Duvel

By now I was a bit exhausted and rather full. I cycled further north west, to the city quarter of Charlottenburg, to reach the legendary Deli Rogacki. It gained popularity outside of Germany, when Anthony Bourdain choose to go nuts on the headcheese selection, bit since I was full I opted for something more light. The place has all what Germany has to offer, which you can buy and take home, or just eat there. The boiled liverwurst/blood sausage combo is legendary, but I opted for some oysters and a just arrived Matjes herring (and a Chablis, just because) … By now I was positively done. I left my trusted bike at the sidewalk (logged out from the mobility app and ended my rental) and headed back to the hotel …

Last full day in Berlin. The weather wasn’t that much more inviting, but at least it wasn’t raining. We took the bus to reach the seat of the German parliament, the Reichstag. Some architecture looks actually better in these hazy autumn days … A few meters away is the Brandenburger Tor, which from my view is as impressive as the Reichstag (but I might be biased). From here we split up. My wife, the little one and the inlaws went on to see Gendarmenmarkt, Checkpoint Charlie and go shopping … and I rented a bike. First stop was Konnopke‘s, the birthplace of the Currywurst. Located under a streetcar bridge in the former East, in this shack the first Currywurst was served in 1960. Sausage was good, well spiced with a fruity curry sauce. Cycling further through the former East, there were only a few things that caught my eye … A few kilometers away is the Dong Xuan center. As I explained above, Berlin has a huge Vietnamese population, and this is where they shop. I went there to stock up on some items, but also to get a Banh Mi. The market inside looks just like you are in Vietnam. It took me back 😊 They had all the Banh Mi ingredients you could ever ask for, plus a spacious outside seating. Unfortunately I messed up the picture and noticed too late. Please image a lovely Banh Mi with extra liver pate, pressed pork head and spicy pickles 😌 12 km back into the west side of the city is Kreuzberg, center of the Turkish population of the city. It is not a pretty place per se, but has its charm. Alledgedly, the Döner Kebap was (co)invented here by Mehmet Aygün, the founder of Hasir Döner. The Döner at Hasir differs a bit from the usual Döner you find. The meat is more coarse, definetely beef with sufficient fat interstacked on the skewer to render the shavings kind of greasy, yet very juicy. The meat doesn’t contain much seasoning except salt. Like in a french rotisserie, they keep cuts of potatoes under the rotating skewer to soak up the dripping fat. You get one or two in your Döner sandwich. Speak of flavor …

Switch to preparing whole rabbits instead - now thats a good liver to meat ratio (ate rabbits alcoholics ?!). Just from a cooks treat perspective …

Wurstsalat - and why not ?

Ahh @Smithy … There is still one day left to document, thanks for the reminder 😉 Will do so tonight. MIL was tired and truth to be told a tiny bit overwhelmed just how nasty the weather in Northern Germany can be at this time of year. Her fashionable clothes look like they are very warm & suitable for sustaining hours of rain, but in reality they do better in a Catalan climate context where 15 oC and a few clouds are considered bad. I think we all underestimated that part, and she was happy to have a hot bath and not having to go out anymore … The red cabbage was braised for a long time, with apples, a lot of cloves and a touch of cinnamon and before serving amped up with some dark berry marmalade. I like it like that !

Chili on a cold & rainy day …

They were not cured before. From my experience with proper salting* before bagging the long SV time produces something similar to a confit (texture- and flavorwise). They definitely are tender and flavorful … * plus pepper, cloves, juniper berries, bayleaf and star anise.

That linked “article” is more of an advertisement for Regalis than an informative (and unbiased) piece of journalism … Be it as it may, I feel you need to take the plunge now and get yourself that burger, so you can enlighten us with first hand experience ✊

I know that this is a quote, but have you checked this claim ? I personally would be surprise if the US market only features one product made from truffles and oil. Which in turn makes me wonder about the credibility of the article and publisher …

Yeap. 18 h@68 oC, chilled overnight, then 25 min@230 oC fan assisted oven to crisp up …

MILs birthday today, so I prepared a bit more than the usual Monday dinner … SV duck (4x) and goose (2x) legs, red cabbage (plus a tiny bit of Grünkohl, frozen from 2 weeks ago) and potato Knödel (half/half). A sauce made from the defatted bag juices, plum compôte and chinese five spice. Very good, if I may say so. A fruity red to go with … MIL was happy, as was the rest of the crew. Little one consumed almost one goose leg - must be a growth spurt or something 🙄

