A Taste of Germany

After 4 weeks eating our way around Germany & France, I want to share some of our experiences with you. We started in Germany and our first stop was Frankfurt. We were staying near the station and as is often that way with immigrant communities we found an abundance of Turkish restaurants. I had the best Turkish food I've had outside of Melbourne (having never actually been to Turkey where I assume they do it the best). One of the things I noticed in the cafe we went to is that the majority of the diners were Turkish and there were no women. The food was superb and it's always worth considering good immigrant food when you're travelling. It is interesting to note that immigrant food takes on the elements of the host country so although the Turkish restaurants felt authentic they also felt very German.

We then travelled to Freiburg via the Romantische Strasse, the Deutsche Alpenstrasse & the Schwarzwald enjoying regional seasonal delights along the way. There was a common theme throughout:

Bread rolls topped with a variety of seeds which is the mainstay of the German breakfast, served with sliced meat & cheese, radishes & cucumber, a selection of jams including the delectable sour cherry and sometimes a boiled egg. Erdbeere (Strawberries) which were the best you've ever tasted. We bought them each day from the local market or from intriguing roadside stalls shaped like strawberries. Pfifferlinge - a delicious mushroom known as Chanterelle in France was in season and available in the markets as was white asparagus.

The yoghurt made from Alpen milk was really distinctive - how could those adorable cows not produce wonderful milk.

The amazing variety of cured meats & cheeses was impressive and delicious. We could buy a selection of breads & cheese & sliced meat for roadside lunches.

Potatoes were plentiful, and could be found in fritters, dumplings, salad with Frankfurters, baked -the list goes on. The highlight of Freiburg was dinner at the local Kartoffelhaus where we had the choice of any potato dish you could imagine.

We had two great meals of Sauerbraten which is a traditional German dish of beef marinaded in a red wine & vinegar sauce. We enjoyed a Franconian version at the Hotel Dortmunder Hof in Wurzburg, which included lebkuchen (gingerbread) & was served with potato dumplings which had a small piece of toast embedded within.

The second was a Swabian version at the Gasthof Berghof at Leutschenbach, in the Schwarzwald, and was served with spaetzle, which is a pasta specialty of Southern Germany and also of Alsace in France.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the food in Germany & I attempted to recreate a German meal at home. We were usually served a salad to start as a matter of course and the German dressings were beautifully sharp & vinegary. I then prepared a sauerbraten. It wasn't entirely successful but I think I am close. I followed this recipe which worked up to a point. I thought it was too vinegary and I would halve the vinegar and substitute a cup of red wine. Bottom round is silverside and I think that was the right meat although I would reduce the cooking time from 4 hours to 3. I made lebkuchen which were very successful and thickened the sauce beautifully giving the velvety texture I was looking for. I made a quantity of round biscuits and then some fancy shapes using cutters I bought in Germany - the gingko leaf symbolising Goethe and Neuschwanstein castle. I used about 12 biscuits in the sauerbraten. We served it with potato dumplings. If you are an expert on German cooking and have any suggestions I would be grateful. I feel there was definitely room for improvement.

To finish off the meal I made a Rhabarberkuchen (rhubarb cake) which comprised a slice base topped with lightly stewed rhubarb then a crumble mixture. It was baked in round cake tin in a medium oven about 40 minutes.