The Germans and Their Food (VERY LONG!)
Victor Sack
By Erwin Seitz
Many believe our earthly life is the only one we have, and we should
therefore enjoy it to the full. Michel de Montaigne was one of the first
modern literary figures of the 16th century who thought so. In
opposition to Augustinian Christian doctrine that regarded life on earth
as sinful and of secondary importance, he wrote in his Essais (Essays)
in 1580: "Being contemptuous of our life is ludicrous. Indeed, life is
our whole essence, our everything."
Montaigne developed a personal style that made an art of living. He
regarded food, drink, clothing and housing as more than mere basic needs
and imparted to them a cultural importance.
Traveling through southern Germany in 1580, he was astonished by the
prosperity that reigned in the cities at that time. He enjoyed the
cultivated hospitality shown to travelers, appraising it even more
highly than France's. "Regarding what is served at the table, they
prepare food with such care and introduce such variety into soups,
sauces and salads, and everything is cooked in such a tasty way at good
taverns that the cuisine of the French aristocracy can hardly be
compared to it," he wrote.
Indeed, the 16th century art of cooking in the free imperial towns of
Cologne, Nuremberg and Augsburg had European ranking. Patricians had
branches of business in Antwerp, Lisbon, Venice and Krakow, influences
that turned domestic cooking into a downright "crossover cuisine."
Renaissance era cookbooks written by Sabine and Philippine Welser,
members of a prominent Augsburger merchant family, contained recipes for
such dishes as a Polish sauce for pike, English cake and oysters. The
Fugger family, another mercantile and banking dynasty from Augsburg,
grew artichokes in its greenhouses.
But the open-minded culture of the German upper middle class was lost
during the Thirty Years' War. Old business connections disintegrated,
the free imperial towns stopped growing, horizons narrowed, and Germany
became impoverished. At best, a refined way of life, based on the
Versailles model, unfolded at royal courts during the 17th and 18th
centuries, but it excluded the bourgeoisie. Once writers and thinkers,
even Prussian kings, discovered there was primarily falsity and
extravagance behind the exterior of royal refinement, Germans remained
skeptical of this lifestyle. Virtue and morals were praised; food and
drink were once again viewed as basic needs.
Occasionally, someone like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was able to
balance between the worlds of aristocracy and bourgeoisie. Of similar
mind to Montaigne, Goethe appreciated a well-set table and was a
generous host. German author Karl von Holtei noted, "Delicately written
and personally signed cards invited one to Goethe's midday meal, on
average once a week but sometimes more frequently, where eight to 10
persons would gather; from time to time to help mortify a stranger whose
presence was unavoidable, but usually to spend a few free and amusing
hours over a well-prepared, simple meal and very good wine."
In 1825, at about the same time, Karl Friedrich von Rumohr, aristocrat
and literary figure, wrote the laudable book, Geist der Kochkunst (The
Spirit of Culinary Art). He favored lighter methods of cooking and
encouraged the appreciation of food's true and unadulterated flavor.
Although Rumohr does sound a bit strict and moralistic now and then, it
is as if one were reading a manifesto of modern, contemporary culinary
art. Characteristically, the book had little influence on German
cooking.
In his Geschichte der deutschen Literatur (History of German Literature)
from 1839-40, author Heinrich Laube even reprimanded Rumohr for
"equipping the lowest pair of senses, smell and taste with artistic
standards." In contrast, the French venerated their gastronome,
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who chatted wittily about the erotic
effect of fish and truffles in his Physiologie du Goût (Physiology of
Taste), which was published in 1828.
Not until the end of the 19th century did Germany regain the prosperity
it enjoyed before the Thirty Years' War. Berlin, in particular,
blossomed from a provincial royal residence into a European metropolis.
Its new grand hotels, the Kaiserhof, the Bristol and the Adlon, offered
hospitality comparable to that found in Paris and London.
