Hi Folks… it’s that Oktoberfest time of year again, and so we’re off to Germany! We certainly hope all our German friends share their “taste of home” with us. And for those of us who do not have German ancestory, this is a perfect venu to show our German friends how much we appreciate and enjoy their cuisine. So lets get underway, and be sure to post up those Oktoberfest recipe treats too! Ah, but first, maybe a small libation…a frosty mug of German ale. PROST!
Aline & B-man 
GERMAN APPLESAUCE MEATLOAF I
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 C. finely diced onion
1 C. applesauce
1 C. bread crumbs
3 T. ketchup
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, and mix well. Place the meatloaf mixture in the prepared pan. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Let cool 10-15 minutes. Turn the loaf out of the pan. Slice and serve.
B-man
GERMAN APPLESAUCE MEATLOAF II
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 C. applesauce
1 large egg
1 C. bread crumbs (see note)
3 T. ketchup
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Place meatloaf mixture in pan. Bake 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Let cool 10 - 15 minutes. Turn out of pan.
Slice and serve.
NOTE: if necessary, add more bread crumbs, a tablespoon at a time, to make loaf firm.
B-man
Kish 's Authentic Hungarian Goulash (Gulyas Leves ) with Nokedli (egg dumplings or noodles)
Hungarian Goulash can be found on a good share of menu’s in Germany.
Ingredients:
2 lbs. beef chuck or (pork or veal) cut into 1 inch pieces
1 tsp. salt or to taste
2 onions chopped
1-2 Tbsp. lard or shortening
2 Tblsp. imported sweet paprika (most important to use real Hungarian paprika for ultimate flavor. (I like Budapest Sweet or Pride of Szeged)
2 carrots sliced
1 Tbsp green pepper finely chopped…no more!
1 stalk celery sliced…not too much, you don’t want it to over power the soup flavor.
2 bay leaves (optional)
1 Qt. Water /add more later if needed
4 peeled and diced potatoes
1/4 tsp. black pepper or to taste
Cut beef into 1 inch squares, add 1/2 tsp. salt. Chop onions, and brown in shortening, add beef and paprika. Let beef simmer in its own juice along with salt and paprika for 1 hr. on low heat. Add water, diced potatoes and carrots, and green peppers and remaining salt. Cover and simmer until potatoes are done and meat is tender.
Nokeldi-pronounced (noo-gali)
Here is a recipe for egg dumplings:
1 egg
6 Tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
Add flour to unbeaten egg and salt. Mix well. Let stand for 1/2 hour for flour to mellow. Drop by teaspoonful into Goulash. Cover and simmer 5 minutes after dumplings rise to surface.
Serve hot with dollops of sour cream if you wish.
Serves 6
B-man
Kish 's Gurkensalat (Cucumber Salad)
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
4 medium cucumbers/ peeled and thinly sliced
4 green onions thinly sliced/ can use yellow onions minced
1/4 c. sour cream or mayonnaise / not salad dressing!
1 Tblsp. cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. fresh dill minced (or 1 tsp. dried) fresh is best!
Peel cucumbers and slice or grate thin (hand grater works good for this).
Put cucumbers in bowl with salt and mix well. (Salt will help pull water (juices) out from the cucumbers). Let stand for 10-20 minutes or so. Drain all the water out. Add your mayonnaise or sour cream, onions, vinegar black pepper and dill. Mix well, salt to taste. Cover and chill in fridge before serving.
B-man
Kish’s Brötchen
“Brotchen” means ´small bread´. Pronounced Semmel and Weck in South Germany ; Schrippe in Berlin ; Rundstuck in Hamburg; Roggelchen in the Rhineland .
There are varieties, such as “Zwiebelbroetchen” (onion), “Kaesebroetchen” (cheese), or Schinkenbroetchen (ham).
Kish 's Brötchen (Bread Roll)
Ingredients:
(1 lb 2 oz.) bread flour
(3/4 oz ) fresh yeast
1/2 level tsp. salt
(1/2 pt) lukewarm water
(2 oz) unsalted butter
Egg Wash
1 egg white
1 tsp. water (not cold -mix together)
Dissolve the yeast in the water and mix immediately with all the other ingredients. Knead in a bowl for 10 minutes and leave to rise for 2-3 hours. Knead again.
Form rolls into ovals place on a greased and floured baking sheet. Leave to rise once more. Brush with egg mixture and sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes
B-man
Kish’s German Fried Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 cups potatoes cooked or raw *see note at bottom
6 slices of bacon chopped
salt, pepper and paprika to taste
Cut up 6 slices of good thick smoked bacon. Put in pan till halfway cooked. Add 2 cups diced or thinly sliced potatoes. Cook till nicely browned.
If you do not want the bacon with the potatoes, simply remove them after they are cooked and then add the potatoes to the bacon grease.
