If you had to pick a cookbook to conjure up your childhood, which cookbook would you choose? For me, the child of German-Czech immigrants, Luisa Weiss’s Classic German Cooking was a flavor-driven journey down memory lane.
What Is German Cooking?
Ask a German-American to define classic German cooking and get as many answers as there are German-Americans. For me, it is the cuisine of an era, one spanning from 1945 when my mother arrived as child in New York (my father emigrated in 1957) through 1963 when my Schwäbian father married my Saxon-Praguer mother and through to the present day. I married a Swiss, and though Swiss culinary traditions are briefly touched upon in this book, the most famous dishes of that country are not included here. Recipes that are included span Germany and Austria with plenty of potatoes and pasta, pickled vegetables and slow-roasted meats.
I grew up eating many of the dishes included here, from Flädlesuppe and Erdäpfelgulasch to Rotkohl, Maultaschen and Sauerbraten. I tend to think of them as winter foods, as comforting as they are filling. German cooking in the diaspora is not complicated, looking to the garden and the butcher shop for exceptional ingredients. A place where the quark or sour cream are often homemade and flour can be turned into pasta as quickly as it can bread.
Recipes I Made
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- apfelkren (horsradish apple sauce) to serve with tafelspitz
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- Bratkartoffeln
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- braise for tafelspitz
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- creamed spinach
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- tafelspitz
How to choose which of Ms. Weiss’s dishes to guide me on a journey through my past? I earmarked many, many recipes, memories flooding over me each time I marked a page. Some recipes I could not make – I can never meddle with the Rotkohl (braised red cabbage, p. 202), a recipe I’ve made for Thanksgiving for 20+ years and my mom made before me. Apple Pancakes (p. 182) are a dish that only my oldest brother, Greg, can make with Mueller-level authority. Ditto the Spätzle (p. 93) which my husband makes as often as possible, following a Betty Bossi recipe that is decades old and needs no update.
Eventually, I chose a mix of recipes from my repertoire that needed a refresher (Bohnensalat/bean salad, p. 57) and dishes I had never made like Tafelspitz with Horseradish Apple Sauce (p. 147) and Creamed Spinach (p. 198), which intrigued me.
The Germans are very good at salads and Gurkensalat (cucumber salad, p. 46) is simple and delicious. Little more than salt, sugar and vinegar, the dressing is equal parts sweet and sour, a classic German flavor combination which I crave to this day. During my January recipe testing, local cucumbers were not available, only shrink-wrapped English cukes which worked just fine. So, too, Bean Salad (Bohnensalat). I am told I chronically undercook beans (“too squeaky,” says the Swiss husband). Boiled before they are cooled and tossed with sugar, salt, vinegar and whatever fresh herbs you have on hand, the beans were a huge hit, the first time in ages that I received a green bean salad compliment.
On a rainy winter night, I attempted Tafelspitz (p. 157). Braised in water with parsley, onion, and aromatics, it looked great when it came out of the pan but tasted tough. Had I cooked it too long or too little? I honestly don’t know. Having not grown up with the dish, my husband did not know either. The beef was better once doused with plentiful apple sauce flecked with horseradish and brightened with lemon. Creamed Spinach was a success, its bitter character softened with crème fraiche and ghee. And Bratkartoffeln (p. 211), made with plentiful ghee, made the onions and potatoes glisten, a potato dish my children deign to eat and we all loved.
Who Would Like This Cookbook
The subtitle of Classic German Cooking, “the very best recipes for traditional favorites, from semmelknödel to sauerbraten,” looks over its shoulder at Germany’s recent culinary past. It spoke straight to my heart and I suspect will do the same for anyone in the German diaspora. (Maybe less so the Swiss.) Like the best seasonal, ingredient-driven cooking in the United States, German cooking does very well with basic ingredients, zhushed up with ingredients you most likely already have in your cabinet or fridge. It’s low fuss and very approachable.
This cookbook is a primer on German flavor and the joy of home-based cooking. While recipe testing, I felt very much the hausfrau, one with lace curtains in the window and a pot of coffee at the ready. German cooking is my soul food, the fresh and pickled flavors warming my spirit in any season.
Me? Objective about this cookbook? Not so much. But I loved it all the same. All that’s missing is a glass of starkbier and a reminder that it’s almost time for brotzeit or kaffee and kuchen. What are we making?
I was provided a preview copy of Classic German Cooking.