When author Theodor Fontane celebrated his 70th birthday in 1889 in
Berlin, he ate "salmon trout, beef tenderloin with vegetables, venison,
pheasant, salads and stewed fruits, frozen tangerines with icy meringue,
Mikado ice cream, Viennese glacée and cheese rolls." An 1875 Latour and
an 1884 Margaux accompanied the meal, as did Hochheimer and Rüdesheimer
wines. Elegant Berlin was familiar with the finest of foods and the best
French and German wines.
Still, the capital's appreciation of gourmet cuisine was two-faced.
Fontane made note of nouveau riche conformism to bourgeois ideals. Even
at court, a strange relationship to good food prevailed. According to
author and art historian Max Rapsilber, Emperor Wilhelm II once said
after a banquet at the Adlon Hotel, "Dinner was good, but what pleased
me most was the discipline with which it was made."
Diners did not yet understand that the refined way of life could be
enjoyed informally. The emperor used discipline and the emotional pull
of patriotism to lead the Germans into a world war, which impoverished
the country once again. As if that were not enough, Adolf Hitler also
tried to overwhelm the real and metaphysical deficiencies of a modern,
secular world with militarism and a state religion, instead of enjoying
a civilized way of life.
More than ever, the Germans were forced to regard food and drink as
basic needs during the world wars and postwar era. The socialist system
in East Germany after 1945 clung to the idea of an authoritarian state,
stifling the development of gourmet cuisine. Meanwhile, prosperous times
in the 1950s and 1960s changed the situation in West Germany.
The Tantris restaurant opened in Munich in 1971 with Eckhart Witzigmann
in the kitchen, a chef who in the course of his career would
significantly contribute to improving German cuisine. He had trained
with great French cooks, such as Paul Haeberlin and Paul Bocuse and
introduced to Germany the idea of nouvelle cuisine -- fresh, good
quality produce cooked to perfection and served with light sauces that
did not drown the fine taste of fish and meat.
French influence was followed by Italian, Asian and Californian
influences. The range of food on offer expanded greatly, and today many
cooks prepare the same crossover cuisine that was once regular fare for
Augsburg's merchant families.
However, improved gastronomy and more diversity in food preparation is
just half of Germany's gourmet cuisine story. Family meals eaten
together, traditionally prepared at home from fresh ingredients, are
becoming rare. Few young women or men know how to cook unless it is a
hobby, and they have learned from cookbooks.
Many people prepare only ready-to-serve meals and have gotten used to
their artificial taste. In his enlightening book, Die Suppe Lügt , (The
Soup Deceives), Hans-Ulrich Grimm writes: "Artificial aroma is the
leading substance of modern food production. Industrial products in
supermarkets would be inedible and impossible to sell without the
addition of mysterious little powders and juices."
But even natural food has become more tasteless and watery in past
decades. As people learned during times of need, food shopping meant
paying more attention to prices than to taste and digestibility. Farmers
felt forced to find profits in mass production and gave their animals
cheap industrial feed and growth promoters. A farmer who was paid DM2
($0.97) per kilo (2.2 pounds) of pork in 1970 still received the same
amount in the year 2000 although the cost of living had risen many times
over.
In a countermovement, organic farm products have cornered only 2 percent
of the market to date. Laws governing organic farming specify that no
chemical pesticides, artificial fertilizers or chemical measures to
treat animals are to be used and that animals are to be kept and fed in
a way appropriate to the species. Thus, plants and animals grow more
slowly, are less watery and more enriched with good-tasting and
digestible nutrients.
First-class winegrowers, on the other hand, have proven that a mixture
of conventional agriculture and organic ideas can also yield delicious
and edible products. They use a limited amount of chemical pesticides
and care for the soil and grapevines by hand. Consumers are prepared to
pay a little more for good wine because it immediately beguiles the
senses, whereas more art and leisure are needed in order to enjoy the
fine taste of vegetables, fish or meat to their fullest.
But there is barely time enough to stop and think matters over. Where
once the church held the nation's attention, it is now the economy that
does, and the Germans have an international reputation for being good
economists. Every evening, millions of people sit in front of their
televisions, watching commercials and stock price reports as if they
were attending a daily church service. Words like rationalization,
optimization and price cuts have become part of many people's daily
prayers.
