A little long here the German met the was shared from Compuserve .
This file is one in a series of four. The main heading file is called
GERMN.TXT. It contains some general comments as well as vegetable
dishes and some miscellaneous recipes. I do suggest you take a look at
it.
The other two files are:
GESALA.TXT : Salads from lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, etc.
GESOUP.TXT : All kinds of soups, including peasoup and potato/barley.
F I S H D I S H E S
---------------------
This chapter is very short and does not include any recipes. Don't stop
reading though, this file does contain chicken, fowl, and meat dishes.
Back to the fishes:
My father loves fish dishes. My mother hates to cook fish. I think
there were two major reasons for her: She does not like fish, and she
despised the fish smell that penetrated the whole house when fish was
cooked. She liked only two kinds of fish, both not cooked, and those
she really loved: Lachs (smoked salmon) and smoked eel. Yes, eel. It is
delicious. My father ate mainly pickled or smoked herrings. Funny,
these are not cooked either!
There was basically only one fish dish that my mother reluctantly made,
and that because it is a tradition for New Year's Eve in our part of
the country. Many of you will flip: It's CARP!!
Admitted, carp is a bottom feeder and not very clean, but so is cat-
fish, and that one you can eat just about anywhere.
In Germany, carp is mainly grown commercially in clean ponds. The words
"Karpfenteich" and "Forellenteich" (carp pond and trout pond) are very
common terms, and also quite common features in the countryside.
The best carp is sold live - killed while you are there buying it. The
fish stores would have huge aquariums, in which the fish is left for
about a month so the last dirt is gone. Then you can pick the one you
want, they fish it out and kill it with a blow to the head with a
wooden mallet right there on the counter. You buy the fish the day you
want to fix it.
The traditional way of cooking it is "Blue". The fish is rinsed very
carefully, you don't want to remove the "slime" layer on the outside.
It is salted on the inside only, then set upright (using a large peeled
potato as a "stand") into a baking pan. Pour a hot mixture of water and
vinegar over the fish. Careful, when the fish is that fresh, it usually
starts to wiggle when you pour the hot stuff over it, though it had
been dead for a few hours.
Remove fish from pan, put a grate into the pan, a porcelain plate on
the grate, and the fish (with it's potato stand) upright on the porce-
lain plate. Bake in 390 degr. F. oven for about 50 minutes. It is done
when you can easily pull out the dorsal fin. Pour some melted butter
over the fish, and leave for another five minutes in the switched-off
oven. Serve immediately.
The hot vinegar water you pour over the fish, as well as the vinegar
steam in the oven combines with the "slime" on the carp's skin to make
a beautiful blue color. It looks gorgeous, the whole fish, head and
all, standing on the platter in the middle of the table. You peel off
the skin and remove the fresh, flaky, delicious meat piece by piece, as
you eat it.
M E A T D I S H E S
---------------------
BEEF GOULASH (RINDERGULASCH)
1 lb. Beef, for stew, lean, or cut-up roast, lean
1 to 2 Onion, large
4 Tbsp. Oil
1 to 2 Tbsp. Flour
2 cup Water
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
2 Tbsp. Paprika (or 4 inches paprika paste from a tube.
For explanation of paste from tubes, see
the "Potato Soup With Barley" recipe in
the Soups file GESOUP)
2 Tbsp. Tomato paste (or 4 inches from a tube)
4 inch Anchovy paste from a tube
1 Pickle, small, cut into small cubes
1 pinch Sugar
1 Tbsp. Corn starch
2 Tbsp. Sour Cream
Tabasco (to taste)
Heat oil in heavy skillet. Add beef cubes and brown (do not get too
done!) on all sides. Add onions and keep sauteing until transparent.
Sift flour over meat and onions, then keep browning stirring constantly
for about one more minute.
Add the water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hour.
Now add salt, pepper, paprika, tomato paste, anchovy paste, pickle and
sugar. Bring to a boil.
Dissolve corn starch in cold water, add, and bring to a rolling boil
again.
Take skillet off the burner, fold sour cream into the goulash, and
taste. Adjust seasonings. The goulash should be spicy-piquant. If
desired, round out with a few dashes of Tabasco.
This goulash is delicious over boiled potatoes, but also over noodles.
A salad (see the Boston Bibb Salad in the Salads file) WITH the meal
(not eaten before) is outstanding.
We had boiled potatoes about four out of five times (vs. noodles or
rice, etc.). They are easy to make, not very fattening, and supposed to
be good for you. Here's how my mother made them:
Peel and quarter as many potatoes as you need. Rinse, and put in a pot
with just enough water to cover. Add a little salt.
Cover, bring to a boil. Semi-covered, boil for about 18 to 20 minutes.
