I hope you had a wonderful week.
It is labor day weekend here in the United States so we always think about BBQ weather permitting.
I heard this week there is frost warnings in some places in Minnesota already!
Einzi Johnson sent me a wonderful recipe for German Hamburgers so I thought I would pass this along to you!
It has been a hard week of catching up and I want to give a special thank you for all that have written to me. I am sorry that it takes me a while to get back. I appreciate so much all your recipes, comments, favorite German restaurants, and sharing your tidbits of your family heritage with me. ...
Turn on some of the music if you want and browse the German recipes and goodies..
This was a fun recipe that I thought might be fun for Labor day Weekend
Last week Betsy asked about a German Hamburger
they use to get at the Castle Tavern one of their favorite restaurants,
that was so 'Scrumptious!'
Einzi Johnson who grew up in Germany sent me their favorite hamburger recipe that is called Frikadellen or Buletten (in Berlin) in Germany.
My wife has been watching calories closely these last few years and she was hungry for a real honest to goodness burger. This recipe came in handy as we modified it bit and she could eat it and it was very low in calories. It was so good she had one later on in the week again.
Since the Frikadellen or Buletten recipe uses ground pork, we decided to grind our own pork tenderloin which is very low in fat and we used a 4 % fat Hamburger. (called minced beef everywhere else in the world except the US.)
Now as all burger lovers know a 4 % fat hamburger would never hold together on the grill to cook. It would fall apart. Usually a 20% fat makes the best patty for the BBQ in my experience. However this recipe uses eggs and soaked bread, so it held together beautifully!
She could have a nice big juicy one also and not just a little "flat as a pancake" slider,
My wife Judy also does a website that shares the recipes that we do that are low in calories.
Last week some of you wondered about the picture of me grilling Angel Food Cake on the BBQ. It wasn't a result of too much good German beer, Another weight friendly recipe from my wife's that is really outstanding! It tastes a bit like cotton candy and is also low in calories
Here is the recipe for, Grilled Angel Food Cake with Strawberries
She has a nice daily newsletter also if your interesed in her healthy calorie friendly recipes. Sign up here
I was impressed with this recipe because it was simple and a nice twist to a spätzle (means little sparrow) or Knoephla ( means little knob) which are very similar.
Ann Sanchez writes ....my mother, Dorothy Wendel, was born in 1916 in Syracuse , NY of German ancestry. We believe the family was originally from Bavaria . This recipe was handed down to her from her mother. She often said the recipe was unknown outside the area her family was from.
All the recipes I've seen over a search of several years, have the knoephles in soup. I was surprised to see this, as that was not the way it was served at our house.
Hot Bacon Dressing and German Potato Salad Comments from Last Week
Adding Hard Boiled Egg Slices...
I was glad to see the recipe for the bacon dressing. My mother also used fresh baby spinach to make it. However, in these neck of the woods there is very little if any water added. The spinach wilts from the heat of the dressing which is applied hot and tossed. Not at all soupy.It would be topped off with diced hard boiled eggs.
Melissa Fitzkee
In PA Dutch Country
Feldsalat mit Speck.
Speck is similar to bacon and is sold in Germany.
Chef Henrike from Frankfurt says that they make this salad very simple. Feldsalat is a lettuce that is similar to Lamb's Ear lettuce or Corn lettuce.
First a simple dressing of oil and vinegar and seasoning and the bacon is cut into strips, fried and then sprinkled on after the lettuce is tossed only with a light amount of dressing. The salad should have a fluffy appearance and then you sprinkle chives and parsley on top.
German Potato and Endive Salad
Stephen, we have the German potato salad summer winter and spring! We love it! AND the hot bacon dressing is sooooo good. We like it over endive. Sometimes we just make a meal of cooked salt water potatoes with the Hot Bacon dressing and endive over the potatoes. These have been family favorites for years. My don`t we germans eat good!!
Sharon Bookhammer
Grandma Jacob's Potato Salad
Arlys Jacob's mother-in-law, from Germany , although, born in Hungary , made a potato salad there that was cold but similar to the German style potato salad. This was a family favorite so Arlys now continues to make it for the family. She shared the recipe with me so I wanted to pass it along.
Arrly's writes;
She would boil her potatoes half way, Pour the water out, cover and put back on the stove until they finished cooking. They would be nice and firm - not mushy. She would slice them very thin, the thinner the better.
She would dice up some onion and put into a bowl with oil. She would let that sit until the onions got a little soft.
Then she would take the seasoning packet from the box of Lipton chicken noodle soup and put it in a cup with some water and heat in the microwave. She would pour that over the potatoes, add the onions and oil, and some white vinegar. Mix it up to taste. Add more oil or vinegar according to the amount of potatoes she had made. She would top the salad off with some chives.
I learned how to make this potato salad from her. It took me several times of making it to get it to taste like hers. My husband likes the salad a bit more tart than the rest of our family. If I make it for just he and I, I will eat it more tart to his liking. I prefer it less tart though.
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Last week Melissa asked for a Garlic cream soup they had in Germany.
Barb Rokitka sent this wonderful looking recipe in.
knoblauchcremesuppe
Serves two multiply as desired
This garlic soup is not overpoweringly garlicy, so don't be scared. It's mild and mellow and creamily seductive. Try it, you'll like it.