Today a visit to Speyer and its spectacular cathedral … Followed by Tapas … Extra octopus for the little one … Some pleasant wine (disregard the stain) … And a little something for the cook … 😊

A truly nasty late German autumn day at around 4 oC, light drizzle and wind. And to top it off a soccer tournament for the little one (starting at 9.00h) … It was not the best day for my parents-in-law either, as the clothes they brought did not support watching 7yo play soccer for an extended time under these climatic conditions. After returning home, copious amounts of hot beverages and the prospect of a high calory dinner brought everyone back to life. So … Raclette! Cheeses Meat Bread … For me raw cured ham, potatoes and Raclette cheese works best, but I think we tried all the permutations. The same wine from yesterday (as per popular demand) … And a digestif to help breaking down the cheese … Felt rather warm & comfy after that 🤗

For loaves (at least the “simple” ones I prepare regularly) I bake in a preheated dutch oven in the -well - oven without added water.

Do not splash cold water onto a hot oven door made out of glass. Depending on the glass quality the thermal shock can lead to cracks. This is not an issue with steam, as it is already hot, thus not leading to thermal differences on the materials.

Simple dinner: Speckkuchen, served with a Weissburgunder from the neighboring village …

It has been a while … a veritable business dinner. At our companies restaurant, and conveniently available as a bilingual dinner: Tuna & veal tail Thai-inspired soup with some quail Steak Dessert Digestif - Talisker 25 yo … and a taxi home 😊

It really did not stop raining. I had reserved a table in a nice restaurant with local cuisine that I really wanted to go, so I dragged everyone (except my MIL) out to walk over … Little one and me shared an Eisbein (cured and boiled pork shank, with potatoes and mashed yellow peas) … Me with a Berliner Kindl, little one with his newly aquired favourite KiBa (or Kirsch-Banane, a mixture of cherry and banana juice …) My wife opted for the Schnitzel with a fried egg (and couldn’t wait, obviously) … And FIL went for the wild boar stew, served with a fantastic red cabbage and homemade potato dunplings … A Berliner Kümmel (caraway scented Schnapps) concluded the meal and warmed us just enough to make it back through the cold to our hotel.

After a nice and sunny day, it started to rain at night and it did not stop. Lucky, we had planned and reserved time slots for the Natural History Museum. Due to Covid the interactive parts of the exhibition were closed (much to the dismay of the little one), but luckily the dinosaurs were all there … The museum was nice, yet the most spectacular (in my view), yet creepy part was the basement collection of fish specimens preserved in formaldehyde. It was a gigantic room, indirectly luminated through the collection. I could have sworn I saw some fishes from @liuzhous excellent Chinese Fish thread, but maybe that was fishful thinking … Upon our return at 13.30h to the hotel, noone was in the mood for going out again. My MIL was feeling under the weather (or better suffering from the latter) and refused to leave the hotel again. I took my FIL to pick up a Döner, which we enjoyed in our room. It was very good. I decided to have a beer with it and took a nap afterwards, to be refreshed for dinner …

Nope … around 70 oC in slightly salted water.

Still entertaining the in-laws with traditional German food … Today was an easy sell - who doesn’t like Himmel un Ääd ? Freshly smoked blood sausage, Weißwurst (yes, traditionally Leberwurst, but this is my house), hearty potato purée and sweet apple sauce. Plenty of fried onions and some mustards … heaven indeed. They enjoyed, I enjoyed, little one asked for seconds … all good. And of course served with a cold Kölsch !

A gathering of colleagues decided that after not seeing each other for ~12 month, celebrations in the form of a Domino’s pizza was in order 🤔 When they found me in the office they insisted that I join, as they had ordered two (!) extra pizzæ - just in case. I couldn’t refuse. I got the “Korean BBQ Pizza”, with Korean BBQ sauce, pulled beef, beef “filet”, mushrooms, red onions and sesame seeds, by default. I know I should tell you otherwise, but it wasn’t half bad to be honest.

Yeap … the cassowaries 👍

A couple of years ago, Germany was hit by the “premium burger” craze, with new chains popping up (“Hans im Glück”, “Peter Pane”, “Burgermeister”, …), but also international chains branching out (e.g. “5 Guys”). The latter has quite a few branches in the bigger cities by now, just in my vicinity there is one in Mannheim and one in Heidelberg …

That looks so good ☺️ Suckling pig is on offer next week at my butchers … maybe it’s time to impress the in-laws !