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Marzipan

Marzipan

Marzipan is a confection consisting primarily of sugar or honey and almond meal (ground almonds), sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract.

It is often made into sweets. Common uses are chocolate-covered marzipan and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It can also used in biscuits or rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes, primarily birthday, wedding cakes and Christmas cakes.

Although it is believed to have originated in Persia (present-day Iran) and to have been introduced to Europe through the Turks, there is some dispute between Hungary and Italy over its origin. Marzipan became a specialty of the Baltic Sea region of Germany. In particular, the city of Lübeck has a proud tradition of marzipan manufacture (Lübecker Marzipan).

Since the 18th century, confectioners in Lübeck have used almond paste to produce the finest marzipan.

Once the indulgence of kings, it’s now available to everyone, and no trip to the Hanseatic city would be complete without a taste of the treat, and a visit to the attractions honoring it.

Normally when people produced marzipan in the Middle Ages, they put a lot of sugar in, and only a few almonds. By contrast, confectioners here in Lübeck said they would like to produce marzipan with a lot of almonds and only a little sugar. In the end it’s that which helped Lübeck become the main center of marzipan in the world.

The famous marzipan manufacturer Niederegger has played a key role in the history of Lübeck’s marzipan. Its main branch opened in 1806 next to the city’s attractive Rathaus (Town Hall), at the center of the beautiful Unesco-listed Old Town. It’s still there today, and the top level of the building features a free museum, the Marzipan Salon. Niederegger still guarantee their marzipan to contain two-thirds almonds by weight, which results in a juicy, bright yellow product of highest quality. Historically, the city of Königsberg in East Prussia was also renowned for its distinctive marzipan production. Königsberg marzipan remains a special type of marzipan in Germany that is golden brown on its surface and sometimes embedded with marmalade at its center.

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The Not-So-German Chocolate Cake (Traditional Recipe)

The Not-So-German Chocolate Cake (Traditional Recipe)

Where does German Chocolate Cake come from? Is Germany its motherland? Or …? There are many questions like these, and as many guesses. However, the truth is that German Chocolate Cake is an American creation.

German Chocolate Cake

German cooking is famous for its complexity and extravagance in choosing the ingredients. Therefore such a rich dish as German Chocolate Cake might perfectly fit into German cuisine. Yet it was not brought (as is sometimes reported) to the American Midwest by German immigrants. The cake took its name from an American with the last name of “German.” In 1852, Sam German created the mild dark baking chocolate bar for Baker’s Chocolate Co. The product was named in his honor – “Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate.” In most recipes and products today, the apostrophe and the “s” have been dropped, thus giving the false hint as for the chocolate’s origin.

The first published recipe for German’s chocolate cake showed up in a Dallas newspaper in 1957 and came from a Texas homemaker. The cake quickly gained popularity and its recipe together with the mouth-watering photos were spread all over the country. America fell in love with German Chocolate cake. No wonder: its superb chocolate taste conquers you at first bite!

German Chocolate Cake Recipes

Ever since the first recipe of German Chocolate Cake was published in 1957, there have been created a number of different versions of its cooking. Here is my favorite recipe:

Ingredients:
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

1/2 cup German sweet chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Cooking:
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Melt chocolate in boiling water. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add egg yolks, vanilla, and chocolate. Add dry ingredients
alternately with buttermilk. Fold in egg whites. Pour into three pans, lined on bottoms with wax paper. Bake at 200 degrees C for 30-35 minutes. Frost tops with Coconut Pecan Frosting, leaving sides unfrosted.

Coconut Pecan Filling and Frosting:
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

1 cup evaporated sweetened milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Combine all ingredients except for coconut and pecans in a saucepan. Stir in coconut and pecans. Let cool down.




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Mahlzeit!- German Food

Mahlzeit!- German Food

Mahlzeit-German-FoodThinking of German food and cuisine as of a mix of Bier+Wurst+Kraut+Knoedel would be an unforgivable simplification of this very fine cultural tradition. What would you say to Forellenmousse, Preiselbeertorte, Bayerischer Wurstsalat, or even Tiramisu! Germans appreciate healthy, well-prepared foods served with care. Everyone who loves to have a good substantial meal will be impressed by German way of cooking. Just remember those smiling pink-cheeked faces of exemplary robust German boys and girls pictured on the ads of foods!
In Germany the price of your meal already includes the taxes and the tip. However if you enjoyed a fine meal and a not too bad service (you probably won’t find the same great service as in the US) you should add a little bit extra to the bill (pay 15 Euros instead of 14.20). If you are a student or do not earn money by your own, you can go without tipping. Moreover, it is regular to round up the amount payable (pay 5 Euros instead of 4.90).