Test for doneness with a fork or knife.
Discard the water and serve immediately. May be sprinkled with some
parsley to add some color.
VARIATION
This goulash can also be made with pork. In that case, keep to the
recipe above, with the following two changes:
When adding the onions to the meat, add two peeled tomatoes and saute
with the meat and onions.
At the end, add 3 Tbsp. Madeira to the gravy.
PORK TENDERLOIN IN ARMAGNAC GRAVY (SCHWEINEFILET IN ARMAGNAC)
Armagnac is a Cognac (Brandy) made from wine grown in the region of
Armagnac, Gascony, in southern France.
This dish is made very quickly, and it is outstandingly delicious. Make
sure you have all ingredients handy and ready to go before starting,
and ensure that everyone is ready to eat the second you have finished.
If this dish cools before eating, it is by far not as delicious. Serve
with freshly baked-up french bread.
The prunes in this recipe must be soaked in Armagnac for several weeks
before making the dish. In Germany you can buy prunes marinated in
Armagnac, here you have to do it yourself. Buy dried prunes, put them
into a container that can be closed tightly, add Armagnac to cover,
close and let stand at room temperature (do not refrigerate) for seve-
ral weeks. As far as I know, the prunes in Armagnac will keep virtually
forever.
1 lb. Pork Tenderloin, all fat and muscle skin removed
15 Prunes in Armagnac (3 per person, plus 3 to cut up)
Butter
1 cup Cream (regular whipping cream)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1 Tbsp. Sugar
2 tsp. Corn starch
1 swig Armagnac, the stuff the prunes had marinated in
Cut the tenderloin into 1 inch thick slices.
Arrange on a plate and put a pat of butter on each slice.
After baking up the french bread, let the oven cool with door open,
then close again and leave on "warm" to pre-warm the dinner plates and
the serving plate.
Have all ingredients handy, open, and ready to use.
Cut up three of the prunes in armagnac into small pieces, discarding
the stones.
Mix corn starch with about 3 Tbsp. cold water.
Heat a heavy skillet (dry) on medium to medium-high burner.
Place all tenderloin slices, butter side down, into skillet.
Fry pork for exactly four minutes, then turn. The heat was correct if
the pork is nicely browned.
Wait three minutes, season pork inside skillet with pepper and salt
(top side only, do not turn again), fry one more minute, then remove
the pork and put on pre-warmed serving platter. Put platter with pork
back into warm oven.
Turn heat under skillet down to low to medium.
Add cut-up prunes and cream to skillet, stir with a wire whisk.
While the gravy is getting ready to boil, add some salt, pepper, the
sugar, and the corn starch/water mixture.
Keep stirring with the whisk and bring to a rolling boil. Add the whole
prunes in Armagnac.
Remove skillet from heat, add a swig of Armagnac, stir, taste and
adjust seasoning if necessary.
Now it's time to eat. Immediately. Distribute pork to dinner plates,
distribute the whole prunes, pour gravy evenly over the pork slices,
place the sliced french bread on the table, sit down and eat.
I am a huge fan of this dish. The mixture of pork, prunes, and Armagnac
give it an exquisite flavor. The french bread is perfect for mopping up
the gravy.
ROULADES (RINDSROULADEN)
Rouladen are made from totally lean beef, cut into thin, large slices.
You should let you butcher cut them for you from a large lean piece of
beef roast or a cut for loin steak. Figure one slice per person (= 1
Roulade per person), hungry people will be able to eat 1 1/2 or even 2
Rouladen. The slice should be as large as possible, and about 3/16"
thick. Each slice should weigh about four to five ounces. The slices
are typically cut on a machine usually used for coldcuts. I know it can
be a hassle to get beef slices like that, but it is worth the effort.
In this context, I would like to mention that there are still bakeries
and butcher shops abound in Germany. The population density over there
is about ten times the density in the United States. Also, the city-,
town-, and village-"scapes" developed way before the advent of the
automobile. That means that probably 95% of the population live within
a 5 to 10 minute walk to the next butcher shop, bakery, pharmacy, food
store, etc. That is probably why these relatively small stores and
shops survived, and are still thriving. You will also be able to find
the big "Supermarkt", a word assimilated from the English language, but
even those have people behind the meat counter, for instance, who can
give you special cuts, etc. They have to, in order to be competitive
from a service point of view. Fortunately, an ever growing number of
American supermarkets offer similar services nowadays.
The finished Rouladen should be about 5 inches long and 2 inches in
diameter.
Here's the recipe, sized for two portions, adjust accordingly.
