German cooking ;)

[TBird1958]

I haven't made Sauerbraten for at least two years..........It's so GOOD!

Here's 5lbs. of Chuck Roast (It pays to have a good butcher nearby!) in marinade, I started it last Sunday......



And last night after cooking 3 hrs with some Rot Kraut and two different kinds of Potato Dumplings. SO YUMMY!



 

[Granny Gremlin]

looks like Mom's house

[lowend1]

Despite my Deutscher half, I have never been fond of German cooking. By all accounts, my mom's sauerbraten was beyond compare (and she was the Italian half of the marriage!), but I headed for the hills at its mere mention! I would see that poor piece of beef in the fridge, soaking in vinegar with peppercorns and knew it was coming in a couple of days. I used to refer to it as "pot roast with bedsores", because of the pieces of bacon stuffed into it.
Mark, do you make your dumplings with the half raw/half cooked potato mixture? My sister - who carried on the sauerbraten tradition in the family - always said that was the secret to getting the dumplings right. I always thought it was like eating a sponge, but what do I know?

[TBird1958]

Well, I've never had it stuffed with bacon, of course there are no doubt many variations of the marinade, my recipe is from my Mom and uses vinegar and a bunch of spices - When you make the gravy I add Gingersnaps and Currents to take some of the edge off and thicken it up.
Hate to say it, but I usually just use a couple different mixes (Panni) for the dumplings 

[Granny Gremlin]

We (me/my wife who is not Polish but, bless her heart, has embraced the cuisine/my mom make potato dumplings/pancakes from scratch.  THE. BEST.

There's actually a neat German restaurant in town that serves all the crazy meat dishes I never heard of (as opposed to the ones that are common to both our cultures, due to, ehem, shifting boarders n such).

[patman]

I love German cooking, but unless you do it yourself, it's pretty much not available in Cincinnati any more...although the sausages and the ingredients are, if you know where to look.

been maybe 35 years since I made sauerbraten...I used to make it at home when mom and dad were alive...I remember I used my favorite (at the time) cookbook The Betty Crocker International Cookbook...haven't cooked from it in years.  My wife is a white-bread kind of person. ..

[TBird1958]

There's a surprising lack of good German food in Seattle - Not one with a complete menu, tho there are several little places that do one or two dishes. During Uwe and Edith's visit it would have been the last kind of cuisine I'd have thought to suggest we try here. Happily for us do it yourself types there are several really good Deli's and shops in the area so you can at least have a great meal at home.

[Lightyear]

The southern part of the Texas Hill country was settled by Chzechs  and Germans and such.  There are still restaraunts, usually in the smaller towns, that serve pretty decent native cooking.  There are also still a couple of polka only radio stations as well many who still speak the dialect generations later.

[exiledarchangel]

German cooking can be divine (Schäufele, mmmmmmm yummyyy) or extremely weird. I remembered one of my first visits on a local restaurant where all of my friends got something mainstream but not me. I played brave and got Stadtwurst mit musik. WTF? Later on this night I understood the "Music" part, quite out of tune really.

But in general local cooking in Franconia is more on the yummy than on the weird. I recently tested Karpfen and even thru I don't like fried fish, I really enjoyed it.

[uwe]

Do I catch you guys peddling German Kultur here again, you kraut-lovin' up-suckers? Tiger Panzer, Sauerbraten and general overanalysis of Springsteen's work? Ja?!!! Wait till Onkel Nofi hears of this and he'll take your jack boots away!!! 

Folksy German cuisine



has made a return to Germany in the last two decades, mainly in the form of "former peasant food, now prepared lovingly". Sauerbraten was originally prepared with horse meat (still is in some parts of Germany), which was less than fresh AND less than tender, hence the marinade which after a week or so would get a strap of leather tender and does away with any smell the meat might have already had. I'm not much of a marinaded meat eater, but Sauerbraten is my one exception, I love that stuff. Like Mark, I picked up my mom's recipe and developed that a little further (I add a little garlic for instance), it's one of the about 10 meals I do very well (other people say).

Judging from the pics and the length of preparation, you've done a perfect job, Mark!

And yes, us Deutsche (mostly) use Pfanni as well. And Halb und Halb (half raw, half cooked potato flour) is the most popular choice



though I prefer "rohe Klöße" which Edith finds "too spiky".

[TBird1958]

Danke schoen Uwe, es war ausgezeichnet!