There are hundreds and even thousands of different dishes and beverages many of which are typical only to some German regions. And sure, you are not likely to find them in any other country than Germany. These reasons make it worth to get acquainted with specific German foods, and first of all … in order to taste them. To start your virtual Mahlzeit, go to the German Food page whisking you into the tasty world of German pies, salads, main dishes, desserts, fish- and meat dishes, what not! The page is about to be enough to get to know all you ever wanted to know about the issue. Still, there is a variety of further ways to investigate it. Try the links below (you’d better take your computer to the kitchen!):

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Black Forest Cake – Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Black Forest Cake – Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

black-forest-cake
Enjoy this gorgeous cherry-chocolate cake

This great-looking Black Forest Cake is originally called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. As for me, the name itself is as juicy and delicious as the cake itself! It’s not at all difficult to bake, so carefully study the recipe below, put on your sexy apron, and get started!

Black Forest Cake Recipe:

Ingredients:
===============

DOUGH:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (butter-) milk
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Schwarzwaelder Kirschwasser (I used home-made cherry liquor)

FILLING:
1 cup sugar powder
1 pinch salt
1 can (0.5 liter) pitted cherries, drained
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon kirschwasser

TOPPING
1 square semisweet chocolate, or remaining crumbs

Baking:
==========

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the bottoms of two 8 inch round pans with parchment paper circles (since I didn’t have such paper, I just greased the pans). Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture, alternating with milk, beat until combined.
Pour into 2 round 8 inch pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove paper (if any) from under the cakes. Cut each layer in half, horizontally, making 4 layers total (as you can see from my picture, I chose not to cut the layers because they looked too fragile to cut them). Sprinkle layers with 1/2 cup Kirschwasser.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream to stiff peaks. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1 tablespoon Kirschwasser. Add sugar powder, and a pinch of salt. Beat again. Spread first layer of cake with 1/3 of the filling (use 1/2 of the filling if you have only 2 layers instead of 4). Top with 1/3 (2/3) of the cherries. Repeat with the remaining layer(s).

Frost top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with chocolate curls made by using a potato peeler on semisweet baking chocolate. Or you can use the remaining crumbs to sprinkle the sides of your Black Forest Cake.

Now, get your cup of tea or coffee, and Guten Appetit!



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German Food

German Food

german-foodWhat comes to mind when you think about German cuisine? Right, Sauerkraut and Bratwurst, Black Forest Cherry cake and beer, lots and lots of German beer.

However that would be a huge generalization and simplification, because nowadays things have changed towards lighter cooking, reviving of the regional cuisines in Germany. German appreciation of healthy, well-prepared foods served with care is well known. Everyone who loves to have a good meal will be impressed by German cooking.

Though traditional dishes like dumplings, Wurst, pastries, and beer may make Germany seem the worst possible place to eat healthily, in reality, restaurants are offering foreign foods and neue Küche (modern cuisine). Chefs trained in Switzerland, France, or Italy return to Germany to open Continental restaurants, and Italians and Turks, many of whom originally came to Germany as “guest workers,” own restaurants featuring their own culinary traditions. There are a lot of differences in cooking traditions with corned beef, potatoes, beet roots, herring, eel soup in the north and Spargel, Braten, Spätzle and Brotzeit, a late breakfast with those wonderful brown breads and Wurst, in the south.

Germans favor hearty meals including meat, such as pork, beef and poultry, in that order of popularity. The average person in Germany consumes up to 72 pounds of meat a year. Meat is usually pot-roasted and consumed as sausages. There are more than 1500 different types of sausage in Germany.

Breakfast (Frühstück) commonly consists of bread, toast, and/or bread rolls (the term for which varies a lot by region, Brötchen, Semmeln, Schrippen, Wecken or Rundstücke being among the most common) with jam (“Marmelade” or “Konfitüre”), marmalade or honey, eggs, and strong coffee or tea (milk, cocoa or juice for children). Deli meats, such as ham, salted meats and salami, are also commonly eaten on bread in the morning, as are various cheeses. A variety of meat-based spreads such as Leberwurst (literally liver-sausage) can be found during breakfast as well.

