German Food Update, August/September edition

The German food experiments continued in the wet, hot month of August and into a much cooler September. I had an extra busy August with work and household issues, so I was only able to try one new recipe. It was a few days ago at the butt end of September that I managed to get another new recipe in. I am very happy to say that all 3 will be on the Thanksgiving 2 serving tables.

     August's lone recipe was a Christmas stollen. It is a very traditional yeast raised cake that has fruit in it. Unlike the more English style fruit cake, the German style is very fluffy inside and has much less fruit. It was very fluffy, almost like bread as opposed to the very dense fruit cake that I will be making. Also, no alcohol is used to preserve it. There are some versions that include a marzipan roll that  runs the length of the cake, but I decided to forgo this. I am not a huge fan of marzipan, and the recipe is time consuming as it is. It took a long time because it called for 4 rises. Waiting for 3 hours total is a bit rough when making these after work. I know that stollen are traditionally a dessert, but every single person I talked to said it reminded them of something they would have for breakfast. It is only lightly sweet, and with butter it did remind me of a piece of bread with jam or jelly. I will be adding this to the menu, but it will not be found on the dessert table. I have decided to place this on the appetizer table with some of the rolls and hors d'oeuvres. If anyone comes over early it will be something a bit different.

       In the beginning of September I decided to try out a non-dessert recipe for TH2. I know I have tried to make very few side dishes, so I found a very traditional German side dish/accompaniment,  spätzle dumplings. It is a flour and egg dumpling, but with an interesting twist. They are made in a similar way to an American Southern dumpling that I would make with chicken, but instead of just letting them cook in water and then adding them to a broth or thick base you saute them in butter. This sauteing immediately made me think of Polish pierogi. After they started to brown the correlation became even stronger. They were very good, and the subtle hint of nutmeg was a nice change from a pierogi. I think these will be a nice addition, perhaps with some of the ox stew gravy or sauerbraten gravy poured over them. I figure they can be an adventurous alternative mashed potatoes. I will be adding some of these to the main table. I think I will make a triple batch (which isn't as much as it sounds like) to give a little more German authenticity to the table.

      For the September birthday day at work I made an apple strudel. The recipe I used was supposedly passed down through a couple of grandmothers. It was a fairly simple recipe, if time consuming. It was 3 pounds of granny smith apples, peeled and cored. The dough for these strudels was the odd part. It was very, very stretchy and thin. It reminded me of a pizza dough. I liked that I finally got to use the dough hook attachment on my mixer. By the third strudel I felt like I had the process down, (The recipe makes 3, I'm not a strudel nut.) I took one to work, and even though not one person stopped by (the nerve, I know) to let me know that they liked it, it was all gone by 1pm. This ties the quickest time of a fully eaten item I've brought to work. My wife liked it, and a few of our friends did also. I will definitely adding this to the menu. This makes the second apple item. This uses sliced apples and the apfelkuchen uses diced apples, I am hoping they will seem different enough from each other.