The Kitchen Project is an Amazon affiliate.
I receive a small commission from sales
from the Amazon Product Links on all the pages from The Kitchen Project
The Mystery of the Christmas Goose
Maybe give it a try this year?
A Virtual Walk through German Christmas Markets
I thought it would be fun to take an "Armchair Tour' through the Christmas Markets in Germany.
Since I can't do this in the physical sense, I thought I would do this in a virtual tour.
Every city and every region has their specialties and uniqueness.
Each has their culture their food specialties that gvie them a unique
personality.
You can watch this on your TV if you download the youtube app
Here are instructions.
Nuremberg is home to the world-renowned Christkindlesmarkt,
famous for its traditional wooden stalls, "
Little Town from Wood and Cloth" nickname,
and stringent rules ensuring only traditional handmade goods are sold.
The History of the Nuremberg Market:
From Fairs to Fairytales
The story of the Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt is one of remarkable transformation, tracing its roots through three distinct eras in German history:
Phase 1: The Medieval Winter Fairs
The Nuremberg Market can be traced back to practical medieval winter fairs in the German lands. These gatherings were held mainly so people could stock up on fur, non-perishable food items, and other essential supplies for the upcoming cold season. It was less about celebration and more about survival.
We are going to visit Essinger
a medieval town
near Stuttgart that preserves it's medieval heritage.
In late November and through most of December they
host a medieval Christmas festival. THe Video above will be a fun walk through,
complete with costumes and wood stalls.
It would be similar to the Christmas markets in Nuremberg.
This shows some of the medieval things that may have been served at
the markets at that time.
This is Stockbrot or Stickbread, basically dough baked on a stick that is fun to walk around
with. It can be seasoned with either savory seasonings or Sweet and chocolate ones.
Other things served are Veal Goulash, Grillfalken (rustic meat skewers) Roasted Chestnuts. and Mulled wine.
Since this was pre Christian the entertainment and mood was festive with
Jugglers and
Phase 2:
Belsnickel
The Religious Era of Saint Nicholas
During the era of the Holy Roman Empire, the Church began organizing these fairs around religious feast days. The gatherings turned into a religious celebration where Saint Nicholas was the central theme, and gifts were traditionally given on his feast day, December 6th.
St Nick and Krampus
During this time a good santa bad santa was created,
Krampus for the catholic religion that was a horned beast and Belsnickel or Knecht Rupert for the Protestants.
Phase 3: The Birth of the Christkind
The elected Christkind of 2025 in the Nuremberg Market
The most pivotal shift came during the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther wanted to move the focus away from the Catholic veneration of saints (like St. Nicholas) and center the holiday purely on Christ.
Introduction of the concept of the "Christkind"
(Christ Child) as the new, generic gift-bringer on Christmas Eve.
Over time, this abstract idea of the baby Jesus evolved into the specific, cultural icon we see today. The community decided to embody the Christkind as a young girl dressed as an angel, complete with a tall golden crown.
This "Angel Queen" now literally looks over the market from the church balcony, welcoming everyone and symbolizing the spirit of the season.
Postcard of the Christmas Market
Let's Enter the Nuremberg (Nürnberg) Market
for a Virtual Tour
Below is a video of the Nuremberg Christmas Market in 2025
This is a video with a nice short walk through the Nuremberg Market
This video focuses on the Nuremberger and some of the Food Spcecialties
One of the specialties unique to Niurnberger
Drei em Weggla
3 small Nurberger bratwurst on a roll.
Nuremberg Bratwurst is small like American link sausate with casings.
The history of why they are so small is fun
from their website
The size and content of these marjoram-flavored pork sausages was first set down in 1497. A true Nuremberg Rostbratwurst is seven to nine centimeters long and weighs up to 20 - 25 grams. According to legend they had to fit through the key holes of the city gates – and, after opening hours, through the key holes of pub doors.
This is a longer walk (2 hours) through the Nuremberger Market and
one that you can put on and be in the background as
you do something else.
Thumbprint Cookies
or
(Husarenkrapfen)
My friend Richard said he was making Husarenkrapfen Cookies, so
I had to look it up. Ohhhh Thumbprint cookies which my grandma made as well.