As never before, small farms, butcher shops, bakeries and breweries are
folding up because they can no longer compete with corporations
producing industrial food with artificial flavoring. The stock market
views these food giants as "bearers of hope," while advertisements
proclaim these products are innovative and highly nutritious. Most bread
rolls in Germany are now manufactured at a few single locations and
roads are improved to distribute them, increasing truck traffic, noise
and environmental pollution.
While Italy and France export well-known delicacies such as Parma ham or
Bresse chicken, Germany exports discount supermarkets to its neighbors.
Excellent German cuisine is a reality only when supplied with good,
fresh produce by wholesalers like Rungis Express in Meckenheim near
Bonn, which indeed imports 95 percent of its goods.
George W. Kastner, the firm's manager and co-owner, complains that
German farmers, instead of first being concerned about offering good
quality produce, are interested only in guaranteed purchase. In
contrast, Havelland Express, a regional competitor in Berlin since 1992,
buys nearly 40 percent of its product range from Brandenburg,
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, encouraging local
farmers to produce quality goods.
Restaurants in Berlin offer both Rungis Express' French Pauilac lamb and
Havelland Express' Heidemoor lamb from the Müritz farm. This fusion of
international and regional cuisine stimulates the palate and is
delicious.
It makes sense to underline the regional origin of special products like
Schwäbisch Hall quality pork. Thanks to an initiative by the Schwäbisch
Hall Farmers' Produce Association, the European Union gave protected
status in 1998 to a traditional breed of pig whose meat, marbled with
aromatic fat, is flavorful and fine-grained. Breeders are obliged to
keep and feed the animals in a way appropriate to the species.
Unfortunately, such examples are rare. German farmers should have the
courage to produce quality goods, and consumers should be willing to pay
a bit more for them. The government's task is to promote both global and
regional food production cycles as well as to support moderate
conventional agriculture and the expansion of organic farming.
The media should pay more attention to those farmers and food
distributors genuinely concerned with food quality. The best cooks and
winegrowers are rated and lauded in numerous publications and television
appearances, but no one knows Germany's farmers. Has German moderator
and television cook, Alfred Biolek, ever invited a farmer to his show?
Germany will have reached the center of civilized Europe once gourmet
cuisine has firmly found its place here.
Jan. 23, 2001
© Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2000
DJKathyA or John
"Victor Sack" <sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de> wrote in message
news:1entliy.106qth8iq7my4N%sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de...
> The Germans and Their Food
Umm...talk about "Chapter One... I am born."!
Do you have the Monarch Notes for this?
As I would have said in high school..."Do we gotta know this for a test or
somptin?"
Cheers! DJKathyA :0)
Stefanie Freeston
Victor Sack wrote in message
<1entliy.106qth8iq7my4N%sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de>...
> The Germans and Their Food
>
> By Erwin Seitz
>
>Many people prepare only ready-to-serve meals and have gotten used to
>their artificial taste. In his enlightening book, Die Suppe Lügt , (The
>Soup Deceives), Hans-Ulrich Grimm writes: "Artificial aroma is the
>leading substance of modern food production. Industrial products in
>supermarkets would be inedible and impossible to sell without the
>addition of mysterious little powders and juices."
>
>But even natural food has become more tasteless and watery in past
>decades. As people learned during times of need, food shopping meant
>paying more attention to prices than to taste and digestibility. Farmers
>felt forced to find profits in mass production and gave their animals
>
>As never before, small farms, butcher shops, bakeries and breweries are
>folding up because they can no longer compete with corporations
>producing industrial food with artificial flavoring. The stock market
>views these food giants as "bearers of hope," while advertisements
>proclaim these products are innovative and highly nutritious. Most bread
>rolls in Germany are now manufactured at a few single locations and
>roads are improved to distribute them, increasing truck traffic, noise
>and environmental pollution.
Hello Victor, thanks for typing this text, so what's your take on the
article?
Personally I do believe the trend is towards quick, easy meals, but
worldwide not only in Germany.