3 tbs unsalted butter
10 cloves garlic
1/4 cup sifted flour
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup chicken (or vegetable) stock
2 tbs chopped parsley, plus additional for garnish
2 slices crusty bread
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, preferably with a rounded bottom (easier for whisking). Keep the butter on a low heat and add the garlic, finely minced or squeezed through a garlic press. Sauté gradually, on low heat, making sure the garlic does not brown.
When the garlic has softened (5-10 minutes), begin whisking in the flour so that it forms a thick paste. Add the milk, in a slow stream, whisking constantly (standard roux technique). When the milk has been fully incorporated, begin whisking in the chicken stock. Allow the soup to bubble and thicken, and add more stock if needed.
Chop the parsley and stir into the soup. Cut the bread into medium cubes and toast in an oven or toaster oven. Garnish with extra parsley and the bread cubes (you could use pre-made croutons, but I prefer toasted bread as it is a bit more chewy).
A word of warning for those, like me, who play lose and fast with recipes and might be tempted to skip the parsley—don’t. Trust me on this one, it’s just not as good without it.
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Here is a nice recipe from Sylvia Norris.....
I still haven't gotten around to making her sauerkraut lasagna, but I look forward to making this and showing you soon!
Macaroni Sauerkraut Salad
1 6-1/2 ounce can tuna, drained
3 cups cooked macaroni
1 cup Steinfeld's Sauerkraut, drained
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup diced cheese
1/4 cup diced green pepper
2 teaspoon grated onion
1/4 cup dill pickle, diced
Salt and pepper
Salad dressing or mayonnaise
Prepared mustard
Serve on a lettuce leaf for lunch.
Mix all ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste. Moisten with salad dressing or mayonnaise and prepared mustard
I want to thank all of you that took the time to send in German restaurant reviews.
These are all really neat looking German dining establishments and I would bet a Deutch mark or Zwei that they are all family owned , and that the owners are not absentee owners. I like that kind of dedication so I am fantasizing this awesome road trip someday soon.
Thanks to Linda, Sylvia Norris, Bill Dolan, Janet, Susan Perosi, Liz Buckley, Dorothy Black, and Lynda Outen.
I order from the German Deli more frequently than ever.
I try to get in bulk to make the shipping dollars count.
Also there are sales all the time I like to take advantage of.
They are nice folks. If you don't believe me call them.
and tell them Stephen Block sent you from the German Goodies Newsletter.
Our Retail Store has moved!
Our new and improved retail store is now open in Colleyville!
The address: 5100 State Hwy 121 Colleyville, TX 76034
(817) 354-8101
Hours of operation:
Mon - Sat: 9am - 9pm
Sundays: 10am - 6pm
I really appreciate all of you that donate recipes, and help answer
folks requests. Most of the newsletter is based on what folks request and
what you donate. I love to research the recipe and then put it on here
for all to enjoy.
When you email the recipe to those that request please send the recipe to
me also at
stephen@kitchenproject.com
I have a request - do you know what the pumpernickel bread is called with raisins in and do you have a recipe for it or a bakery in the Illinois/Wisconsin border area of Lake Geneva, WI., that has it. Thank you.
My grandmother immigrated in the early 1900's from what was then Austria-Hungary. She grew up in Bavaria... ended up in Kansas. She made these wonderful crescent-shaped pastries/cookies. The process involved rolling the butter cookie dough to about 1/8", then folding and rolling the dough repeatedly (there was a specific number of times). She would, then, use the edge of a round cookie cutter to make crescent shapes from the dough. Once baked, they'd be sprinkled with sugar. The end product was a cookie less than an inch thick, with 365 tissue-thin, buttery layers. It was heaven!
She tried to train my mother and aunt to make these, but they tried and tried, even after her death, and weren't successful. The cookies tasted good, but the layers separated and fell apart. My mother and aunt are gone now, as well as the recipe. Some of us brave descendants would like to give it a shot. I'm not sure how to spell it, but they called it a butergrafel. We were told it meant "butter cookie". Can you help?
This is a famous German Folk song The Lorelei (also written as Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 metres above the water line. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.
One of the legends is that Lorelei, a beautiful young maiden, committed suicide because of an unfaithful lover. She jumped from the steep rock into the Rhine River, thus killing herself. She then became a siren, luring shipmen to their fates with her hypnotizing voice. The echoing heard today is said to be Lorelei
Die Lorelei The Lorelei
Heinrich Heine
ORIGINAL:
Ich weiß nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Daß ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl, und es dunkelt,
Un ruhig fließt der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
In Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar,
Ihr goldenes Geschmeide blitzet,
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
Und singt ein Leid dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewaltige Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer uns Kahn;
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
Die Lorelei getan.
TRANSLATION:
I don't know what it may signify
That I am so sad;
There's a tale from ancient times
That I can't get out of my mind.
The air is cool and the twilight is falling
and the Rhine is flowing quietly by;
the top of the mountain is glittering
in the evening sun.
The loveliest maiden is sitting
Up there, wondrous to tell.
Her golden jewelry sparkles
as she combs her golden hair
She combs it with a golden comb
and sings a song as she does,
A song with a peculiar,
powerful melody.
It seizes upon the boatman in his small boat
With unrestrained woe;
He does not look below to the rocky shoals,
He only looks up at the heights.
If I'm not mistaken, the waters
Finally swallowed up fisher and boat;
And with her singing
The Lorelei did this.