Charlene Sich sent me this recipe, it is very similar to my grandmother's recipe
except that we put the Jam in at the first of the baking.
In Charlene's method you bake them without the jelly
and keep pressing the dent in so you get a nice impression that doesn't bake out.
I wanted to research ...Why this weird strange name, that
doesn't sound appetizing.
So I pressed into this name as you do the dough for the jelly,
and found that "the Hussars" were an elite calvary, complete with fancy uniforms on special horses,
and a pastry was often named after a famous person or military. Like the Bismark, ore Prince Regent Torte,
or Christstollen.
Now the Krapfen was even more disturbing. I didn't sound like a sweet treat.
When you hear Krapfen, it was an old German word for curve, bent, we get the words Kramp and Grip.
It is not just the word for cookie, but also a round donut.
so I think it was something
to do with the shape being similar to a fist. holding some Jelly, but that is Just my thought. I will always view it like this. I just didn't want to think of the move as crap, so I think of it "As a fist full of good pastry and Jelly."
I got this recipe from Charlene Sich
which is like my grandma's but you bake the cookies without the jelly first
you get a deeper impression.
“Of all the German Christmas cookies I have made, I have done the most experimenting on the Springerle. They are actually very easy and quick to mix, roll out, stamp, and cut. Since I was never able to watch Grandma make the cookies, I just had ask my Dad about all the little steps that Grandma took from start to finish. I also had to go through trial and error to find my mistakes.
There are many discussion groups on this cookie,
and I don't know exacty why this one over others
But a resurgence of the tradition is happening today.
.
Springerle was invented in the 15th century in Swabia as "edible greeting cards" and tokens of affection. These intricate, anise-flavored biscuits originated as a luxury for the wealthy, used to announce significant life events like births, weddings, and betrothals
This is a picture of a medieval Springerle
mold
Early molds often depicted biblical scenes to educate those who could not read, while later designs shifted toward romantic imagery like flowers and landscapes. The name itself, meaning "little jumper" or "little knight," likely refers to the popular motif of a leaping horse or the way the dough "springs up" during baking.
This tradition was so deeply cherished that German immigrants frequently made room in their limited luggage for their heavy wooden molds, ensuring the legacy of these festive treats would endure in their new American homes.
These are from my grandma over 100 years old.
You can find them for sale also, as these
were prized and carried over by immigrants
from Germany
at the turn of the century.
I think a lot of us that are German-American or married to a German-American and even perhaps if you are German and any other like Australian, or South American have never cooked a Goose for the holidays nor would they even think of it.
It is a real German tradition, for hundreds of years and why a goose and not a turkey or chicken?
Well after studying the whole "Goose Thing" I have become a goose believer.
I definitely want some for our farm, and will cook them from time to time
but I probably won't get a "Goose Tatoo" like some of our ancestors.
"The Martinmas or Michaelmas roast goose is actually the perpetuation of the ceremonies of Celtic Samhain or Hallowe'en and Germanic Yule, originally the first day of the New Year, now our 1st November. Van Gennep, writing on French folklore, reminds us that it was a good occasion for feasting on tender geese that had must been fattened. Originally roast goose was a thank-offering for the harvest that had been gathered in, the Erntedankfest or harvest home, a sacrifice first to the spirit of vegetation, the to the gods of Odin and Thor.
The goose, ritually eaten, magically ensured the regeneration in the months to come of nature as she went underground for the winter, precisely parallel to the Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone by the lord of the underworld...The great feasts of Samhain-All Saints' and St. Martin's Day on 11th November were thus rituals uniting the assembled company of the living with the spirits of the dead...During the Renaissance the tradition of eating goose on All Saints' Day was still widely observed..."
--- History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes and Noble Books: New York] 1992 (p. 352-3)
Were they just Mythological symbols
or did they have other talents?
Geese have some amazing talents one of which is to forage. So after a harvest they would forage for the droppings left, such as wheat. So by November or December they were nicely fattened and a perfect choice for a Christmas bird.
But also they were great protectors like guard dogs. The Romans and Greeks and then Europeans used geese to protect crops and farm animals and I read in one place even NASA used them to protect their launch pads.