Traditionally, the main meal of the day has been lunch (Mittagessen), eaten around noon. Dinner (Abendessen or Abendbrot) was always a smaller meal, often consisting only of a variety of breads, meat or sausages, cheese and some kind of vegetables, similar to breakfast, or possibly sandwiches. However, in Germany, as in other parts of Europe, dining habits have changed over the last 50 years. Today, many people eat only a small meal in the middle of the working day at work and enjoy a dinner in the evening at home with the whole family.

spargelVegetables are often eaten in stews or vegetable soups, but can also be served as a side dish. Carrots, turnips, spinach, peas, beans, and many types of cabbage are very common. Fried onions are a common addition to many meat dishes throughout the country. Potatoes, while a major part of the diet, are usually not counted among vegetables by Germans. Asparagus, especially white asparagus known as Spargel, is particularly enjoyed in Germany as a side dish or as a main meal. Sometimes restaurants will even devote an entire menu to nothing but Spargel, when it is the right season (late spring).

The other kind of side dish, noodles, are usually thicker than Italian pasta. Especially in the south-western part of the country, the predominant variety of noodles is Spätzle which contain a very large amount of yolk. Besides noodles, potatoes and dumplings (Klöße or Knödel) are very common, especially in the south. Potatoes are most often served boiled in salt water, but mashed and fried potatoes also are traditional, and french fries have now become very common.

Speaking of beverages, we must mention beer and wine. Beer is very common throughout all parts of Germany, with many local and regional breweries producing a wide variety of beers. It is generally not very expensive and of good quality. For variety and quality, German beer is unequaled. The world’s oldest brewery is in Bavaria, but other regions in Germany have proud beer-making traditions. Export beers and the rather more bitter Pils, the most popular type of beer, are also produced in Berlin, Hamburg, the Ruhr, Hesse, and Stuttgart. Altbier, a very early product of the brewer’s art, can be found today all over Germany.

Good German wine is renowned for its natural lightness and its delicate balance of sweetness and acidity. Most vineyards flourish on steep hillsides, protected from harsh winds by wooded neighboring hills, especially on the banks of the Rhine and the Mosel rivers and their tributaries. The vineyards profit from the warmth reflected off the sunlit water. The slow maturing of the grapes gives German wines their typical fresh, fruity acidity.

german-chocolate-cakeA wide variety of cakes are prepared throughout Germany, most commonly made with fresh fruit. Apples, plums, strawberries, and cherries are used regularly on cakes. Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cake) is another very well-known cake. German doughnuts (which have no hole) are usually balls of dough with jam or other fillings inside, and are known as Berliner or Krapfen depending on the region. German Chocolate Cake is a layered chocolate cake filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. This cake is actually not a traditional German dessert, despite its name. The original recipe was sent by a homemaker in 1957 to a newspaper in Texas. It used Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate, which was created in 1852 by an Englishman named Samuel German for the Baker’s chocolate brand. The apostrophe was accidentally dropped in subsequent publications, creating the German Chocolate Cake we know today.

Bread is a big part of the German diet, and usually eaten for breakfast and as sandwiches in the evening, rarely as a side dish for the main meal. The importance of bread (Brot) in German cuisine is also illustrated by words such as Abendbrot (supper, literally Evening Bread) and Brotzeit (snack, literally Bread Time). In fact, one of the major complaints of German expatriates in many parts of the world is their inability to find acceptable local breads. German bakeries produce about 6,000 types of breads and approximately 1,200 different types of pastry.

Bread is served with almost every (non-main)-meal. Bread is not considered a side dish and is considered important for a healthy diet.

Germany’s most popular breads are:

  1. Rye-wheat (“Roggenmischbrot”)
  2. Toast bread (“Toastbrot”)
  3. Whole-grain (“Vollkornbrot”)
  4. Wheat-rye (“Weizenmischbrot”)
  5. White bread (“Weißbrot”)
  6. Multi-grain (“Mehrkornbrot”)
  7. Rye (“Roggenbrot”)
  8. Sunflower seed (“Sonnenblumenkernbrot”)
  9. Pumpkin seed (“Kürbiskernbrot”)
  10. Onion bread (“Zwiebelbrot”)

Darker, rye-dominated breads such as Vollkornbrot or Schwarzbrot are typical of German cuisine. Pumpernickel, a steamed bread, is internationally well-known, although not representative of German black bread as a whole.

There are hundreds of different dishes and beverages many of which are typical only to some German regions. You are not likely to find many of these dishes in any other country than Germany. From well-known favorites to regional surprises, find a wealth of German recipes here.