2 slices Beef, lean, about 4 to 5 ozs. each
2 ozs. Bacon, cut into small pieces (cubes are ideal)
1 Onion, small
1 cup Water
Flour
1 Pickle, cut in half
Mustard, dry
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp. Oil or shortening
Paprika
Tomato paste
1 Tbsp. Sour cream
1 heaping tsp. Corn Starch
Spread out the beef slices and coat thinly on one side with the mus-
tard, then sprinkle some salt and pepper over them.
Arrange bacon and onion on half the slice, the half where you start
rolling them up.
Place half the pickle on the end where you start rolling up, and roll
the slice up jelly-roll fashion.
Secure the rolls with toothpick(s) or metal skewer(s), or tie with
string.
Roll the rolls through flour.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and brown the rouladen from all sides.
Add the water, cover with lid, and let simmer for about two hours.
Watch once in a while to make sure the pan does not dry up. Add water
if needed.
Remove rouladen and reserve on plate in oven set on "warm".
Stir up and loosen fond. Add as much water as you need to finish with
the amount of gravy you want.
Season with salt, pepper, paprika, tomato paste, and add sour cream.
Mix corn starch with 2 Tbsp. cold water, add to gravy.
Bring to a rolling boil, taste, adjust seasoning if necessary.
Serve with boiled potatoes or potato dumpling, and a vegetable, red
cabbage is best. Pour gravy over both the Rouladen and potatoes /
dumpling. Guten Appetit.
BREADED PORK CHOPS OR SCHNITZEL (PANIERTE KOTELETTS ODER SCHNITZEL)
The recipe and procedure for both kinds of meats are the same. The
cooking temperature, however, is important. You want to get the meat
done without overdoing it, and at the same time you want the breading
nice and brown, not burned, and not pale. Obviously, time and tempera-
ture are important. For a very thick pork chop, I heat the pan on
medium, put the chop(s) in, wait about 1/2 to 1 minute, turn the heat
down to low (sometimes below low: between warm and low), turn the chop
immediately, and then let it slowly fry for about 15 minutes, turning
it over about every five minutes. For a thin Schnitzel I heat the pan
the same way, but after about half a minute I turn the heat down to
medium-low, turn the Schnitzel over, and then let it fry for only about
six to eight minutes, turning it over about every two minutes.
Do not cover the pan. That will almost "boil" the meat, and tends to
make it tough. You may use a splatter shield, as long as it lets enough
air through. Use a little more oil than for usual (non-breaded) pan
frying, about 3 Tbsp. The breading will soak up some of the oil, and it
should to make a nice crunchy crust. If you have a lot of pieces in the
pan, and the oil is gone quickly, add just a little more to keep the
frying moist.
Pork chops are obviously pork, while Schnitzel can be either a thin
slice of pork, or, the "real" Schnitzel, a thin slice of veal. In both
cases, meat for Schnitzel needs to be very lean. For instance, the veal
some supermarkets sell as "Veal Scallopini" is good for Schnitzel.
In my opinion, a veal Schnitzel is better when the meat is pounded some
before preparation, because it breaks up the fibers and makes the final
product more tender. If the meat is too thick, I first pound it some on
a cutting board, then I place the meat between two sheets of wax paper
and "stretch" it (make it thinner and larger) with the smooth side of
the pounder.
Here's the recipe:
1 Dinner plate with bread crumbs (not flavored)
1 Dinner plate with one egg and 1 Tbsp. water,
slightly beaten
3 Tbsp. Oil
1 Sifter with some flour
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Prepare the meat as described above.
Heat frying pan with oil.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of meat.
Sprinkle flour with sifter over both sides of meat.
Immerse meat in egg/water mixture.
Put meat on plate with bread crumbs and coat from both sides.
Put meat into frying pan and fry until done (see above).
You can salt and pepper the meat and sprinkle the flour on a little
ahead of time, while the pan is heating, doing it to all pieces at the
same time. The following actions, however, should be done very quickly
and one piece of meat at a time. What I mean is: Take one piece of
meat, QUICKLY coat it with the egg mixture on both sides, QUICKLY coat
it with the bread crumbs, then QUICKLY drop it into the pan, then take
the next piece of meat and do the same, etc. To end up with the same
degree of doneness, start with the largest and thickest piece, and end
with the smallest and thinnest piece.
Breaded Schnitzel should be served with a slice of lemon on top. I
sometimes use some Paprika or Parsley sprinkled over the lemon, just
for the color. Before eating the Schnitzel, sprinkle a little lemon
juice all over. A lot of things go with Schnitzel, but I like french
fries or fried potatoes and green peas or red cabbage best.
