German cooking

[Jenise]

Tom NJ mentioned cooking asparagus with a slice of bread in the pan, which intrigued me. So I pulled out all two of my German books, the Time-Life one he mentioned and a 70's or 80's era book by Mimi Sheraton of NYT fame. I purchased it last year upon reflecting that I really don't know or understand German very well, but I've never followed up on my intentions by actually opening it.

So, with lots of time on my hands at present I got both books out to read up on asparagus and things German in general. The Time-Life book is a blast. The author, whose father was a political ambassador of some sort, is an absolute snob rather obsessed with class distinctions in dining and everything he writes is colored by that hopefully now-useless POV. It IS entertaining, though. Of the five meals a day he claims Germans eat, or ate back then, for instance, the lower classes eat their heavy midday meal around 11:30 or 12:00 where the upper crusts wouldn't be caught dead dining before 1:00. As an example of the more enlightened choosing to eat lighter than their forebears, with tones of near worship he, he captions a full-page photo of a couple (he identified as a wealthy Hamburg antiques dealer) dining "informally" in their very formal red dining room under an imposing crystal chandelier on a meal of salad, rice and some veal dish most likely prepared by household staff, not the Frau.

Unfortunately I did not find Tom's asparagus recipe. In fact, this book doesn't have an index entry for asparagus at all. Mimi's book does, but nothing akin to what Tom described. So I'm dead-ended there. Tom?

Anyway, as a result of this foray sauerbraten--which I've never made before--is now on the docket for a few days from now. I'm making the marinade right now, and I am going with the version in the Time-Life book. Bay leaves, onions and black peppercorns are common to both recipes. But where Mimi's was white vinegar, no wine, 1:1 with water, adding cloves and finishing with raisins to sweeten the dish. the Time-Life version is a combination of red wine and red wine vinegar at 1:2 with water, adding juniper berries and finishing with ginger snaps to sweeten and thicken the gravy.

Not sure how I'll plate this, possibly with just boiled potatoes with butter and parsley. Though admittedly I'd rather eat spaetzle.

Any German food experts out there?

They say the second thing to go soft as a man ages is his memory. Was I really mistaken when I cited my "Foods of the World" German volume as the source of my bread-in-asparagus-stock tip?? I'm really sorry Jenise. For some reason, I could have sworn I read it there. I mean, I can almost picture it in my mind right now. I know I did read the tip first in one of my many cookbooks, but I guess I'm embarrassingly mistaken as to which one. And, of course, I was as usual so overweeningly confidant of my recall ability that I didn't bother checking before posting. You've got my full, red faced, knocked-down-a-peg apologies

So...where DID I see it first then?

If it's not that volume...then I don't remember (apparently). The Austrian volume, maybe? I dunno. I've been reading so many cookbooks like novels for so many years, that they must now be getting muddled in this poor, already easily confused male brain of mine. But I know I have read that tip, several times. And it's gotta be SOMEWHERE in my library. So I'll scour through the various tomes when I get a chance later and see what it is that I'm confusing with my Time-Life opus, and get back to you.

Sorry about that!

Tom

[Jenise]

Tom, no problem, we all do that. I've had fun reading these books over the last few days and have earmarked a number of recipes to try in addition to tonight's sauerbraten. But isn't it interesting that the Time-Life book has NO asparagus recipes at all? And the author grew up in Berlin!

No expert here but do have Mimi Sheraton's book as well as Horst Scharfenberg's The Cuisines of Germany, The New German Cookbook by Jean Anderson and Hedy Wurz and Lesley Chamberlain's The Food and Cooking of Eastern Europe.
Only Mimi gives the gingersnap variation. All the others state raisins are a distinguishing feature of sauerbraten from the Rhineland.
I've only ever made it with raisins.
Love to read the Chamberlain book for its inclusion of the influences of climate, agricultural and political influences on the cookery of Eastern Europe.

