German Potato Salad

One essential compliment to German dishes is Potato Salad.

German Potato Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes, cubed

4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp German-style mustard

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

Cooking:

Boil potatoes in a pot, and boil for ten minutes in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.

Place bacon in a large skillet and fry over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside, leaving the bacon grease in the pan.

In the grease, fry the onion, and sautee until lightly browned. Add the vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring up to heat, and then add the potatoes and parsley. Crumble in half of the bacon.

Remove from heat, and transfer to a serving pan, crumbling the other half of the bacon on top.

Currywurst

Currywurst isn't a type of sausage, as you might think, but a style of serving sausage, usually knockwurst. Curry ketchup is the topping on it, invented in post-WWII West Germany using curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup that the British troops frequently carried in their rations.

It has since spread in popularity, although finding curry ketchup might be difficult (though many authentic German bakeries and butchers do carry it), and is completely worth it.

Bratwurst

The bratwurst has long been a common staple of the American diet, due to its popularity with German immigrants residing in Wisconsin, but it dates back to Germany.

Bratwurst in Germany comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, and is typically served with mustard and sauerkraut.

Kaiserschmarrn

This light and sweet dessert is common in both Germany and Austria.

Kaiserschmarrn

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rum

3 tbsp raisins

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

4 egg yolks

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

4 egg whites

tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp sliced almonds

powdered sugar

Preparation:

Combine raisins and rum and set aside.

Mix flour, milk, egg yolks, vanilla, lemon zest, and butter. Mix until well blended.

In a separate bowl, add the egg whites, sugar, and salt. Be sure no yolk is in the whites, and that you use a ceramic bowl. Whip until the eggs whites form stiff peaks.

Fold the egg-white mixture into the flour mixture, and then mix in the rum-raisin mixture.

Put 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan, and cook the mixture as pancakes about 1/8" in thickness. Once finished, break the pancakes into 1" sized chunks. Melt a fresh tablespoon of butter in the frying pan, and return the pieces to the pan. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar over the pieces, and fry until caramelized. Add the almond pieces and cook until they're lightly roasted.

Transfer kaiserschmarrn to a plate and dust with powdered sugar.

Blutwurst

There are many ghastly gastronomical horrors I have seen. Chinese death eggs and pig's feet are just a couple of the bizarre culinary horse of the apocalypse.

But I expected those to be horrific. Blutwurst actually sounded... intriguing.

But intriguing it wasn't. Blood tastes, somewhat predictably, of iron. But somehow the real thing tastes far worse than iron-enriched multivitamins.

But worse yet, it somehow feels... wrong. The feel of it in your mouth isn't that of food, it's something else. As if you've put something in your mouth altogether unlike fresh blood from a cut, and rather something spawned deep inside hades, come to the surface to poison you.

Either way, even the adventurous among you might not want to go down this path.

Liverwurst

Liverwurst is common in North America, yet to many Americans inspires revulsion. This is tragic, of course, since liverwurst is absolutely delicious.

Liverwurst is typically made from pig's liver, pig's meat, fat, and spices. It's spreadable, and delicious served with onions and mustard.