SOURBRATEN (SAUERBRATEN)
1 1/2 to 2 lbs Beef, lean
1 cup Vinegar
1 cup Water
5 to 8 Cloves, whole
2 to 3 Bay leaves
1 Onion, large, sliced
5 to 8 Mustard seeds
5 to 8 Peppercorns, whole
2 Tbsp. Oil
1 small handful Raisins, best if soaked in dark rum
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
1 pc. sweet stuff (i.e. honey cake or Tbsp. sugar)
1 to 2 pinch Cloves, ground
1 heaping tsp. Corn starch
Put vinegar, water, whole cloves, bay leaves, onion slices, mustard
seeds and peppercorns into a bowl.
Wash and dry the meat. Put meat into bowl, turn several times, cover
bowl with plastic wrap, and store in refrigerator.
Let meat marinade in refrigerator for four to six days. Turn meat once
a day.
Take meat out of marinade and dry with paper towel.
Heat oil in a heavy pot and brown the meat in it on all sides.
Add some of the marinade, cover the pot, and let meat simmer for about
1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Take meat out, keep warm.
Add some more marinade, as much as you want gravy.
Add the raisins, honey cake (or sugar or sweetener - my mother liked
honey cake because of the flavor and texture it helped give the gravy),
salt, pepper and ground cloves to the gravy, bring to a boil.
Dissolve corn starch in 2 Tbsp. cold water, add to gravy, bring to a
rolling boil.
Slice meat into 1/4 inch slices and serve. Pour plenty of gravy over
the slices on your plate. Sauerbraten goes best with potato dumplings
and red cabbage, instead of the dumplings, "Spaetzle" (a special pasta
dish) are also excellent with it.
ROAST DUCK OR GOOSE (ENTENBRATEN ODER GAENSEBRATEN)
Duck and goose are very fat (greasy) fowl. That is why they need to be
roasted quite thoroughly. I have eaten duck breast that was medium rare
and very delicious, but I have never been able to make it, and I don't
think my mother has neither. She often filled the birds with a filling
of apples and prunes, sometimes with mandarin oranges, but I liked the
regular, un-stuffed birds best. Here is her way of making it; I have
done this often myself.
Wash the bird, pat dry, and season inside and out with salt, pepper,
rosemary and thyme.
At this point, I make a few cuts into the skin of the bird, in places
where there is lots of fat under the skin, in order to help the fat to
run out during roasting.
Put about 1/2" water into the bottom of a roaster.
Put a rack into the roaster and the bird on top of it, BREAST DOWN,
making sure it stays above the liquid.
DO NOT USE THE COVER ON THE ROASTER!
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Place roaster into oven, again: DO NOT COVER.
Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
After half the cooking time, take out of oven, drain the liquid inside
the bird into the roaster, place bird breast up, and replace into oven.
Cooking time: About 20 to 25 minutes per pound.
About 10 minutes before serving, brush some salt water on the skin to
make it more crispy. Put back into oven.
By now you probably know that I like potato dumplings and red cabbage,
because - again - that is what I prefer with duck or goose. A nice
gravy made from the giblets (less the liver - I don't like that) is
definitely needed.
If you roast a goose, you may want to save the rendered goose fat that
will be left in your roaster. Separate the clean fat and store it in
something like a covered tupperware container in the refrigerator. It
will keep well over a year that way, and is a perfect "seasoning" when
cooking some vegetables and stews.
That rounds out the meat section. I am omitting a couple of recipes for
game, because it is not commercially available here.
Two last words:
Corn starch: My mother uses it frequently. She once told me that she
even uses a small amount in virtually all her vegetables (save the
steamed ones, of course). It gives body to gravies, sauces, some soups,
the bit of liquid that comes with some vegetables, etc. It makes the
liquids cling to whatever they should cling to. I think that the "cook-
ing with one's tongue" - tasting and adjusting until it's perfect - and
the body that a thickener like corn starch gives are two very important
clues to her success. Of course, be careful with it, because too much
is even worse than none at all. Plus, the "tongue" cooking is a prere-
quisite, because something bland stays bland, even if it is thickened.
Pepper: Don't use ground pepper (store-bought that way). It loses it's
taste and freshness very quickly, and the store-bought kind is usually
too fine. Always grind it fresh as you need it. Get a good peppermill
with a crank (makes it easier to grind larger amounts), and there are
even some electric ones around. Though I never got into that business,
I consider myself the inventor of the electric peppermill. About six or
seven years ago I mentioned to friends of mine that, with all the
cordless gadgets like screwdrivers etc., it would be nice to have an
electric peppermill, so when you need a lot, you don't wrench your arms
off. ALL my friends laughed their heads off, telling me that now I
really had flipped out. A couple of years later I saw the first battery
operated peppermill in a mail-order catalog. Well, I still may be
flipped out, but not because of the electric peppermill.
This is the end of the MEATs file.
Dieter H. Bialek, ID: 70314,2015.