Note* Boil potatoes in water till fork tender. you may keep the skins on or simply peel after they are cool enough to handle.
Boiled potatoes and raw potatoes have a different taste when they are fried. I love them both, and it your own personal preference what you choose.
B-man
German Fried Potatoes
(6 servings)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
4 cups thinly sliced raw potatoes
1 large onion, sliced
1 tsp salt
Heat oil in large skillet. Add sliced potatoes and onion. Cover skillet and cook, turning occasionally, until potatoes are tender and golden. Season with salt.
Hassenpfeffer
This is also a great recipe to use if you find a buy on Chicken Hindquarters.
The other interesting thing about this recipe is the way it uses the chicken liver to season the sauce. It is typical of German or even old world ancestors that you use everything and not waste. The nice thing is that great discoveries our found this way. I don’t particularly like chicken or rabbit liver which is similar but it is wonderful when seasoning other things.
Ingredients:
1 2-1/2 to 3-lb.ready to cook rabbit
1/4 lb.salt pork diced
4 tablesp. butter
2 tablesp. chopped onion
1 small clove garlic crushed
1 teasp. salt
1/4 teasp. pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1tablsp. chopped parsley
Cut rabbit into serving pieces. reserve liver.
In small saucepan, cook saltpork in boiling water for 5 minutes, Drain.
In Dutch oven or heavy saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons butter. Add salt pork and cook for 5 minutes, or until slightly brown. Remove and set aside.
Add rabbit to pan, and cook for 10 minutes, or until rabbit is slightly browned on all sides. Add onion and garlic and continue cooking for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return salt pork to pan. Add salt, pepper, and wine. Bring to boil. Cover and continue cooking briskly for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, chop liver and rub through a fine sieve. Remove rabbit to heated serving dish and keep warm. Add liver puree to pan, and cook for a few seconds until sauce thickens, stirring constantly. Off fire, add remaining butter cut into small pieces, stirring until butter is melted. Pour over rabbit. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot. Serves 4 to 6 serve with boiled potatoes.
Wine: A red wine: Red Bordeaux; French red Burgundy: red Cotes du Rhone: domestic claret or Burgundy.
B-man
WEISSE MAEUSE (WHITE MICE)
Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 cups all purpose flour
Mix all ingredients together to make a soft dough. Shape into 2 inch long crescents and bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 F. until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Makes about 30 mice.
B-man
Kaseknepfla
Also known as Cheese buttons, this is a good and tasty meatless dish, particularily appropriate for Lenten season.
Dough:
2-1/2 cups flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
Filling:
2 cups dry-curd cottage cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
Diced green onions to taste (optional)
Roll dough about 1/4-inch thick, and cut into 4-inch squares. Place a spoonful of filling on half of each square, then fold dough over and pinch sides together securely to make the “buttons.” Put buttons into a kettle of slowly boiling salt water and cook for no more than 10 minutes. (They’re done when they float.) Boil and handle gently, or they may come apart. Drain. Then fry them with butter and onion. Cheese buttons also can be served in soup, either with a broth or creamy base.
Knephla Soup
Knephla Dough:
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
Soup:
Water
2 or 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
3/4 teaspoon salt
Milk or cream as needed
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons chopped onion
About 1/2 cup cubed dried bread
Pepper
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Then place egg in 1/2-cup measuring container, and add water to fill cup. Mix with dry ingredients. Add additional water if your dough is too dry or a little flour if it is too wet. Knead dough on a floured surface, turning the sides over into the middle. Then, let the dough rest on the counter under an overturned bowl.
Put about 2 quarts of water in a 3-quart kettle. Add cubed potatoes and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Add milk and cream as desired. While liquid is coming to a oil, roll knephla dough into ropes. When soup is boiling gently, cut knephla into the hot soup in pieces about the size of the end of your thumb. It works best to hold rope with left hand and use kitchen shears in right. Cook 10 to 15 minutes. In the meantime, melt margarine in a saucepan and saute onions lightly. Then, turn up the heat, and throw in the bread and brown it a little. Add bread, onions and margarine to the soup and stir. Soup is ready to serve. Add pepper once it’s in the bowl.
B-man
Potato and Bierwurst Salad (with mustard cream dressing)
Bierwurst is basicly just a smoked bratwurst. Any smoked German sausage will work.
Ingredients:
24 ounces baby new potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
1/2 small red onion, sliced thinly
3 tablespoons oil and vinegar salad dressing (see recipe below)*
1 dessert apple e.g. Jonagold
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
4 ounces cooked German Bierwurst, sliced thinly
2 German gherkins, chopped
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon German mustard
2 tablespoons Quark or sour cream
1-2 tablespoons milk
a little chopped dill and fresh parsley
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Boil the potatoes in salted water for 10-12 minutes or until just tender. Drain and mix gently in a large bowl with the sliced red onion. Season to taste and cool slightly.
