The Germans eat clean and plentiful, but more importantly, they do it with great pleasure. Slowly (as a rule), and with cheerful company, chatting lively. In Germany, it is not accepted to refuse to eat, perhaps that is why the table is usually full of many different dishes, and the portions of each are really huge.
The cult of food is the core of German cooking. The German love affair with sausage is obvious – the number of traditional German dishes with sausage is more than 300, and each region of the country has its own special recipes. To say that German cuisine is only sausage would be a big mistake.
The culinary history of German cuisine dates back many centuries and each region has its own separate geography and culinary history. In many traditional German dishes, the influence of its neighbor’s cuisines is noticeable, especially Italy, Belgium, and France.
Search MHT German Recipes:
German cuisine, besides bearing the characteristic European features, is often distinguished by it’s unexpectedly simplistic preparation. The most common products in Germany, for example, are potatoes, meat and vegetables . And the “crown” ginger of the Germans is a very simple dish – Bavarian sausages with stewed cabbage, which can be found on the menu of any restaurant in this country.
Another equally interesting classic German dish is their sour-sweet sauberrat, typical of the traditional cuisine of Central Germany. The preparation of the dish is quite simple – the beef is marinated in wine and vinegar for several days, then stewed with raisins, beetroot syrup, ginger, apples and vegetables . At the table, this dish is usually served with potato dumplings or apple cubes.
In some regions of Germany, sausages are so popular that they are consumed at any time of the day – at breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition, the Germans use different types of their sausages both as a standalone meal with and without garnish , and as additional ingredients for salads, soups or main courses. In addition to sausages, different types of meatballs, schnitzels, steaks and auger can be included in traditional German meat . It should be noted that the Germans are not too keen on spicy and other spicy spices in the cooking process, so you will not find spicy recipes in traditional German cuisine.
Lunch for the Germans is the time for the main meal, and soup is an integral part of it. The most common soup recipes in German cuisine are cabbage soup with sausages, saxon potato soup with bacon, and onion weimar soup. There are also some unusual soup recipes, such as strawberry soup, which is made with strawberries and wine. Aintopf is the richest soup in German cuisine. It is prepared with several varieties of smoked meats and sausages. Such a dish generally replaces both the first and second dishes. In addition to soups, broths occupy a large place in German cuisine – in huge quantity and variety.
Fish in Germany is prepared not only as a stand-alone dish, but is also put into salads, eats, sandwiches . It should be noted that in different regions, fish and seafood are prepared according to their own recipes. For example, Byzantine fish is stewed with onions, vegetables and lemon peel. And the main ingredient to give a spicy taste to Munich fish is the beer used to make this dish.
Vegetables in German cuisine are used for the preparation of almost all meats, soups, main courses, meals and salads. Most often, garnishes in Germany are served boiled potatoes, carrots, cabbage, spinach, turnips .
A huge number of bakeries, pastry shops and eateries can be found all over Germany. The taste of German bread is specific and unusual because of the main ingredient – rye flour. That is why German bread is usually called “earth”. Currently, over three hundred varieties of bread alone can be enumerated, not to mention the numerous butter cookies, croissants, marzipan patties, pumpkin, fruit, creams and other fillings from the country.
Cakes are also taken very seriously. In this country, they prepare desserts and sweets, as they say, “from the heart”. Each cake can be called a truly multifaceted and extremely beautiful masterpiece. For example, baumkuchen (“cake tree”) is a cake that not only has a unique taste, but also has its own cooking secrets. The dough is mixed with cardamom, cloves and a special kind of beans. It is then rolled out with a wooden sharpener, folded and re-rolled exactly thirteen times, creating layers that resemble annual circles of wood. After this manipulation, the cake is cooled for a day in a refrigerator, after which it is assembled and decorated with vanilla cream, white or milk chocolate.
Germany’s most traditional and favorite drink , of course, is beer. Bavaria can rightly be called the beer capital of the world. 965 square miles of green hops are grown here.
German cuisine cannot be called dietetic at all. Almost all dishes are prepared exclusively by frying, stewing or baking . The centuries-old culinary traditions of the Germans are well known. A great number of customs and rituals have been preserved here to this day. On holidays, for example, in Germany they prepare so-called. “glukshvayn” (happy pig) . This is a piglet-shaped pie with a coin in its mouth. Such a dish not only pleases the guests with its entertaining appearance, but also brings luck and financial well-being in the house.
The German Table
The sequence of German meals has not changed over the centuries. For example, the classic regular German breakfast includes boiled eggs, ham or sausage, bread and sandwiches with jam. Lunch consists of several dishes – soup, appetizer, main course and dessert, accompanied by cheese, fish or sausage sandwiches . At dinner, the Germans eat mostly cold dishes. And it is improbably that all of this is not accompanied by the traditional German beverage, beer, ever present at every meal.
It is amazing how great the German’s love for delicious food is. Everyone knows that on Friday during Holy Week – aka Good Friday observers must partake in a strict fast without any meat and other animal products at mealtimes. However, the Germans resorted to a curious trick: pork lovers invented an original recipe – they began wrapping meat with spices and vegetables in paste. Thus, when they ate such a dish during fasting, they justified themselves by saying, “God will not notice the meat under the paste.”