We always bought bread daily at the bakery and meat at the butcher ect, as
has and still does everyone else I know. Of course price matters and I don't
care if I buy no frills aluminum foil ect, but quality still matters in
regards to fresh produce. I am certain, if the 'market' was 'better', most
people would choose quality. (I am quite convinced, that people would buy a
cucumber/tomato which tastes like one, rather than water, if they could).
Mind you, I've haven't been back in 8 1/2 years and the social arrangements
were still 'ok' then, so it's possible, that I am out of touch.
Regards Stefanie
The Reids
> The Germans and Their Food
>
> By Erwin Seitz
How do you see German food? The nearest I have been is Austria. My
probably completly false impression is one of concern for food purity,
but cooking being mainly large, plain meals, is there any truth in
this?
Assuming not, what should I look out for?
--
Mike Reid
Hill quiz, books, shareware, photography,Wasdale, inversions at:-
"http://www.fellwalk.co.uk"
Spain, walking, food & books at:-
"http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Christian Gross
wrote:
>Following up to Victor Sack :
>
>> The Germans and Their Food
>>
>> By Erwin Seitz
>
>How do you see German food? The nearest I have been is Austria. My
>probably completly false impression is one of concern for food purity,
>but cooking being mainly large, plain meals, is there any truth in
>this?
>Assuming not, what should I look out for?
Well you know it really depends on which region. For example where I
was born (Rheinland-pfalz) German food is basically identical to the
French Alsace region. But if you move east to Bavaria or North to
Hamburg the cusine changes quite a bit.
Germans tend to be food purists, which is true. For example consider
now that BSE in Germany has been found. Beef sales have basically
dropped to ZERO. In contrast in France where there is BSE people
still buy beef. To me German cusine is not bad, but something you do
have to get used to. My wife (French Canadian) generally is not a
fan, but there are things she likes.
What the German cusine excels in are desert cakes and breads. In my
opinion nobody makes better bread or desert cakes. Again this
something my wife had to get used to. For example in Germany it is
very customary to eat cake first and then about an hour or two later
have a meal.
Christian Gross
Melba's Jammin'
<SokS...@cshore.com> wrote:
> "Victor Sack" <sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de> wrote in message
> news:1entliy.106qth8iq7my4N%sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de...
> > The Germans and Their Food
> <snipped>
(snip)
> As I would have said in high school..."Do we gotta know this for a test or
> somptin?"
> Cheers! DJKathyA :0)
Look at it this way: The post actually has to do with F-O-O-D!
Not with cats or sites where you can find names for them, not with the
beliefs of the members of the NRA, not with the personal pecadilloes of
our most recent former president, not with glass ceilings (real or
perceived), not with what does or does not constitute a properly cast
election vote, and not with interpretations of what does or does not
qualify as Christian belief.
The three other posts I'm presently seeing on my screen, follow-ups to
Victor's initial post, actually have something to do with food, and look
like food for stimulating ON-topic discussion.
Here's a dessert-table recipe:
{ Exported from MasterCook Mac }
Cheesecake Bites
Recipe By:
Serving Size: 150
Preparation Time: 0:00
Categories: Desserts
Amount Measure Ingredient Preparation Method
Crust:
3/4 cup butter or margarine softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups walnut pieces coarsely ground
Filling:
24 oz. cream cheese softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. finely grated orange rind
3 large eggs
Topping:
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
Blueberries raspberries, or
slivers of strawberries
Crust: Heat oven to 350°. With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar.
Add flour and nuts; mix to blend thoroughly. Press dough onto bottom of
10x15² jelly roll pan (bottom only). Bake 10 minutes; remove to a rack
to cool.
Filling: With electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and
orange rind until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until mixture is
blended thoroughly. Spread filling evenly over crust. Return to oven
and bake 20 minutes. Top will look set but center will be creamy.
Remove to wire rack and cool 5 minutes while preparing topping.
Topping: Stir together sour cream and sugar. Spread mixture carefully
and evenly over cheesecake with a rubber spatula. Return to oven and
bake 5 minutes more. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Refrigerate before
cutting to chill completely. Cut cheesecakes into 1-inch squares and
decorate each piece with a berry.
