Arts & Sciences
|
Meatless Dishes ¦ Fish ¦ Dessert The following are some of my favorite Northern German childhood recipes that tend to be overlooked by German cookbooks made in America. Some of the more unusual ingredients will be for sale in German delicatessens or restaurants or in health food stores. My apologies to the wienerschnitzel crowd--this site is designed to showcase something unique, not the same old stuff. Enjoy. SoupsElderberry Soup with Dumplings and ApplesIngredients:
Stir lemon peel in with juice and bring to a boil. Add tapioca and stir until mixture boils. Add chopped apples (do not remove peel) and simmer for 15 minutes. Add sugar and rum to taste. Serve over dumplings. As an alternative, you may replace the apples with fresh or canned quince. In this case, do not add rum or tapioca. To make dumplings, mix ½ cup of milk with 1 oz of butter and a dash each of salt and nutmeg. Bring to a boil. Sift in ¼ lb. of flour and stir well. Take the mix off the stove, pour it into a bowl, and immediately mix in two medium eggs. Drop teaspoonfuls of the mix into boiling saltwater. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes. Holstein Bacon SoupIngredients:
Cut meat from the hambone into small pieces and soak with the bacon in water overnight. Add plenty of cold water and boil on medium heat for 3-4 hours. Skim foam off frequently; the liquid must remain clear. Strain the broth, add chopped vegetables, and boil for another 20 minutes. Add dried prunes and dumplings and simmer for 10 minutes. Add vinegar and sugar to taste. Serve with boiled potatoes and the cut-up meat. Probstei Kale SoupI ngredients:
Boil the meat and the sauteed onion until you have a broth. Remove meat and add finely chopped kale. Boil until done. Dice the meat and add to soup. Form very small meatballs, blanch, brown, and add to soup. Boil potatoes in their skins, cube finely, and add to soup. Potato SoupI ngredients:
Peel potatoes, cut into cubes, and boil in broth with vegetables, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Dice bacon and brown; add finely chopped onions. Pour this mixture onto the soup and decorate with chopped parsley. Northern Lentil SoupI ngredients:
Clean lentils and soak in plenty of cold water. Cube vegetables, brown briefly, and add to lentils. After 1-1½ hours, add soaked prunes and cubed ham. After another 20 minutes of slow boiling, add polish sausages and simmer everything for another ten minutes. Cut bacon into small cubes and brown together with finely chopped onions. Add vinegar and sugar to achieve sweet-and-sour taste. Add salt and pepper and pour soup into a bowl. Pour bacon-onion mix over the top of the soup. Serve with boiled potatoes. Buttermilk SoupI ngredients:
Boil bacon separately. Then add to boiling buttermilk for about 15 minutes so that it will take on the bacon flavor. Boil raisins and pears separately and add them (including the water they were boiled in) to the buttermilk. Thicken soup with flour or corn starch and add sugar and lemon to taste. Serve with bacon and boiled potatoes. How much of each ingredient to use depends entirely on the preference of the cook. Experiment and see how you like it best. Sweet Sorrel SoupI ngredients:
Thicken boiling water with rice flour, add currants and lemon peel, and boil for 15 minutes. Clean sorrel, cook until tender in one cup of water, and strain through a sieve. Add to soup, bring to a boil, and add sugar to taste. KaleIngredients:
Cube bacon and fry with chopped onions until brown. Add chopped kale, brown briefly, and add a little water. Mix in shortening and spices. Brown ham hocks and smoked pork chops separately and add to kale. Cook on medium heat with the kale while periodically adding small amounts of water. Add polish sausage and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve without liquid (the kale may be shiny but not wet). Serve with potatoes. Red Wine Soup with Pearl Barley Ingredients:
Let pearl barley soak in 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Add cinnamon stick, lemon peel, and cardamom and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Add raisins, prunes, and sugar and let simmer for another 10 minutes. Finally, add fruit juice and red wine. You may add additional sugar and red wine to taste. Serve with French bread with butter and salami. Meat DishesRoulades from KielIngredients:
Spread mustard thinly onto the slices of meat. To make the filling, mix the ground pork with the egg, the finely chopped onion, and the bread that has been soaked in water and squeezed dry. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cut the prunes and the apple into small pieces and mix with the rest. Spread the filling on top of the mustard on the roulades, roll up the meat, tie with string or fasten with a skewer, and sear briefly in shortening. Add beef broth and stir in tomato paste. Let simmer for 45 minutes on medium heat. Add cream to the stock, pour over roulades, and let everything simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove roulades and take off string or remove skewers. Let the gravy simmer for another 5 minutes. Then add salt and pepper to taste and pour gravy over the roulades. Holstein Sauerbraten with "Großer Hans" [Big John]Ingredients for Sauerbraten-Marinade:
Ingredients to Make Roast:
Ingredients for "Großer Hans":
Refrigerate the meat in the marinade for three days. Turn twice daily. Before preparing, remove from marinade, dry off, and rub salt and pepper on it. Fry bacon briefly in shortening, add meat and brown on all sides. Add carrot, celeriac, and leak, and add marinade. Put on lid and let simmer for about 1½ hours. Remove roast, strain stock, bring to a boil once more, thicken with corn starch, and add sour cream to taste. Serve with potatoes and a vegetable of your choice. Cut the rolls into cubes and soak them in milk. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs until foamy. Add remaining ingredients and the soaked rolls. Stir well. Grease pan and dust with bread crumbs. Pour dough into pan. Put pan into another pan of boiling water on the stove. Boil rapidly for 10 minutes and slowly for another 80 minutes. Lift out of the water and let cool for 5 minutes. Turn upside down to remove dessert from pan. Leg of Lamb in Spicy Broth with Fresh Vegetables and PotatoesTake 20 cups of water and add a bouillon cube, salt to taste, 2 stalks of leek, 2 carrots, 1 celeriac (all chopped), parsley, 3 bay leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, one twig of fresh rosemary, and one tablespoon of black peppercorns. Bring to a boil. Add to leg of lamb of about 5 pounds. Cover and let simmer on low heat for about 2 hours. Clarify ½ pound of butter. Mix 4 egg yolks with 8 tbsp of the lamb stock and beat until foamy. Add butter while stirring constantly. Add 4 teaspoons of Dijon mustard, a teaspoon of dried mustard, and salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. For vegetables, take 1 pound of green beans and 2 pounds of carrots. Add 4 slices of kohlrabi. Melt one ounce of butter in a pan, add two diced shallots, and braise briefly. Add carrots and season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar. Add a little water and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Cook beans in boiling salted water. Wrap vegetables in aluminum foil and keep warm in the oven. Brown kohlrabi slices briefly in one ounce of butter and add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Cut meat off the bone and serve on a platter with the vegetables. Decorate vegetables with chopped parsley. Serve with new potatoes. Serves 6. Stuffed Pork ChopsIngredients:
Slice the pork chop open so that it forms a pouch. Rub in salt and pepper. Cube rolls, brown briefly in butter, and put in a bowl. Add raisins, chopped apples, quartered prunes, finely chopped parsley, and the egg. Mix well. Add cardamom to taste. Put this stuffing into the pouch and sew shut. Sear briefly in butter, add water, and let simmer for 1½ to 1¾ hours. Add water to the stock and thicken with sour cream and a little flour. Apple BeefIngredients:
Boil beef until well done. Dice and put in roasting pan along with shortening. Add 1 cup of beef broth, cut-up apples, and sugar and salt to taste. Roast until done and serve with boiled potatoes. Veal FricasseeIngredients:
Cube veal and boil along with the spices for about 35 minutes in salted water. Add chopped carrots, leek, and parsley and boil for another 30 minutes. Make a roux from the butter and the flour and add some of the veal broth and the white wine. Once the sauce has been boiled thoroughly, add meat and heat. Stir in whipping cream and egg yolk. Alternatively, pieces of asparagus or mushrooms may be added to the fricassee. Serve with boiled rice. Liver GoulashIngredients:
Fry chopped onions in hot butter, add the diced calf liver and sautee for about 3 minutes, and pour in the chopped mushrooms. Add salt, pepper, and a little ground thyme to taste. Stir constantly while adding the hot beef broth and boil until well done. Cool and add cream. Sprinkle with parsley. Oxtail Stew Hamburg StyleIngredients:
Peel potatoes, boil, and steam dry. Cut oxtail into 2-inch-long strips and add to diced onion which has been sauteed in hot butter. Sear briefly and add salt. Sift flour over the meat and add hot beef broth. Add bay leaf and boil for 2 hours. Remove bay leaf. Dice potatoes, chop pickled vegetables, and add to soup. Heat and add salt, pepper, and paprika to taste. Venison Medallions in Juniper-Cream-Sauce Ingredients
Wrap the venison medallions in bacon, sprinkle on salt and pepper to taste, and put each one on a skewer so that the bacon does not fall of. Grill or fry on each side for five minutes. To prepare the grave, take the venison stock and bring to a boil. Add cloves, bay leaf, crushed juniper berries, red wine, and one teaspoon of sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste and let boil for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, pass the mixture through s sieve and thicken with potato starch (corn starch may be substituted). Add more salt and pepper if needed. Clean and dry mushrooms. Place in frying pan and sautee in butter until lightly brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the heavy cream and one teaspoon of sour cream. Ladle the gravy onto a plate and place the medallions on top. Serve with Brussels sprouts, potato croquettes, and one-half peach topped with cranberry sauce. Fried Pork Chops in Savoy Cabbage with Mushroom Gravy Ingredients:
Rub herbs and spices on pork chops, brown on all sides, and place in the refrigerator. Keep the pan grease. To make the filling, first chop veal in a blender. Add cream and herbs and spices. Mix until smooth. Blanche savoy cabbage leaves for two minutes and rinse in ice water. Spread cabbage leaves on a cutting board, spread filling onto them, and wrap the pork chops in the leaves. Cook potatoes, cabbage turnips, and carrots. Warm pork chops in the oven. To make the gravy, sautee mushrooms in the leftover pan grease. Add butter as needed. Pour in heavy cream, add spices and herbs to taste, and finally add brandy to taste.
PoultryHolstein DuckIngredients:
Clean out duck, wash well, and rub with salt, pepper, and marjoram inside and out. Peel apples and chop finely. Chop the onion, cut up duck liver and stomach, and mix with diced ham, eggs, and bread crumbs. Fill duck cavity and close up. Put duck into pan on its breast and roast for 15 minutes at medium heat. Then turn over. Pour liquid over duck often. Poke holes underneath the wings and the drumsticks to drain the fat. Add water every time the juice browns. After about 60-70 minutes of roasting time, pour several tablespoons of strong saltwater over the duck. This leads to a nice, crusty skin. Roast for another 10 minutes. Remove duck and cut up. Add water to juice and bring to a boil. Thicken with sour cream and add marjoram and salt to taste. If desired, roasted chestnuts may be added to the stuffing. If you want to prepare the duck Lübeck style, the stuffing consists of the following ingredients:
Sweet and Sour Goose Drumsticks with Cranberry GravyIngredients:
Make a stock from the water and all ingredients. Bring to a boil. Remove fat from goose drumsticks and place into the boiling stock. Cook for 75 minutes. Remove drumsticks and fry with lard in a pan until golden brown. Remove from pan and place in a warm oven. Skim fat off the stock and pass through a sieve. Drain frying pan grease but make sure that the solids remain in the pan. Add red wine and 11/4 cup of the stock. Add cranberry sauce and stir well. Serve with bread dumplings (Semmelknödel--available at any German deli or in online stores). Place goose drumsticks on a plate and ladle gravy on top of them. Place dumplings on the place and garnish with parsley and a slice of orange. Serve with red cabbage. Turkey Breast with Truffles Ingredients:
Cut open skin on one turkey breast, pull back, place truffles on the meat, and replace skin. Put in a covered dish in the refrigerator for two days so that the meat may accept the aroma of the truffles. Then remove skin and cut meat into cubes. Put meat, cream, sherry, salt, and pepper into a blender and blend until smooth. Cut pockets into the other 4 breasts and insert the emulsion. Grill or fry for 8-10 minutes. To make the gravy, sautee the oyster mushrooms in one ounce of butter and one ounce of cubed shallots. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 12 ounces of whipped cream and briefly bring to a boil. Stir in one bunch of chives coarsely chopped. Serve with broccoli with roasted pine nuts and buttered noodles. Back to the top of the page FishSturgeon with Raisin GravyIngredients: Gut sturgeon, remove scales, and wash well. Cut into chunks and boil until done in a mixture of 8 cups of vinegar and 4 cups of water. Remove fish from broth and keep warm in a steamer. Prepare a roux with 3 oz. of butter and 2 tbsp. of flour. Add 1 oz of currants, 1½ oz. of raisins, 1 oz. of chopped almonds, a pinch of nutmeg, and 3 cups of white wine. Mix well and bring to a slow boil while stirring constantly for 10 minutes. Add lemon juice to taste, 4 egg yolks, and a dash of sugar, and pour gravy over the sturgeon. FishburgersIngredients:
Grind fish, potatoes, and meat in a cuisinart. Mix with remaining ingredients. Form burgers and fry until well done. Finkenwerder PlaiceIngredients:
Fry diced bacon until golden brown; remove bacon, leave grease in frying pan. Salt 1 plaice per person, sprinkle with lemon juice, and fry in the bacon grease. Add bacon pieces, heat, and serve when hot. Trout in Herb SauceIngredients:
Sautee diced onion, garlic, and herbs in hot butter. Add salted trout, pour in white wine, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove trout and prepare sauce by adding lemon juice and pepper to taste and stirring in whipping cream. Fish Soup Flensburg Style Ingredients
Rinse fish thoroughly and dry with paper towels. Remove skin and bones. Cut fish into cubes approx. one-half inch on each side. Add salt and lemon juice and set aside. Chop onion finely and sautee in 2 ounces of lard until golden. Add half the white wine and 2 cups of water. Add bay leaf and cubed fish. Salt to taste. Let cook for about 5 minutes and pour through a sieve so that the stock is in a different pot. Add mussels to this stock and and let cook for about 5 minutes. Remove mussels (whose shells should have opened now) with a slotted spoon and remove the mussels from their shells. Place mussels with the fish. In another pan, take 2 ounces of lard and briefly sautee all vegetables. Add the rest of the wine. Put fish back into the fish stock and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove fish with a slotted spoon and put in a pan with the vegetables. Stir carefully. Pour stock through a very fine sieve and add to the pan with the fish and the vegetables. Add curry powder and cayenne pepper to taste. Stir in chopped basil and the anise liquor and briefly bring to a boil. Serve soup in pre-heated bowls. Garnish with prawns. Codfish on a Bed of Vegetables with Hot and Cold Mustard Sauce Ingredients for 4 people:
Rinse fish, cut into piece for one portion each, and towel dry. Rub with lemon juice and salt. Put water in a pan, add wine, aromatic vinegar, lemon slices, and spices and bring to a boil. Add fish and let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Cut onion into slices; peel carrots; and cut the leek into rings. Chop all three and sautee in olive oil for about 3 minutes. Then add a little water and boil for another five minutes. Place vegetables on a pre-heated plate. Remove fish from pot and place on top of vegetables. Garnish with lemon wedges and dill. To make the cold mustard gravy, mix hot Dijon mustard, dry mustard, sugar, and wine vinegar in a small bowl. Add olive oil one drop at a time and whip in with an egg beater until the gravy is creamy. Chop dill finely and stir into gravy. To make the hot mustard gravy, heat sour cream slowly (never boil!), and add fresh mustard, pepper, and salt to taste. Stir well. Meatless DishesLentils with Yellow TurnipsIngredients:
Boil lentils, carrots, leek, and parsley for about 30-40 minutes until well done. Clean turnips, dice, and boil in salted water until well done (50-60 minutes). Grate onions, sautee in butter. Add flour to make a roux and mix with beef stock. Add lentils and turnips to sauce and salt well. Let simmer for another 10 minutes. Turnip StewIngredients:
Wash, peel, and dice turnips. Boil for about 1 hour until done. Peel potatoes, dice, and boil until done. Drain water and mix both vegetables. Add milk and salt and mash well. Fold in butter. Dice bacon and sautee together with chopped onions. Pour onion-bacon gravy over the turnip stew. Serve with polish sausage. Comfrey in Ham SauceIngredients:
Clean comfrey and place in vinegar-and-water mixture so they won't turn black. Cut comfrey into pieces and boil in salt water until tender. Remove and sprinkle with lemon juice. Keep warm. Use butter and flour to make a roux that is mixed with milk. Add the water the comfrey was boiled in. Dice cooked ham and add to sauce. Add spices to taste add heat comfrey in the sauce. Traditional Side SaladTraditional side salads are generally made with lettuce. There are several ways of preparing them:
Sweet and Sour PumpkinIngredients:
Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and dice the meat. Boil water, vinegar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and sugar and add pumpkin pieces along with ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Cook until tender. Cool. Sweet and sour pumpkin works well as a side dish for meat or as compote. DessertsRed Compote (Rode Grütt)Use 2 lbs of fresh red currents or raspberries or strawberries or cherries; boil in no more than 4 cups of water until reduced. Add sugar and lemon to taste. Thicken with tapioca or corn starch until on the border between runny and firm. Serve with half-and-half, milk, or vanilla sauce. Gooseberry CompoteIngredients:
Add gooseberries and half the sugar to the water and bring to a boil. Wait until mixture thickens; then let cool. Beat egg yolks with the remaining sugar and the corn starch and carefully mix with gooseberries, briefly bringing mixture to a boil. HotcakesIngredients:
Beat shortening, sugar, and eggs until foamy. Mix flour with the spices. Stir yeast into lukewarm milk. Combine all three mixtures and stir well. Put in a warm spot and let rise. Knead well. Roll out on baking sheet (about a finger's thickness). Spread raisins, currants, and chopped citron evenly over the dough. Cut squares of roughly 3-4 inches. Shape them so they become round. Brush with melted butter and let rise one more time. Bake at 375°F for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven and brush immediately with warm butter. Eat warm. Dithmarschen Flour CakeIngredients:
Mix egg yolks and milk well. Melt lard in a pan, cool, and add to yolk-milk mixture. Mix flour with salt and lemon peel. Blend carefully. Beat egg whites until stiff and mix in with other ingredients. Take a damp cheese cloth and sprinkle with flour. Put the dough on the cheese cloth. Take the four edges of the cloth and tie together in the center. Put two wooden spoons under the knot crosswise. Hang this bag over a pan with boiling water. Make sure that only half of the bag is submerged in water. Cover and let boil for 1½ hours. Remove and let rest for 15 minutes. Remove from cloth and serve with melted butter or fruit topping. Suggestion: The Mehlbeutel is particularly tasty when some pork bacon is being boiled in the water. The meat is then being eaten with potatoes and mustard gravy. Sweet Pancakes (nobody could make these like Grandma)Ingredients:
Make a creamy dough from flour, baking powder, milk, a little of the sugar, and the egg yolk. Add the beaten egg whites. Heat shortening in a frying pan and add dough one ladle at a time. Brown until golden on both sides. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and eat warm. Variation: Add chopped fruit (apples, pears, cherries) to the dough before frying. Strawberry CoolerIngredients:
Mush well-cleaned strawberries with a fork and mix with sugar and lemon juice to taste. Cover and chill. Before serving, stir in cold milk as desired. If desired, you may stir in ½ cup of whipped cream.
 cschmidtke@rocketmail.com
 [Back to Carsten Schmidtke's Homepage]
|
