legourmet
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Ok - let me back off a bit. When we were in Hamburg - we went to - among other places - a very traditional restaurant and ate the most traditional meal on the menu. A lady next to us who was perhaps 80 or so remarked that it was so nice to see "young people" eating traditional food. That meal kind of felt like a lead sinker in my stomach for the next 3 days.
But I am willing to give it another try - as long as I can avoid the "lead sinker" feeling. I realize that a lot of this traditional food (like that made by my grandmothers - who were both from nearby areas in Europe) was meant to be eaten by people who did a lot of physical work in cold weather - where you could simply burn it off. But I tend not to travel in cold weather - or do a lot of physical work while traveling - so a bit lighter would work better for me.
Other than wanting to avoid feeling weighted down - or overdosing on salt - I am pretty much up for anything in terms of eating.
FWIW - other than the "lead sinker" meal - we really had a great time in Hamburg (despite the dreary late October weather). Even though it was more than a decade ago - probably closer to two decades - I remember the harbor tour - the war monuments - the main art museum (forget the name - but remember the paintings) - the great service in the hotel (Intercontinental - they did amazing things in terms of putting in an internet connection for me) - my husband having a good time speaking Italian in a decent Italian restaurant - and the outrageous sex show
. Only sex show I've ever been to - and I can assure the ladies in the audience that sex shows in Hamburg are very non-sexist - there will be something for him - and something for you too 
. I realize that Hamburg probably isn't the best tourist city in Germany - so if I had a good time there - I can probably have a good time anywhere in Germany RobynI wouldn't say you've made a mistake by ordering the most traditional food in an old traditional Hamburgian restaurant, but each traditional restaurant there (like all over Germany) has it's own most traditional food. Because hard working habitues in those restaurants will order all time the same hearty dish, so "lead sinkers" are normally the top seller and therefore the most traditional dish. When you are here and you'll go into a "traditional Restaurant" think first about what type of food you like and what you dislike, than ask for traditionally made. I myself for instance don't like pork so I do not order pork dishes even when the utmost traditional food on the manual. In Hamburg and the surroundings are normally fish or lamb dishes the most traditional ones, because of the sea and the meadows flooded by tidal floods. But fish there (for instance "Finkenwerder Scholle") might also be very greasy because of using lard and greasy ham for frying.
It will be helpfull to know where you plan to go to for informations about traditional food there.
Going to Berlin and ordering the most traditional food in traditional restaurants you'll get a cooked whole cured pig knockle with mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and yello peas puree (Berliner Eisbein) or fried veal liver with mashed potatoes, apple slices and fried onions (Leber Berliner Art).
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I made a sort of Umbrian dinner today. But first a question.. Is this fresh porcini??
My market sells it as such.. but I have to say I was really underwhelmed by the flavor.. it was quite bland, I expected something much more earthy and woodsy.. and if this isn't porcini, then what is it?
Your photo shows the Pleurotus eryngii in German "Kräuterseitling or Königs-Austernseitling" a cultivated mushroom like the Pleurotus ostreatus (Austernseitling).
Both are not very good in taste but at least eatable.
The porcini mushroom is shown here
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These are the white truffles that we brought home with us. This is about 40 euros worth of truffles.
But, its not about the money, its about the smell, sort of like wonton sex and barking at the moon. And really, can you put a price on that??
No. Because it's not the same like Alba truffles. This one is similar to the Choiromyces meandriformis which will be found in Germany too. Still a good one and also very tasty.
That pod looking mushroom belongs in a Dr. Seuss book.
Coprinus Comatus ( in German "Schopftintling") eatable in the shown stage. Very good with scrambled eggs.
Looks like Ramaria Flava (in German "Schwefelgelbe Koralle") eatable when young. But who really knows when this mushroom is in a young stage. To be thrown away.
The mushroom in your first picture I've never seen before. Looks like a berry is fallen onto a white mushroom and sticked to the middle.
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Dear Heinz. Must you give away all our secrets?