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How to Taste German Beer

How to Taste German Beer

how-to-taste-beerPractical advice on how to get to the bottom of a beer stein without losing a bit of the rich taste of German beer.

Difficulty Level: Average

Time Required: 20 min

Here’s How:

  1. Choose your favorite kind of beer, or the kind mostly advised by your friend.
  2. Open the bottle.
  3. While pouring the beer into the glass, listen to the mild sound of the flowing beer and the soft noise of escaping carbonic acid.
  4. Enjoy the vesicles rising up and over the glass and building into a gorgeous foam crown.
  5. Inhale the full bouquet of the beer flavor.
  6. And now ….. take the first desired sip.
  7. Taste all beer ingredients: the grain, the hop, the water and the yeast.
  8. Feel your first impression gradually develop as the beer covers your tongue from the tip to the root.
  9. Define the unique taste of your beer with the aftertaste remaining on the tongue.
  10. You will be surprised to find a variety of different taste nuances — all in only one beer!

Tips:

  1. Take only large AND clean glasses for beer-testing.
  2. Don’t swallow immediately — wash the beer around the tongue in order to let each part of it feel the taste.
  3. Don’t worry at the sight of turbid beer: turbidity is the brand name of some beers like Wiess, Kraeusen, and others.





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German Beer – the Absolutely German Drink

German Beer – the Absolutely German Drink

beer_glasses
According to a representative survey, beer is a German’s favorite drink. 79% of German adults drink beer regularly. 67% of German women and 91% of German men drink beer at least once a month. Germany has over 1,200 breweries, which produce the largest variety of beer styles in the world.


The Germans are known to the whole world as a true beer-loving nation. And there is no exaggeration here! The “hops – barley – water – yeast” blend is not that simple as it may seem at first sight. The natural components together with minerals and vitamins make the drink special. Beer has been a regular and important component of the daily diet of all population groups for several thousand of years.

german-beer-history
Beer’s history dates back to prehistoric ancient times when the Sumarians discovered the fermentation process (about 6000 years ago). Babylonians and Egyptians developed the art of brewing beer, and passed it to Romans who considered it to be a barbarian drink. The Teutons, the ancient Germans, regarded beer as a sacrifice to the gods. They started producing the first proof beer in the early Hallstatt Period (about 800 B.C.). In the Middle Ages beer brewing turned into a favorite occupation of monks who served it with their meals.

The art of brewing beer owes much to monasteries where it was developed scientifically. Then began the flavoring of beer, first in Brabant monasteries, which gave the Brabant king, Gambrinus, the title of patron saint of beer.

Reinheitsgebot
The German beer industry is regulated by the “German Beer Purity Law” (Reinheitsgebot). This law, first created on April 23, 1516, by the Bavarian co-rulers Duke Wilhelm IV and Duke Ludwig X, is designed to keep German beer pure, natural, and free from unhealthy and cheap ingredients. The law states that lager beer must be made only from barley malt, hops, yeast and water. Spices, corn, rice, sugar, unmalted grains, chemical additives, or stabilizers are not permitted ingredients for lagers. Brewers have a little more flexibility when it comes to ale beers- this is to accomodate Germany’s ancient barley-based ale and wheat-based ale traditions. German ales may contain to barley malt, hops, yeast, water, other malted grains (such as wheat, rye, spelt), sugars, and coloring agents derived from sugar.

We cannot underestimate the role of beer nowadays. The process of brewing has experienced immense progress, and the beer itself has certainly changed. It is amazing how many beer types are produced today in German breweries!

Besides its outstanding peculiar taste, beer is also highly estimated as an economic factor.

Germany is the country where beer is greatly praised and served everywhere. So Germans are virtually doomed to enjoy it. And nobody doubts it!




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Eggs in Frankfurter Green Sauce

Eggs in Frankfurter Green Sauce

eggs_in_frankfurt_green_sauce

Ingredients:
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

5 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
5 oz plain yogurt
5 oz sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped herbs (e.g. watercress, chives, sorrel, parsley, chervil etc)
1 garlic clove
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon German prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch sugar
1 pickled German gherkin
1 onion

Cooking:
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

  1. Peel the hard-boiled eggs, cut in half, remove the yolk and mash it with the oil. Add the yogurt and sour cream.
  2. Finely chop the fresh herbs.
  3. Peel and crush the garlic clove and mix together with the herbs, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar.
  4. Finely chop the egg yolk and gherkin.
  5. Peel and grate the onion and mix the remaining ingredients together.
  6. Serve with hard-boiled eggs.




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