They seem to be very smart animals, at least their are a lot of reports of geese doing amazing things. they apparently will carry a rock in their mouths when in a flock and in an area where there are precieved enemies so they will keep their normal yapping at bay.
They fly in flocks that are V shapped to get more distance in a day.
One author noted that a goose with it's long neck could turn a riotissere with just the use of it's neck like an arm would. They noted that the goose would need a drink now and then.
Why Cook a
Goose on Christmas?
I think that if you want to infuse some German into your Christmas dinner that a goose is a good way to feel the many hundreds of years that this has been a part of German Christmas Dinners.
my grandma Emma (left)with her brother and sister
back in Germany
the old family farm house in Steinsfurt, Germany
My grandma use to herd the Geese on the family farm in Steinsfurt, Germany to an island in the river for them to forage during the day and play with the other geese.
In the late afternoon she would go to the small island again and the geese knew she was there and would separate from all the other geese to follow her back home.
My dad remembers during the fall when Emma and her sisters were grown and here in America, they would grab a nice fatted goose
and sometimes one sister would hold the goose and another would hold the head and then a third would cut off the head, all still while wearing dresses. That was the traditional daily style back then.
Martinmas like Christmas
Martinmas or St Martin's Day
which is celebrated on Nov 11 for the saintly man St Martin from Tours who demonstrated modesty and kindness to the poor. For hundreds of years it became a tradition of serving a goose for dinner like a turkey is roasted in the United States for Thanksgiving.
There are several theories how this tradition came to be, but one is about St Martin himself.
Martin of tours was a high ranking soldier in the Roman army, that left his high postion to serve god. He bacame well known as a man that helped the poor maybe in some ways like Mother Theresa. He was a role model and so the church wanted to make him a Bishop in the Catholic Church but he didn't want that kind of noteriety.
A painting of Martin leaving the high position of a Roman soldier
St Martin and the Goose Debacle
Martin was loved and when the Catholic leaders wanted to make him a Bishop, he did not feel he should be given this position as he was a modest man. So he hid in a place inahabited by geese which was a bad idea knowing that geese can't keep their yaps shut so it was easy for the church leaders to find where he was hiding.
Since then it was a ordained that a goose would be traditional to serve on the centuries old
pagan holiday harvest day aroud November 11. A perfect choice also because the Goose is at is perect fattiness in November and it was also a rule to fast between November 11 to Dec 25, where the fast would be broken by celebrating with another delicous fatted goose for the feast.
Statue of St Martin cutting his cloak in 2 to give to a cold stranger.
at the Höchster Schloss (Castle) in Frankfurt Germany
Queen Elizabeth the first was a big fan. When she was told about the destruction of the Spanish Armada, it was September 29, the Feast of Saint Michael, or Michaelmas, and she was dining on roast goose with sage and onion stuffing. She decreed that thereafter goose was to be served on this day in celebration.
Our Cookbook of the Recipes and Stories
of my
German Grandma
Recipes from a German Grandma
A recipe book and short biography of my Grandmother Emma Block. Her recipes, culture and cooking styles that were brought over from Germany. How they evolved when she came to America in the early 1900s and settled in Portland, Oregon on the west coast of the United States. Over 100 recipes
...tells the story of my grandma, Emma Block, growing up in a little town in Baden/ Würtemberg, Germany near Heidelberg named Steinsfurt. Then at the age of 15 immigrating to the United States, taking a train with one of her sisters and brothers to Hamburg and sailing the Atlantic with other hope filled Germans wanting to make a life in the "New World". It was not easy but with good values learned in her German upbringing made a full life, had a wonderful family with lots of fun and celebration including the great German meals.
Through modern technology we can enjoy music from Germany at the touch of your computer, there are many venues now, Pandora, Amazon music, and Youtube is free.
I love my noise canceling headphones that are completely wireless and give incredible sound!
Die Wildecker Herzbuben - Die Fischerin vom Bodensee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karin Elliot born and raised in Germany
is a chef and wonderful friend giving me encouragement through the years here and donated her recipes for our newsletter. She also does wonderful volunteer work like providing meals for school children in need in Tuscon, Arizona.
Many German-Americans and German immigrants are interested in Native American items from books and movies to jewelry and arts and craft supplies. Karin will take care of you personally with her online store Native Rainbows
\