Granted there is the expected pork and potatoes, but when the pork is in the form of thinly sliced tiroler speck and the potatoes are tiny, buttery yellow and taste like they were dug out of the ground 5 minutes ago...
And then there is the venison, wild boar, ducks, geese, quails, squab, the chanterelles, the rye breads, the black breads, the cheeses, the white asparagus, the baerenlauch, the meltingly sweet/sour braised red cabbage, the summer berries and autumn apples, the feldsalat & arugula, the various forms of hearty or delicate wurst and yes, saurkraut that is fresh and cooked with small cubes of bacon and coriander pods, big yeasty crunchy/chewy pretzles...not to mention the smoked fish and herring and north sea krabben and fish chowders...did I mention the pastry? And the amazing Schneider wheat beers, Augustiner helles, those beautiful rieslings, scheurebe, and the gruener veltliners from across the border that can be had for a fraction of what they cost in the US...
Yeah, I hate German food. Mainly because I have to walk a lot to keep my jeans from getting too tight.
Who is giving away the secrets!
Are you still in town and did you take part in an amazing Wiesn?
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OK. OK. I give in. White truffles, in all their glory!
This is NOT the Alba truffle fair, this is the little bitty town of Pietralunga, but these are local truffles and they smell and taste wonderful. The non-negotiated price for the big guys is about 250 euros a kilo.
Great blog and impressive pictures.
250 Euros for 1 kilo truffles. Incredible! I think you've missed a "0" . Normally the prize for white truffles is about 2500 Euros. Here in Munich you have to pay 6800 EUROs which is about 8800$. If that mentioned prize is the real one I've to head immediately into my car and will buy the whole harvest and make a lot of money.
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Have only been to Germany once - Hamburg - ages ago. Have to say that I tend to dislike traditional German food - and I wondered if there is any trend in Germany in terms of a "New German Cuisine" (like "New American Cuisine"). If so - where in the country would I be most likely to find these restaurants that are coming up with new twists on old ideas?
I'm not sure whether I might help you to find those restaurants you are looking for. You tend to dislike traditional German food and have been only once in my country. Where did you pick up that aversion to traditional German food? Traditional food wherever it comes from is a result of decades of cooking culture and handing down of recipes by ancestors to descendants. During that procedure the dishes got their best possible quality and taste and became traditional. I personally think there is no need to twist up old ideas. Cooking is like travelling all around the world in front of your stove but from time to time you have to come back to your roots to discover the unknown.
Let me know what you think you'll discover.
As everywhere in the world there are good and bad restaurants which serve "traditional food" of different quality.
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Unfortunately I have not been myself, but the friends I trust all rave about
Landgasthof Adler in Rosenberg (1* Michelin, 18/20 gault millau).
www.landgasthofadler.de
Unfortunately in the middle of nowhere.....in a black hole between Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Nuernberg.
Very old Tavern, now serving supposedly super smart variations of peasant food/local ingredients, without any snobbery, pretension or liquid nitrogen.......
this seems to be the place where old (south)german standards get a surprising new life.
I definitely will go during my next trip in December.
I'm very astonished that you there know about this jewel of the "new" German kitchen. Actually it's not new but traditional German food at the utmost level, IMHO. I'll highly recommend this restaurant but one have to make reservations two weeks in advance. And yes Rosenberg is in the middle of nowhere but that's the lucky coincidence foodwise beeing far from any touristic streams and overcrowded places.
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Does anyone remember President Kennedy's speech in Berlin at the Wall?
" Ich bin ein Berliner " ??
Yes Sir. I've been there, and listened to his speech, but he didn't say these words at the Wall, it was on the balcony of the "Schöneberger Rathaus".
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I notice that you both ended up with something I have now, and don't want. That's a stovetop that faces directly into a windowless wall. With all the time I spend at the stove, I really want something to see besides the wall. Is it more a matter of practicality, that you both ended up with that stove orientation, or am I alone in caring about that?
I'd have placed the stove into the island.