Makes 150 squares.
‹‹‹‹‹
Notes: Source: C&H Sugar bag, Summer, 1995. Have not made.
Per serving (excluding unknown items): 44 Calories; 3g Fat (65% calories
from fat); 1g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 13mg Cholesterol; 26mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 1/2 Fat
_____
Barb
"Are we going to measure, or are we going to cook?" --Mimi Sheraton
Curly Sue
<Christi...@yahoo.de> wrote:
>What the German cusine excels in are desert cakes and breads. In my
>opinion nobody makes better bread or desert cakes. Again this
>something my wife had to get used to. For example in Germany it is
>very customary to eat cake first and then about an hour or two later
>have a meal.
I like that approach!
I agree about the cakes being great (I didn't sample much of the bread
while I visited). Yum!
OTOH, I stayed in a suburb of Frankfort and the 1 or 2 grocery stores
I was in didn't have much in the way of nice produce. That kind of
struck me And there seemed to be a lot of really big containers of
dehydrated parmesan. Maybe there was a sale on it that week :>
Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!
sue at interport dotnet
Christian Gross
>I like that approach!
It takes getting used because many people fill themselves with cakes
and have no room for the meal.
>OTOH, I stayed in a suburb of Frankfort and the 1 or 2 grocery stores
>I was in didn't have much in the way of nice produce. That kind of
>struck me And there seemed to be a lot of really big containers of
>dehydrated parmesan. Maybe there was a sale on it that week :>
>
Fresh fruit and vegetables are generally not good in the grocery
store. What you have to do is go to the on the road fruit and
vegetable stands that are scattered throughout Germany. These stands
go up in the morning and leave at night. Here you can find REALLY
good fruits and vegetables. For example I was just in Munich and got
some FRESH dates that have NO DEHYDRATION. They were fabulous.
Christian Gross
Stefanie Freeston
The Reids wrote in message <3bm27t48npc094gfd...@4ax.com>...
>Following up to Victor Sack :
>
>> The Germans and Their Food
>>
>> By Erwin Seitz
>
>How do you see German food? The nearest I have been is Austria. My
>probably completly false impression is one of concern for food purity,
>but cooking being mainly large, plain meals, is there any truth in
>this?
>Assuming not, what should I look out for?
>--
porkhog with bread dumplings. My kiwi husband described the food as good
quality and heavy. Instead of the cake before meals as Christian mentioned,
we have a meal time called 'Brotzeit' (from about 3.30 pm to 6 pm), which is
mainly sausages, cooked, fried or raw smoked, open sandwiches, sausage
salads ect. Famous German dishes are : Sauerbraten, potato pancakes,
Spaetzle, Kassler, Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte (black forest gateau) and
Brezen (pretzels). Bavarian food is pretty close to the Austrian, with an
influence of Hungarian food. Goulash (and Szekeley sp?) is eaten as often as
rouladen. I agree with Christian about the bread, but
find Austrian cakes equally good as the German ones. A lot of foods are
dressed in a marinade of onions, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper, like cheese,
headcheese (brawn), sausages, leberkaese ect. German sausages mustn't
contain more than 25% fat. A lot of flour based meals are often eaten as a
main, eg. pancakes. Acctually your assumption was quite correct, except the
meals aren't necessary plain imo.
Regards Stefanie
Victor Sack
> How do you see German food? The nearest I have been is Austria. My
> probably completly false impression is one of concern for food purity,
> but cooking being mainly large, plain meals, is there any truth in
> this?
> Assuming not, what should I look out for?
What Christian said - the cooking is regional, even if not quite so
diverse as, say, in Italy, India, or China.
There is indeed a lot of concern for food purity, often irrational and
sometimes slipping into hysterics.
