Weekend with the family in the countryside – clearly a case for Bavarian cuisine. Zwiebelrostbraten is a typical southern German dish that can be prepared with briefly roasted beef or braised. The braised version is especially good if, like us,…
Cheese Spaetzle
Spaetzle originate from Swabia and are a popular side dish, especially in the south of Germany. We have described here how to scrape them traditionally by hand, including quantities for the dough. An alternative are kitchen appliances that can produce…
Strammer Max
A “Strammer Max”, which can be translated as “Stalwart Max”, is a seemingly uninspired preparation of German origin that used to be quite common longer ago and can sometimes still be found on menus in old inns. However, it tastes…
Savoy cabbage rolls in braising sauce
Wet and cold weather, we feel like classic home cooking: “Wirsingrouladen” (German) or “Wirsingwickel”, as they are called in Bavaria. More often white cabbage is used, in which case it would be “Kohlrouladen” or “Krautwickel”. Both are delicious. This dish…
Black salsify and Brussels sprouts velouté
Velouté is one of the five basic sauces of classic French cuisine (the others are Béchamel, Hollandaise, Sauce Tomate and Espagnol). It is based on a roux and has a velvety texture. Nowadays, however, soups that are delicately creamy without…
Swabian ‘Maultaschen’
Maultaschen are arguably the most classic dish in Swabian cuisine – alongside Spaetzle, of course – for which you’ll find a basic recipe here and one for Käsespätzle here. ‘Schwäbische Maultasche’ is even a protected designation of origin recognised by…
East German Solyanka
The name and the dish originate from Russia. There, solyanka is a traditional home-style soup, prepared in variations featuring meat, fish or mushrooms. It is made using a meat or fish stock as a base and derives its characteristic tang…
Lentils and Spaetzle
Lentils and spaetzle, or more precisely: lentils with spaetzle and Vienna sausages, are a Swabian national dish. After we have explained how to prepare the best spaetzle by hand, and also cheese spaetzle, there is simply no getting around this…
Best rhubarb cake
The best rhubarb cake is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, sweet and sour in a match made in heaven. Rhubarb is a special plant, originally coming from China. In the early Middle Ages it reached Europe…
Chicken fricassee
A very delicious and old cooking technique is fricassee (French: “fricassée”). A related method is the “blanquette”. In both cases, we are talking about dishes with a light, bound sauce, traditionally as a ragout with meat. But there is no…