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I prepared for today's dessert a "Zwetschgendatschi" the bavarian style plum cake with whipped cream topping
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My personal favorite things turned out to be the garlic roasted in duck fat, the arugula pecan pesto, and the tasso ham that I cured back in May.
So your favourite pizza is a white one. I don't know "Tasso ham". Wikipedia mention it as a spicy cajun food which is mostly used in stews or some such. Does your arugula pesto contain garlic as basil pesto do.
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We are taking our ten year old son to Rome for nine days this Thanksgiving. My son is a good eater and is pretty game to try just about anything (he has not tried brains, but he loves liver and kidneys).
We would like some recs for good, not too expensive, authentic places. We could splurge one night for something fabulous. Also, we are renting an apartment, so some good markets would be welcome too since I plan on cooking a couple of nights.
Also, is Da Gigetto (sp?) still fabulous in Trastevere? It was twenty years ago.
Thanks!
I've been in Rome and returned back yesterday. You are looking for good, not too expensive, authentic places ??? Forget about. Price - quality relationship in roman restaurants is the worst I've ever seen and in overcrowded touristic places the food is really bad. I've been three nights in Trastevere and checked the following restaurants
"Enoteca Ferrara" piazza Trilussa 41: good but $$$
"Corsetti il Galeone" piazza san Cosimato 27: not bad, fish and crawfish is offered by Euro/100 g expensive
"Checco er Carretiere" via Benedetta 10: good but $$$
Markets: "Campo dei Fiori" vegetables, herbes, fruits, meat, cheese, sausages, wine etc. but not all is of good quality. Still, sometimes too high prices.
Be careful, some Tourist places like in "Piazza Navona" ask 8 Euro for 0,5 liter beer , which is close to 11 $. Also for desserts (three small balls of gelato) the same price.
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Thanks, Malacitana. I arrived in Berlin yesterday and actually ate at VAU last evening. My husband, who has been here for a couple of weeks already, said it was 4 or 5 times better than anything else he had had here, but we both thought it was nowhere near up to the standards of, say, some wonderful restaurants we tried in Sweden a couple of years ago. Vau's food was creative and attractive, and the service was just fine, but in most of the dishes, the flavors did not quite come together gracefully. I do appreciate the recommendation for 44; I'll try to get there.
Do you by any chance know of any really good traditional bakeries here? I'm particularly interested in bread, but I'm more than happy to go hunting down good pastry as well.
Another good restaurant is the "Quadriga" in the Hotel "Brandenburger Hof" near Kurfürstendamm. The chef there is Bobby Braeuer who was several years chef in the "Koenigshof" in Munich.
Traditional Bakeries ?? All German bakeries offer the same stuff in different qualities. What's the best belongs to the clients taste.
Look for this sign "Goldene Brezel 2005/2006" the following bakeries are awarded.
Axel Kaczmarzik, Charlottenburg
BackWerk
Nehringstr. 3
14059 Berlin
BackHaus GmbH, Falkensee
H.-J. Leib
Bahnhofstr. 6-8
14612 Falkensee
Bäckerei Hohenschönhausen
Jürgen Rauch
Sandinostr. 14
13055 Berlin
Bäckerei Köpenick
Jürgen Buhrmeister
Wiebelskircher Weg 39
12589 Berlin
Rainer Schwadtke, Köpenick
Dresdner Feinbäckerei
Bölschestr. 89
12587 Berlin
Bäckerei Köpenick
Ralf Sommerwerk
Borgmannstr. 6
12555 Berlin
Feinbäckerei Lichtenberg
Uwe Richter
Einbecker Str. 46
10315 Berlin
Bäckerei Pankow
Karsten John
Wollankstr. 110
13187 Berlin
Bäckerei Prenzlauer Berg
Kempe
Hufelandstr. 9
10407 Berlin
Bäckerei Prenzlauer Berg
Manfred Kädtler
Danziger Str. 135
10407 Berlin
Bäckerei Prenzlauer Berg
Lars Siebert
Schönfließer Str. 12
10439 Berlin
Bäckerei/Konditorei Schöneberg