The cooking tends to be heavy, though not necessarily plain. Still, the
food is sometimes very good, with myriad of sausages, blood pudding,
sauerkraut, red cabbage, 'eintopf' dishes (hearty soups/stews), flour or
potato pancakes, dumplings, etc. Unlike Christian, I can't get
enthusiastic about cakes. In fact, those sweet, heavy, floury
concoctions are almost repulsive to me. I'll always prefer some French
dessert, such as an éclair or a millefeuille. Perhaps the only German
dessert I really like is Rote Grütze, a dish of tart red berries in a
creamy sauce, served cold. Still, take what I say with a grain of salt
- my sweet tooth is underdeveloped.
Of course, anyone coming to a large German city will find it also
teeming with a multitude of ethnic restaurants and groceries, some of
which can be very good.
Victor
Victor Sack
> Look at it this way: The post actually has to do with F-O-O-D!
> Not with cats or sites where you can find names for them, not with the
> beliefs of the members of the NRA, not with the personal pecadilloes of
> our most recent former president, not with glass ceilings (real or
> perceived), not with what does or does not constitute a properly cast
> election vote, and not with interpretations of what does or does not
> qualify as Christian belief.
Ah, but there are only about 400 messages on all those subjects so far.
I feel charitable today and notice that there are a bit fewer of them
than troll posts and that posting them to rfc is ever-so-slightly less
moronic.
Here's a recipe for Rote Grütze (literally, red groats). I think I
posted it before. It is from
<http://www.germany-info.org/newcontent/culture/c_1b_jun97.html>.
Victor
Now is the time to take advantage of all those fresh fruits and berries
coming into the markets. If you are looking for a refreshing dessert,
why not try this traditional north German dish. Rote Gruetze (the name
means red groats) is a delicious, chilled fruit stew.
Ingredients
1 quart strawberries
1 quart rasperries or 2 bags frozen mixed berries, 12 oz. each
1 pint blueberries
1 pound sour cherries, pitted (or the equivalent amount canned cherries)
1 large bottle (48 fl. oz.) red fruit juice e.g. cranberry or
cranberry/cherry
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
juice of half a lemon
dash of cinnamon
whole milk or half-and-half
Directions
1.Clean and prepare all fruit, removing stems. Place about two thirds of
the fruit in a large saucepan, reserving one third for later.
2.Pour juice into pan.
3.Slowly bring contents of the pan to a boil over medium heat.
4.Meanwhile, measure cornstarch into a small bowl and add a little cold
water to make a smooth liquid.
5.Remove the pan with the hot fruit mixture from the heat, add the
cornstarch mixture to the fruit in a thin stream, stirring constantly.
6.Return pan to a low heat, again stirring constantly, and bring back to
a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about one minute.
7.Add the remaining third of fruit, lemon juice and cinnamon to taste.
Stir well to mix, and allow to cool. The consistency should not be as
firm as jello or as runny as custard, but just that perfect point
between.
Transfer to a decorative bowl. Serve with a jug of cold milk or
half-and-half for pouring on the gruetze. Rote Gruetze is meant to be
quite tart, so please do not add any sugar; the milk makes it somewhat
milder.
And if you feel like having a small glass of Obstler or fruit schnaps to
go with it, who are we to argue?
Guten Appetit!
German Embassy
Victor Sack
> Victor Sack wrote in message
> <1entliy.106qth8iq7my4N%sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de>...
> > The Germans and Their Food
> >
> > By Erwin Seitz
>
> Hello Victor, thanks for typing this text,
Heh. Wouldn't dream of typing it - I'm a lousy typist. I swiped it off
the paper's site after spending a lot of time trying to find the article
- the site's search engine is a disaster. I'd have normally just posted
the URL, but it happened to be almost as long as the article...
> so what's your take on the
> article?
Rather interesting, especially what regards the history of cooking and
dining in Germany. Otherwise, there is little that can be called new or
original.
> Personally I do believe the trend is towards quick, easy meals, but
> worldwide not only in Germany.
I agree.
> We always bought bread daily at the bakery and meat at the butcher ect, as
> has and still does everyone else I know. Of course price matters and I don't
> care if I buy no frills aluminum foil ect, but quality still matters in
> regards to fresh produce. I am certain, if the 'market' was 'better', most
> people would choose quality. (I am quite convinced, that people would buy a
> cucumber/tomato which tastes like one, rather than water, if they could).
