If you've ever wondered if the German people have a sense of humor, think no more. On this website (in German), dedicated to Saving the "Butterbrot" or open-faced German sandwich, writers decry the demise of Germany's buttered bread and admit to making their own, using the famous "Graubrot" and German butter as the basis and eschewing baguettes, sandwiches and other foreign travesties.

While it's not a good idea to order a "sandwich" in Germany (they have no idea what an American sandwich is), you can't usually order a "Butterbrot" either. You have to make it yourself. Mornings and evenings it's a piece of bread, some butter and your favorite toppings. For work or school you place a second piece on top and wrap it in "Butterbrotpapier", a waxed paper product, and tuck it in your satchel.

The important parts of the "Butterbrot" are:

• The bread. It must be a dense, non-squishy type or you can't spread the butter properly.
• The butter. Sour cream butter from Germany, Denmark or Ireland is prefered.
• The toppings. Sausage, cheese, jam, radishes, pickles, Nutella, onions, and sometimes all of them at the same time.

Here are a couple of ideas for "Butterbrot" from butterbrot.de to get you started:

• One piece of bread, thickly spread with cream cheese, some mustard, a slice of Edamer cheese and a thinly sliced tomato.
  
• Pumpernickel with butter, cream cheese, Nutella and cherry preserves.
  
• Rhinelander Graubrot (rye/wheat sourdough) with liverwurst, tomato slices, salt and pepper (and butter, of course!).

If you would like to make "Butterbrot" but need good German bread, you can buy it online or go to German bread recipes. Here is a gallery of "Butterbrot", all consumed afterwards.

Photo of homemade "Graubrot".

Photo copyright [J.McGavin]

Looking at Continental cuisine yields many crossovers and similarities. Germany, Austria and Switzerland are at the heart of Western Europe and have been influenced by the Balkans, Italy, France, Denmark and others around them. Influenced? Stole? Copied, borrowed or adopted, the German kitchen is far from pure. But because Germany is nearly landlocked and its growing season short, they couldn't always buy the same food cooked on the Adriatic or Atlantic coasts. When they couldn't get their hands on certain items, such as fresh spices and vegetables, the German-speaking people blithely substituted their own.

Now, when supermarkets carry almost every vegetable you can imagine at every time of the year, the Germans still tend towards the tried and true kitchen basics such as parsley, root vegetables and leeks. This mixture is called "Suppengrün", soup greens or pot-herbs, and is the basis for many soups, roasts and stews. It is so common that the supermarkets package a piece of celeriac, carrot and leek together, just enough for one meal. This certainly makes it easier for the "Hausfrau", she doesn't have leftovers. I, myself, liked to buy a whole bunch of carrots or an uncut celery root. I find it is fresher and lasts longer. Brown the vegetables to begin the recipe and you impart hearty flavors into your soup or meat. Suppengrün, the original convenience package.

• Read more about "Suppengrün".
• "Linseneintopf" - Lentil Soup with "Suppengrün"
• "Führmannsbraten" - Carter's Roast
• Chicken Stock

Photo copyright Sandra Grauschopf

German restaurants, once common, are now rare. People used to go out to eat European foods, the sour cream sauces, the roasts that marinated for days. Deep, smokey flavors, and Sunday afternoon traditions of Mom having the day off. Today, it's all about the Asian experience, quick sauteing, lighter sauces and plenty of garlic. Still, a few holdouts from a bygone era hang on, both here and in the Old Country.

Westfalen Hof, in Golden Colorado (near Denver), was recently reviewed in Westword magazine (April 24, 2008). The atmosphere is that of a true "Bierstube" from another time, dark wood panelling, dour servers, kitchy decorations. But for lovers of real German fare, reviewer Jason Sheehan heartily recommends it, especially the koeniginpastetchen, tomato soup and the German salads. (Click here for full review.)

Germany faces the same problem in that real old-fashioned fare has gone out of style. Alongside fast food encroachments and Turkish restaurants there's hardly a market for soul-satisfying German dinners (at lunchtime) among young couples and families. An exception to this was reviewed by German food critic Wolfram Siebeck just this March (2008). Restaurant Laurentius, on the Romantic Street between Würzburg and Füssen in Weikersheim, Germany.

The cook, Jürgen Koch, was born and raised in Weikersheim and took over the family business. Because of his world travels he manages to bring modern touches to traditional fare. His meat is tender and his fish is fresh. He uses native herbs, such as Ramsons (wild garlic) in his mashed potatoes as a side dish to rabbit filet in morel cream. With his menu he pours wine made in Franconia. All this in a beautifully renovated, barrel vaulted cellar.

Mmm, makes me want to fly to Germany this week and start eating! Have you been to a German restaurant lately that you like? Since I don't get around the country, I'd love to hear about them in the German Food forum, and add your favorite menu item, too!

Photo copyright Johannes Simon/Getty Images

I finally cut into the last of my home-grown winter squash today. This "Rouge de'Etampes" (Cinderella Pumpkin) fruit weighed in at a good ten pounds, and beyond being beautifully decorative, is very good in soups and stews. It has a delicate flavor and doesn't overpower other foods like canned pumpkin. Winter squash need a long growing season, which is why they are grown mostly in Austria and Southern Germany, where you can see them being hardened off in the garden in the autumn sun. Squash came to Europe in the 1600s and was enthusiastically adopted. Germans especially like pumpkin seed oil and the seeds are considered to be of medicinal value.

But my squash here in my kitchen is intimidating to cut into because it is so large. In order not to waste it, we bake pieces of the squash, scoop out the flesh and freeze it. A killer breakfast is when when we brown it in a pan with an egg poached on top (and some green chiles). We also do a wonderful squash soup which we like to eat as an appetizer. After a day running around in the mountains, whether they are the Alps or not, "Kürbissuppe" takes the edge off your hunger.