Johann Mayer OHG
Kurt und Karsten Berning
Ebersstr. 42
10827 Berlin
Bäckerei Schöneberg
Walter Seitz
Brot und Wein
Hochkirchstr. 10
10829 Berlin
Familienbäckerei Spandau
Rösler GmbH
Falkenseer Chaussee 194
13589 Berlin
Bäckerei Steglitz
Walf GmbH
Hans-Joachim Blauert
Lankwitzer Str. 2 - 3
12209 Berlin
Bäckerei Steglitz
Alfons Wagner
Sachsenwaldstr. 30
12157 Berlin
Bäckerei Steglitz
Georg Hillmann GmbH & Co. KG
Hindenburgdamm 93 a
12203 Berlin
Bäckerei Tempelhof
Ingo Wüstenhöfer
Marienfelder Allee 99
12277 Berlin
Bäcker Tempelhof
Wiedemann GmbH
Wilhelm-v.-Siemens-Str. 26-28
12277 Berlin
Café Obergfell GmbH, Tempelhof
Lichtenrader Damm 36
12305 Berlin
Bäckerei Tempelhof
Stefan Obergfell
Alt-Lichtenrade 140
12309 Berlin
Enjoy hunting
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Wood fire grilled pizza for 11: just cover a big table with foil, assemble a pile of toppings, grill off the dough, and let your guests have at it.
Wow, must have been a great fun. Did made and eat everyone his own pizza or was each pizza divided into 11 pieces to taste and if so, which one was the winner of the day ?
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I have a month long holiday in southern Austria, about 45 minutes from Graz. It is also quite close to the Slovenian border.
I was wondering whether anyone knew of a guide similar to the Slow Food Guide in Italy which would help me find the best restaurants and/or markets and producers within this region. I would assume it will be in German, which is not a problem as my wife speaks German and I am taking lessons and it would be excellent practice!
If no such thing exists, does anyone have any good ideas about how I should go about gathering this information. Obviously I have done Austrian searches on here, Chowhound etc but it seems like there is something of a shortage of gastronomic tourists to this part of the world. Apart from pumpkin seed oil hunters, of course.
Check out this site. May be there is something of interest. I'm not very familiar about slow food in Austria, but it seems that it practically don't excist.
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Ok I think we are back to the begining because
carob pods are shaped more like pea pods with seams and indentations between the seeds....also currently out of season
and why the heck would they be selling Cassia Fistula which is primarily used as a laxative, in the produce dept??
tracey
It's a raw food product. Cassia supports the detoxifying work of the body. It has an effect on cell cleansing and on blood cleansing and supports the digestive System. So for raw food vegetarians the fruits of Cassia Fistula is a basic ingredient.
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I declare Jason Perlow the winner. This was Carob, AKA / Carob Tree / Locust Bean / St. John's bread.
If anyone have dessert recipe's im interested!
It's not carob or St. John's bread. The fruit is called "Manna" and is the fruit of the "Cassia Fistula" tree. I don't know if there is an english expression for this (may be "Indian Laburnum"), but in German they are called "Röhrenkassie" or "Purgierkassie" or "Fisettkassie" or "Indischer Goldregen".
The length of the fruits is 30 to 60 cm, and they are about 2 cm thick, The inner part is devided into several chambers which are filled with sweet tasting mush and a yellow seed in form of a disk. The taste is a little bit like chokolate and liquorice. The mush is normally used as a laxative or to soften tobacco. I really can't imagine there will be a recipe for a dessert in which manna will be used.
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This is the Tunisian Poached Fish with Olives, Preserved Lemons, and Capers. It was good, although a bit delicate for my taste. I didn't make the le tabil spice, just using the coriander, and I used sturgeon, which is a very subtle fish, so those might be the reasons it wasn't my favorite dish ever. However, it was gorgeous, and tasty, served with herbed salt-roasted potatoes.