> Mind you, I've haven't been back in 8 1/2 years and the social arrangements
> were still 'ok' then, so it's possible, that I am out of touch.
It's largerly still the way you remember. Perhaps it is now still more
difficult to find really good meat and produce. Cucumbers and tomatoes
more often than not taste like water, especially when bought in
supermarkets and groceries. Still, one can often enough find good
produce in the markets. Finding a really good, well-hung, marbled steak
is very difficult indeed, at least in Düsseldorf.
Jean-Claude Bourgeil, the three-star chef here in Düsseldorf, once said
that no-one would willingly buy meat from the Düsseldorf or any other
German slaughterhouse - he imports his meat from France. On the other
hand, he cheerfully admits to taking his children to McDonald's
regularly and of eating there himself. He even said that he considers
it a snobbery to regard McDonald's as beyond the pale.
Victor
Victor Sack
> As I would have said in high school..."Do we gotta know this for a test or
> somptin?"
Yes, it was a rec.food.cooking test and you failed it. You have to take
a remedial course on alt.discuss.cooking (yes, it's a WebTV newsgroup).
Victor
Jack Schidt
>Unlike Christian, I can't get
> enthusiastic about cakes. In fact, those sweet, heavy,
floury
> concoctions are almost repulsive to me. I'll always
prefer some French
> dessert, such as an éclair or a millefeuille. Perhaps the
only German
> dessert I really like is Rote Grütze, a dish of tart red
berries in a
> creamy sauce, served cold. Still, take what I say with a
grain of salt
> - my sweet tooth is underdeveloped.
>
> Of course, anyone coming to a large German city will find
it also
> teeming with a multitude of ethnic restaurants and
groceries, some of
> which can be very good.
>
> Victor
hmmmm.....how about bienstich?
not a sweet tooth fanatic, but I love bienstich (not sure of
the spelling)
Jack Honey
Stefanie Freeston
Jack Schidt wrote in message ...
>
>hmmmm.....how about bienstich?
>
>not a sweet tooth fanatic, but I love bienstich (not sure of
>the spelling)
>
>
>Jack Honey
>
sweet, but then again I like sweet things. I prefer the cream filled variety
over the plain.
Regards, Stefanie
Shankar Bhattacharyya
Melba's Jammin' <barbsc...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>Look at it this way: The post actually has to do with F-O-O-D!
Yeah? Yeah? Well, why didn't Victor mark it "OT" then?
I mean, the gall of it.
- Shankar
Peter Dy
> Stefanie Freeston <an...@ihug.co.nz> wrote:
>
> > Victor Sack wrote in message
> > <1entliy.106qth8iq7my4N%sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de>...
> > > The Germans and Their Food
> > >
> > > By Erwin Seitz
> >
> > Hello Victor, thanks for typing this text,
>
> Heh. Wouldn't dream of typing it - I'm a lousy typist. I swiped it off
> the paper's site after spending a lot of time trying to find the article
> - the site's search engine is a disaster. I'd have normally just posted
> the URL, but it happened to be almost as long as the article...
I'd like to thank you for the article as well! So, does FAZ have a German
site? I've looked but never found much. I did find a little site with
selected English translations of some articles. But is there a German
language edition with more or less the complete paper?
>
> > so what's your take on the
> > article?
>
> Rather interesting, especially what regards the history of cooking and
> dining in Germany. Otherwise, there is little that can be called new or
> original.
Yeah, I'd agree. I was surprised, though, since they were mentioning German
authors who like food, that they didn't mention Günther Grass...
Thanks again.
Peter
[...]
Victor Sack
> hmmmm.....how about bienstich?
Yeah, I certainly wouldn't call Bienenstich repulsive, though I wouldn't
go out of my way to find it. A still tastier variation on the theme is
Windbeutel, a kind of cream puff.
Victor
Victor Sack
> I'd like to thank you for the article as well! So, does FAZ have a German
> site? I've looked but never found much. I did find a little site with
> selected English translations of some articles. But is there a German
> language edition with more or less the complete paper?
