough or no one knew what to do with it. Perhaps, if I had a table set aside specifically for breads and rolls with multiple spreads/toppings/butters during Thanksgiving 2 would the gingerbread would truly be enjoyed.

     In June I managed to squeeze in 3 different recipes, a streusel kuchen, and 2 frikadelin recipes. Frikadelin is the traditional/original German hamburger. The main difference between these and an American burger is the addition of ground pork and a moist Kaiser roll.  I made 2 frikadelin recipes in the last 15 days. The first used 2 parts beef to 1 part pork and added paprika. The second recipe was equal portions beef to pork and marjoram. Both of the recipes have a meatloaf-ish taste and texture. The paprika version was smokier and tasted a bit better to me. The marjoram version used a bit more bread and has a much lighter taste and a fluffier texture. I think the flavor of the second version would become lost amongst all of the other foods at TH2. I am going to test that first frikadelin recipe at Christmas 2 in July. I’m hoping to get a few extra opinions. The streusel kuchen is a yellow cake base with candied pecans and a cinnamon, sugar and butter topping. I made a 9” x  12” pan of this. This recipe got the complete opposite reception at work. When lunchtime came around 75-80% of the kuchen was gone. At 2pm I was given the pan back because it was all gone. If every recipe I make went this fast, I could open a restaurant and start throwing town wide Thanksgiving 2 festivals. My wife and I definitely enjoyed the test batch and enough people at work liked it for streusel kuchen to make the current TH2 menu.
     Whereas May didn’t contribute any dishes to the menu, June finished with a roar hopefully adding 2 recipes.