Great dish and photo. I like sturgeon and this is my favourite
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Thanks, Heinz. I do have caul fat, and I did think of using it. What bugs me, though, is that in a Moslem country where no pork would be used, they have some way of doing it without caul fat. I think an egg white might do the trick, for next time.
Abra look at this recipe The technik there is practically the same as using the eggwhite. The fresh meat minced by hand, cooled down to approx 37 °F, mixed with salt and onions and pommeled about 15 minutes makes the meat sticky. It's the salt which extract the protein Globulin from the cold meat and that's why the mixture becomes sticky. But the meat should meet the following requirements.
Fresh, minced by hand, ice-cold. If you'll use a meat grinder to mince the meat, too much liquid is pressed out of the meat. But this liquid is essential for the emulsion.
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Rob, as it happens, I did everything exactly as you suggest. The only thing different is that my skewers evidently aren't wide enough. Although I might should have added an egg or some little panade for helping it all stay together.
I've to offer two solutions.
1. Cool down the shredded unseasoned meat and whisk in an eggwhite using a wooden spoon until the mixture sticks together. Add all other ingredients.
2. wrap a pork fat mesh around each kebab before inserting the skewer. The fat melts and the mesh will tie the kebab. I don't know whether there is an english expression for that sort of mesh.
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This sounds great. Do you mean that you make it with pork fat and then also stir in some goosefat?
Can you tell me if this interpretation of the recipe is basically correct? Render pork fat and remove lightly browned cracklings. Add in sliced onions, minced garlic, sliced apples, peppercorns, bay leaf, salt and marjoram and cook over medium heat until onions are lightly browned. Take off heat, remove bay leaf, stir in cracklings and let fully cool.
The technique of cooking the fat with flavorings like onion is similar to what I've seen described in North America in making Jewish poultry schmaltz.
Yes I make it with Flomen (pork fat) and stir in some goose fat just before the pork fat hardens. The mixture should contain 2/3 pork fat and 1/3 goose fat. The goose fat decreases the firmness of the spread and makes it much more tastier.
Your interpretation of the recipe is correct.
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In Prague recently we came across an item they described as 'crackling spread' which was basically a starter consisting of a little pot of pork dripping served with pork dripping - Except I'm sure it wasn't just dripping. More likely it was dripping with ground scratching added for crunchy bits! The only reference i can find to it on the internet is what looks like a similar thing from Germany called Griebenschmalz or crackling fat. Does anybody know how to make it as friends that visited Prague with uws thought it was wonderful and I'd love to serve it up to them as an appetiser this Friday!
You'll find a recipe here. Mix in some rendered goosefat and you'll get the Prague version.
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Here's my Charcuterie Play Day report. I was so busy charcuting that I didn't get a lot of good pictures, but a couple of other cameras were hard at work, and I'll try to get those guys to post here too.
Before the chaos descended, I managed to arrange this plate of my lamb prosciutto and saucisson sec. The saucisson is actually my least favorite of the stuff I've made so far, but other people seem to really like it.
Wow Abra. The lamb prosciutto looks fabulous and surely tastes exceptional. What a remarkable party. Now I know what I'm missing. PORK !!! Unfortunately it don't agree with me
Berlin Restaurants
in Elsewhere in Europe: Dining
Posted
Sorry about your bad experiance concerning the service in the rtestaurant Remake. When I am not satisfied with the service I'd ask for the restaurant chef to get the appropriate information and help. If there is no blame, the current situation will never change.
You asked for a moderately priced bottle of lokal wine. The German wines shown in the wine list
are
Whites
4 dry Rieslings (Kabinett, Spätlese)
1 dry Riesling (erstes Gewächs)
1 dry white pinot
1 dry pinot grigio
Reds
1 dry Lemberger
1 Spätburgunder
1 Cuvee
As I know from many contacts with American wine freaks dry rieslings are not to be liked abroad. So you've had just three other choices. These German Württemberger reds are overpriced and at the lower end of good wines. IMHO.
The waitress should have offered Austrians instead, but those good ones listed are also high in price.