Yes, they've been offering a German Web version since a couple of weeks,
too. It's at <http://www.faz.de>.
Victor
Peter Dy
Thanks, Victor. Looks nice.
Peter
The Reids
> Acctually your assumption was quite correct, except the
>meals aren't necessary plain imo.
>Regards Stefanie
I'm certainly a Goulash fan. We found the meals large in Austria too.
Eventually we found a "nouvelle cuinine" type place and had two
managable courses, so we decided to order the special dessert, it was
Saltzberger Knocklen (sp?) and although very good, was the size of
Grosglockner !
Carmen Bartels
Especially if you fill the Windbeutel with whipped cream flavoured with
egg liquor and sprinkle chocolate shaves over it.
Carmen,
who will have to make Windbeutel herself one of this days
--
Carmen Bartels elfgar@OSB, elfgar@Xyllomer
ca...@squirrel.han.de caba@irc
Christine Ashby
Jack Schidt <jack.schidt@attdotnet> wrote in message
news:scuc6.888$r%.51079@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> hmmmm.....how about bienstich?
>
> not a sweet tooth fanatic, but I love bienstich (not sure of
> the spelling)
Australians will mangle the name of anything. Here it's often referred to as
"bee sting". which is no altogether inappropriate!
Christine
Victor Sack
> On Sat, 27 Jan 2001 07:10:50 +0100, sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de (Victor
> Sack) wrote:
>
> >. Still, one can often enough find good
> >produce in the markets. Finding a really good, well-hung, marbled steak
> >is very difficult indeed, at least in Düsseldorf.
>
> Victor, I think that is not quite fair. You can buy very good stuff at
> the Karlplatz.
Yes, there are some very nice stalls at the market, especially Jean
Luc's with his French cheese selection and other French stuff, and
Kräuterhexe with the herbs and Monschau mustard. But as to meat, I've
never been impressed with the two or three stalls that sell it.
> There is also a very nice "Gourmet market" in Neuss,
> which sells to private citizens as well as to restaurants.
Never been there. Do they sell meat, too? Can one park in the
vicinity? This always seems to be a problem in Neuss...
> However, if what you are looking for is a T-bone steak, I agree that
> is hard to find anywhere in Germany...
I'd be satisfied with a good rump steak. In Metro, of all places, they
used to sell very nicely marbled ones a few years ago, before the BSE
scare. The steaks were British.
> >Jean-Claude Bourgeil, the three-star chef here in Düsseldorf,
>
> one of them...
Who else is there with three stars in Düsseldorf? The nearest one who
deserves them - more than Bourgeil certainly - is Dieter Kaufmann in
Grevenbroich, but he only has two...
> > once said
> >that no-one would willingly buy meat from the Düsseldorf or any other
> >German slaughterhouse - he imports his meat from France.
>
> Most restaurants get their stuff from Rungis Express because it offers
> them consistent service and quantity. But it is going too far to say
> that nobody would willingly buy from German slaughterhoses.
Well, that's what Bourgueil said. Myself, I certainly would - and do -
buy from that slaughterhouse, considering that a lot of meat at the
butcher's and the markets comes from there. Speaking of butchers, I
like Schlösser in the Oststrasse.
Victor
Martha Hughes
Carmen Bartels <ca...@squirrel.han.de> wrote in message
news:G7wCF...@squirrel.han.de...
> Victor Sack <sa...@uni-duesseldorf.de> wrote:
> > "Jack Schidt" <jack.schidt@attdotnet> wrote:
> >
> >> hmmmm.....how about bienstich?
> >
> > Yeah, I certainly wouldn't call Bienenstich repulsive, though I wouldn't
> > go out of my way to find it. A still tastier variation on the theme is
> > Windbeutel, a kind of cream puff.
> >
>
> Especially if you fill the Windbeutel with whipped cream flavoured with
> egg liquor and sprinkle chocolate shaves over it.
>
> Carmen,
> who will have to make Windbeutel herself one of this days
If you go a bit farther north, you'll find the very best pastries in
Denmark.