Week 16: Germany

Germany, land of lederhosen and phalic castles. Actually, that's just a small part of Germany. Germany is in fact quite diverse: there are people who are infatuated with sausage and polka, and then there people who like sausage but prefer The Hasselhoff. Crazy, right?! When not looking angular and beautiful they are secretly wondering why they didn't invade your stupid country and fix everything you screwed up (the Swiss are the exception here, even Germans think they are uptight).

Thanks in no small part to former President Bush's super-appropriate backrub for German Chancellor Angela Merkel there has been peace between Germany and the USA for over 60 years.

Personally, we love Germany's cars (Jetta, baby), its beers, its Daniels, and its foods.

Some of you may know that we visited Germany briefly last year which makes us experts on German history and culture. The following picture illustrates our ability to blend in seamlessly with the locals in Munich.

Munich was great but we also took in some small town culture in Rothenburg ob der Tauber which loosely translated means "Horny Pig Thief River" in German. Our Geography of the Delicious experiment attempts to recreate a delicious meal we enjoyed here.


We made Bratwurst with veggies, several deserts and sampled some homebrewed Helles made by Michael last year.












Bratwurst with braised apples, cabbage and carrots
Makes 2 Servings.

2 bratwursts
1 onion, diced
1 green apple, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 cups sauerkraut
1 cup Riesling wine (or dark beer)
Salt and Pepper

Cook the brats in a pan until brown. Add the onions and cook until brown. Add the apples and carrots and cook briefly. Add carrot, sauerkraut, caraway and wine. Cook until wine reduces. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Spätzle - German Eggs Noodles

1 cup flour
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water

Start water heating in a pot like you would for dry noodles, add a little salt. This will be for cooking the noodles. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, salt and water until combined. Slowly , sift in the flour and mix until a sticky dough forms. We had to add more flour until the dough came together into a sticky ball. Don't kneed too much, this could make it tough. That's what she said.

Divide the dough into manageable pieces and working one piece at a time roll out to about 1/4 inch. The dough will be sticky so use lots of flour to help. Cut the dough into thin, 1/4 inch strips a few inches long.

Drop these into the boiling water, try not to let the noodles stick to one another as you add them. They will cook in just a few minutes, floating to the top when they are done. Try them to check if they are done to your liking. Serve with butter, salt and parsley.


Windbeutel - cream puffs
5 oz water
2 oz butter,unsalted
pinch of salt
3 oz plain flour
2 eggs
whipped cream
berries (optional)

Boil the water and add the butter. When butter is melted remove from the heat. Add a pinch of salt and the flour. Stir until mixed. it should eventually form into a sticky ball. Add one egg and mix until combined. Repeat with another egg.

Preheat the oven to 425F and line a baking tray with parchment paper. The dough will more than double in size and you can make the puffs as small or large as you want. We made 8 puffs by spooning the dough onto the baking sheet. Traditionally, you would use a pastry bag which I think would result in a more consistent puff. We put a little pan of water in the oven to keep the oven humid. You can also flick some water onto the baking sheet. This should help with the crust of the puffs and help them reached their puffy potential. Crust puff! Puffy crust!

Put in the oven and don't open it as the puffs can fall. No one likes a fallen puff. Watch them carefully--depending on size they cook fast or slow. Ours took about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest momentarily then carefully cut in half.

When cooled, fill each puff with whipped cream and berries. These can also be filled with savory foods. Delicious!

We also made this beautiful Black Forest Cake suggested by Daniel. The cake was truly delicious but we had to substitute our own concoction for Kirchwasser since we didn't have any. We used some mariciano cherry syrup and vodka which turned out pretty tasty. We also added some to the cake. What what!


And finally, check out this hot German dish! Taste the handsomeness!