German
Deutsche Küche
Bread, sausage, potatoes, cabbage and mustard, cooked differently in every Land and eaten with beer or wine depending on which side of the Main you stand.
A cuisine of preservation first: rye bread, smoked pork, cured sausage and fermented cabbage got northern Europe through winter long before refrigeration. The potato arrived in the 18th century and took over the plate. The 19th century brought the bourgeois Sunday roast and the Konditorei; the 20th brought the Imbiss, currywurst and the döner. Reunification did not merge the regional kitchens, and nobody wanted it to.
Sour and savoury rather than hot: vinegar marinades, sauerkraut, mustard, pickles and caraway against the richness of pork fat and butter. Starches are serious, from pretzels and dense breads to dumplings and spätzle. Gravies are brown and plentiful. Sweet things are for the afternoon, with coffee, and are built on yeast, cream, fruit and chocolate rather than sugar alone.
Countries and regions
Bavaria and Swabia · Rhineland · Northern Germany · Saxony and Thuringia
Dishes 8
- 75 hr 30 min
Sauerbraten
German pot roast marinated for three days in vinegar, wine and spice, braised slow, with a sweet-sour raisin gravy.
GermanyMedium
- 2 hr 10 min
Rinderrouladen
German beef rolls filled with mustard, bacon, onion and gherkin, braised until the meat gives and the pot makes its own gravy.
GermanyMedium
- 55 min
Käsespätzle
Swabian egg noodles layered hot with Emmentaler and mountain cheese and buried under slow-fried onions.
GermanyEasy
- 35 min
Currywurst
Berlin snack-stand sausage sliced into coins under a cooked curry-ketchup sauce and a dusting of curry powder.
GermanyVery easy
- 55 min
Bratwurst with sauerkraut
Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut
Slow-fried German sausages on sauerkraut braised with onion, apple, juniper, caraway and a splash of white wine.
GermanyEasy
- 1 hr 10 min
German potato salad
Schwäbischer Kartoffelsalat
Swabian potato salad: warm waxy potato slices dressed with hot stock, vinegar and mustard, then oil and chives. No mayonnaise.
GermanyEasy
- 2 hr 38 min
Laugenbrezel
Soft German pretzels: a firm butter dough twisted, dipped in an alkaline bath and baked dark, with coarse salt on the belly.
GermanyMedium
- 5 hr 35 min
Black Forest gateau
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
Chocolate sponge soaked in kirsch, layered with whipped cream and sour cherries, finished with chocolate shavings and more cherries.
GermanyA bit of work