Photo copyright J.McGavin

I had several people ask me if they could see how I made the strudel in my recipe for "Altwiener Apfelstrudel" so I finally put together this step by step instruction set. If you let the dough rest properly between mixing and rolling it out it really will stretch for you like it does in the pictures. The tricks I learned to make it easier were:

• Keep the dough and your board and cloth well but lightly dusted with flour. You don't want to incorporate any more flour into the dough, but you don't want the dough sticking to everything and itself either (I've done it).
  
• Stretch the dough slowly and rest it in between stretches. Alternate between stretching from the middle and stretching the edges. Keep the middle thick until near the end.
  
• You can reuse the dough once if absolutely necessary. The quality will be somewhat affected. If you feel that you need practice, try making a double batch and practice first.
  

Also just wanted to report my findings on freezing Apple Strudel. I wrapped half of the strudel in wax paper and then put it in a plastic bag and froze it. Later, I took it out and cut off two inch pieces (one serving). I microwaved each piece 40-50 seconds on high. Result? Crust was still crisp and apples were slightly warm. Perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up! Tell me about your strudel successes or failures in the German food forum.

We're right in the middle of asparagus fever. At least the Germans are. White asparagus, or "Spargel", is a specialty from April through June every year. Asparagus has been loved since Greek and Roman times, but they learned how to blanch asparagus just a hundred years ago or so. Before that all asparagus was green. Now they have even developed strains of asparagus just to be white.

I've heard tell that asparagus fields were even given as dowries, since they were so valuable. Because it's low in calories but high in labor it could only be widely grown when food was abundant or for medicinal purposes. Food has been abundant in Germany now for the last 50 years and the amount of asparagus grown there has increased steadily. Asparagus was grown on 19.6% of the farmland devoted to vegetable crops in 2005 while cabbage was grown on 20%. (source: German Office of Statistics)

Recipes with asparagus:

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Spargelessen

More about "Spargel"

Tell me about your favorite "Spargel" recipe in the German food forum!

Photo: Asparagus in the marketplace. Copyright Flickr user Petitshoo

"Oh, let's just go to Stromboli." An oft-heard phrase in our apartment on the Waldstrasse, especially on Friday nights. Stromboli is a "typischer Italiener", an Italian restaurant tucked into a corner of a neighborhood within walking distance of our place. It served pizzas, pasta and your typical Italian meat and potatoes. I especially liked the carpaccio, thin slices of raw beef with Parmesan shavings, lemon juice and olive oil.

So why am I writing about Italian food on a German site? Because Germans, just like Americans, eat out, and when they eat out they like ethnic restaurants, food they don't normally cook at home. And if you go to Germany, you'll find out quickly that "their" ethnic is not "our" ethnic. Until I lived in Germany, I had no idea that a Spanish tortilla was an omelette, or that you could or should put peas and eggs on your pizza. Pepperonis are little pickled peppers and ice tea doesn't come black, ever.

It's getting used to those little things that makes a visit or a stay in a foreign country interesting. It's also the other way around, of course. No quark here, the sauerkraut is mediocre, and where CAN you buy German bacon? Still, we muddle along, recreating as best we can and fondly remembering the good stuff.

For more information about buying real German products on line visit my "Buying Guide for German Products".

If you know of any special spot, a grocer or butcher, that sells German products or good knock-offs, go to the German Food forum and tell us all about them, where they are, their phone number, email, etc. It will be a great resource for everyone.

Photo of "Stromboli before dinner" copyright Flickr user Rasch2000

(Click on picture for up close image of vanilla seeds.)

No, it's tiny seeds from a vanilla bean. In Germany, it's considered a mark of quality to see little black specks in custard, ice cream or flans. In Spain, it's the opposite. Legend has it, they believe it's fly poop. The beauty of international marketing is to figure out differences in behavior in whole groups of people. For some countries, vanilla ice cream must be pure white, in others it should be yellow, and in others still it should have little specks. In the US we distinguish between vanilla (white) and French vanilla (yellow).

Vanilla seeds and ground vanilla bean, or pod, is much stronger for flavoring than vanilla extract or vanilla sugar. You can buy whole beans or vanilla paste all over the internet, by searching in your favorite search engine for vanilla bean or vanilla paste. They can be split open and warmed in milk for custard, or the tiny seeds can be scraped out and used in recipes, such as this apple cake with custard filling or this recipe for homemade vanilla ice cream.

Have you ever heard of a restaurant with no waiters? Not including fast food, I mean. German restauranteur Michael Mack invented one. You order via touchscreen, pay with a plastic card, and wait for the freshly cooked meal to come spiraling down to your table on a set of stainless steel tracks! But don't take my word for it. Check out this BBC video taken right in the restaurant, itself!

Once you've looked at the video or read the article, come back and take this fun poll!

Browsing around the internet the other day, I saw a fast-food ("Imbiss" or "Schnellimbiss") restaurant I'd quite like to try: Schnitzi's, a place in Midwood, NY, that sells deep-fried chicken schnitzel on fresh baguettes. That sounds good, but in addition there's a choice of breading on the schnitzel; garlic, mustard or sesame-flavored, for example.

Here is a classic schnitzel for home-cooking, but it would be easy to add some flavor to the bread crumbs by adding a tablespoon of this or that. Kevin Weeks at cookingfortwo.about.com also has this schnitzel recipe with good tips. Still, next time you are in NY, you might want to share one of their foot-long sandwiches with your sweetie.