Tucked away in an old journal I found a few browned pages that I hand copied from my Oma’s recipe drawer. She always took a short nap after lunch, so naturally, I took the opportunity to grab a few recipes that otherwise might have been lost. (Before you judge… I did get Oma approval. I think she reasoned that the…
Category: German Foods and Recipes
Raspberry Streusel Cheesecake Recipe- Himbeer Käse Streuselkuchen
After tasting an amazing Himbeer Käse Streuselkuchen in Berlin, I spent three years working on the exact recipe for this German Raspberry Cheesecake with Streusel Recipe. (Not continuously). For a while, I felt like Captain Ahab, certain that White Whale could be found in fresh berries and streusel. Why did it take so long? Well, I certainly wasn’t baking this…
German Celery Root Salad Recipe- Selleriesalat
The first time I went through the supermarket check out with a Celeriac knob (Celery root), the cashier looked at it in horror. WHAT IS THAT? To be fair, you won’t find Celery Root gracing the cover of “Beautiful Vegetable Monthly”. (Frankly, the thing looks like a Turnip’s ugly cousin.) Still, when prepared properly, like in this German Celery Root…
German Beer Day- Celebrating the Reinheitsgebot of 1516
April 23rd is German Beer Day! (Isn’t every day German Beer Day?) This auspicious date celebrates the signing of the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law) of 1516. Bavarian Duke William IV decreed that beer could only contain Barley, Hops, and Water (the importance of yeast still hadn’t been worked out). Now over 500 years old, it’s one of…
German Green Bean Salad Recipe – Grüner Bohnensalat
I think my mother must have prepared this Green Bean Salad Recipe (Grüner Bohnensalat) at least a few times a month… and maybe even weekly during the summer. Come to think of it, these green beans arrived on the table at Oma’s house quite often too. Why? It’s a simple recipe that tastes good. Better yet, you can easily make…
German Beet Salad – Rote Beete Salat for your Salatteller
As a child I considered beets to be incredibly deceptive. The color of my mother’s Rote Beete Salat looked like garnets, and edible jewels should taste of magic. But instead, German Beet Salad tasted like, well… beets. Still, like I always told my kids, when you grow up, your tongue changes, and things that you once ran from now taste…
Oma’s Simple Salad with Creamy German Salad Dressing
My Oma often served a side salad of Feld Salat with her Creamy German Salad Dressing as a side dish to the warm midday meal. The dressing may seem unusual, since it contains heavy cream and sugar, but somehow the combination with oil, vinegar, and diced onion works. When I was a rotten child I picked out the onions and…
Schinken Käse Eier Salat Recipe- German Ham Cheese Egg Salad
German meat and cheese salads sometimes confuse people. How can meat and cheese be a SALAD? It just is. (Think Chicken Salad, but without the chicken and celery.) There with so many different versions, you can pick a favorite or sample them all. I got this recipe for Schinken Käse Eier Salat (Ham Cheese Egg salad) comes from a friend…
German Easter Candy and Sweets to Fill Your Easter Basket
When I was young, we looked forward to receiving packages from my Opa a few times a year. Brown paper wrapped packages, tied up with string (actually twine… but Julie Andrews never mentions twine in her song). They came at Christmas (in the odd year he didn’t visit), our Birthdays, and Easter. After Mama carefully untied the knots and saved…
Vanilla Sauce Recipe – Vanillesoße – the Perfect Dessert Topping!
Vanillesoße is the little black dress of sauces. Honestly, it just goes with every dessert or Nachtisch… it softens the tartness of Rote Gruetze, gives an added dimension to Apfelstrudel, and it magically transforms boring chocolate pudding to a fancy dessert. My Oma always kept packets of instant Vanillesoße in her “packet drawer” (you know the one… it had packets…