[Jenise]

Christina, the Time-Life book also mentions/suggests the gingersnap version. I was prepared to throw in some dried ginger and panko bread crumbs to approximate that flavor/texture result if need be, but honestly it wasn't needed at all. I merely reduced the sauce to thicken/concentrate it and called it a day--the flavor was complex and the sauce just hinted of sweetness. In wine terms, it was off-dry. But to bring in a little more, I served the sliced meat over flash-fried cabbage slivers, using white wine vinegar, caraway seed, salt and sugar to season that (cook just until it starts to wilt, about one minute). The mildly sweet flavor made up for the lack of sweetness in the sauce, and overall it was bright and lighter than the traditional and heavier roasted/braised vegetables of a traditional sauerbraten. Bob and I absolutely loved it in a "where has THIS been all my life?" kind of way. Considering my limitations on mobility at the moment, it was an awesome dinner. And we paired it rather perfectly with a fruity ten year old Portugese wine that easy has a lifespan of 20 years, if not more--could not have been better.

The Chamberlain book sounds great--I love that kind of information. I love the Time-Life book for the personal, first-person account of what German cooking is, even if it's antiquated and amusing when read in 2015. Mimi's is shy in that regard and recipe-heavy with things that are more adapted pan-European than original-German, but I understand it's harder to draw borders in Europe. As I said to Tom, I definitely have some work to do when I'm more able. There's a recipe in her book for a sauerkraut strudel using raw noodle dough that sounds perfectly amazing.

I wish I had more to add to this topic, because I partly identify as German and Swiss -- and I have eaten lots of good food on trips to Germany and Switzerland. But for various reasons I have never gotten into the Sauerbraten concept. Jenise, I think what you came up with is closer to the truth than ginger snaps, which strike me as an American short cut.

It sounds to me like you would really enjoy the book "Blue Trout and Black Truffles" by Joseph Wechsberg. He was quite a gourmet and the book centers on the cuisine of Vienna 100 years ago. Many of the dishes he mentions are available at the restaurant in the Neue Galerie in NYC. Max Hauser recommended the book to me and helped me a lot when I was trying to perfect a Tafelspitz for a cooperative "German" dinner here. Oddly enough the best restaurants in Vienna in the period around 1900 served boiled beef as a main course, and the cuts did not exactly correspond to what American butchers produce. Obviously one of the by-products of these dishes is a very delicious beef consommé, which is what I ordered at the Neue Galerie some years back when we were showing around a young female relative and I was pretty sick. It had a very positive effect.

On my first trip -- my father had just died of a massive heart attack (his first) and after that I had learned that my cholesterol levels were totally through the roof. So I ate a lot of very delicious smoked trout at lunch, with glasses of exquisite Riesling.

It's hard to say what dishes impressed me most but there was an incredible dish of mixed fresh mushrooms that I will never forget. And my distant cousin made a Flaedlesuppe which is a Swabian wedding soup with noodles made of slivered crepes. The food was all good, even when we had to go to Turkish restaurants because everything else in Bavaria was closed because of important Christian holidays (like Fronleichnam and Maria Himmelfahrt).

I have a nice cookbook of Swabian recipes but it's entirely auf deutsch.

When you come to New York we should go to the Neue Galerie. The paintings are pretty good, too.

I thought I would follow up my un-helpful reply. When we were up visiting friends (for a late Persian Nowruz celebration) on Sunday we had a walk and ended up with both families at the Mountain Brauhaus which is a pretty remarkable place. It's in Gardiner NY up where people like to climb in the Shawangunks. And the concept of a cutesy Bavarian style restaurant COULD turn out awful but this place has quite a bit of charm, a lot of the staff are obviously part of the same family and there is a certain amount of suspenders and Lederhosen and stuff. But from the gourmet point of view they do some pretty aggressive locavore stuff, and there are nearly always things like fiddleheads in the salads and "small white sweet potatoes" sourced locally. At any rate in a fit of solidarity with your searching I ordered the Sauerbraten. It was meltingly tender and had a savory but a little sweet sauce that soaked into the slice of Pumpernickel they had put under the meat. From the flavor I would say it MIGHT have had ginger snaps, it was hard to tell and I didn't ask. Louise loved it and says now she wants to make it. The beers were also quite interesting and we indulged although we knew we would be driving 2 hours back to NJ after we finished eating. I can't remember the last time I tasted Sauerbraten but it was a pleasure and I brought some home and we're still nibbling at it.