Add oil and vinegar dressing to potatoes and refrigerate for one hour or until chilled. Meanwhile, chop the apple and mix with the lemon juice. Mix into the potato along with the sausage and gherkins.
Beat the mayonnaise, mustard, Quark and just enough milk to make a dressing the consistency of cream. Stir this carefully into the salad, spoon into a serving dish and sprinkle with the chopped herbs.
Serves 6.
B-man
German-Style Red Cabbage
(4 servings)
1 small head of red cabbage
2 tart red apples, cored but not peeled
2 tbsp bacon fat or lard
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
Remove outer leaves of cabbage and discard. Quarter, core and grate cabbage into a skillet.
Slice unpeeled apples and add to cabbage. Add fat, salt and pepper and bring to a boil with just enough water to cover. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until tender but still crisp, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid.
Mix vinegar and sugar and stir into reserved liquid. Cook, stirring until blended. Stir in the cabbage and serve hot.
Grandpas Head Cheese (Stugon)
Ingredients:
1 pigs head
2 pork hocks
2 beef shanks
1 large onion
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons salt
Pepper to taste
3 cloves garlic
Boil all together until tender. Remove meat from juice and cool. Strain the juices when cool. Remove meat from the bones and throw away any skin, cartilage and bones. Cut meat into very small pieces. Mince onion. Put meat, juices, seasonings and onion together in a large pot and bring to a boil. Pour into a glass dish and refrigerate to set.
This can also be made with a chicken instead of the pigs head.
B-man
POTATOES and EGGS-Dipped in Green Herbed Mayonnaise
(Kartoffel und Eier in Gruner Sosse)
This cold dish is perfect for summer dinners. Green sauce originated in Frankfurt and was Goethe’s favorite dish.In Germany, this dish is served with potatoes boiled in their skins. The potatoes are peeled at the table and dunked into the sauce.
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream (part yogurt may be used)
1 lemon, juiced
9 hard-cooked eggs
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
1 ½ cups chopped fresh herbs (any combination of dill, chives, parsley, tarragon, or borage)
Blend mayonnaise, sour cream, and lemon juice. Finely chop 1 hard-cooked egg and stir into mayonnaise mixture. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar.
Thoroughly rinse the herbs, pat dry, and chop. Blend with the sauce. Slice rest of hard-cooked eggs in half and arrange in the sauce. Makes 4 servings.
B-man
Russische Eier (Russian Eggs)
German Potato salad:
10 Yellow or Red Potatoes
1 tblsp. Caraway seeds
Salt
pepper
1 Onion/diced
2-4 tbl spoon lemon juice or vinegar
2-4 tblsp oil
5 small cubes beef or chicken boullion
1/2 cup water
4-6 slices of cooked bacon, broken in pieces
First boil the potatoes with the peels in water, add caraway seeds and salt.
Cool, peel and slice the potatoes, add the onion, lemon juice, oil and salt and pepper to taste. Boil the bouillon with the water and pour over the salad. Mix all ingredients, and let marinate an hour or so, then add the bacon.
Topping
1 dz boiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Capers
Lox
Spoon the potato salad into individual plates (4-5), top with sliced boiled eggs, “frost” the whole thing with mayonnaise, top with capers and decorate with the lox.
The author’s parents had a restaurant, and this is the way they served “Russische Eier”, and 2 slices of some wonderful German Bauernbrot!
B-man
Krepple
Ingredients:
2 lb flour
1 pkg yeast
1/2 cup water
2 cup milk
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
3 Tbls sugar
some salt
1/2 cup margarine
2-3 egg yolks
In a bowl place 1 lb flour make a well and add 1/2 cup warm water and yeast. Stir some to mix the yeast and water. Put in warm place to let it start (at least 5 to 10 min) (like proofing, it should bubble some). Then add 2 cups warm milk, 3 tablespoons sugar and lemon zest. Then 1/2 cup margarine, melted and still warm. mix in well. Then the 2-3 egg yolks mix in well. Add the rest of the flour to your soft dough till the dough no longer sticks to you hand. Cover and let rise 20 to 30 min.
Roll out 1/2 cm thick, cut out (I would use a biscuit cutter), Place them on a flour dusted cookie sheet and let rise.
Fry in hot oil.
Can make a hole on the side to squeeze in some jam in, making it like a jelly donut. Dust with powdered sugar or roll in regular sugar.
B-man
Tomato Dill Soup
Ingredients:
6 ripe tomatoes
4 Tsp. flour
3 Tsp. sugar
4 Tsp. butter
4 cups milk
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup chopped dill
2 Tsp. chopped parsley
2 Tsp. minced green onions
Salt and pepper
1 cup sour cream
Dumpling preparation later in
recipe
First peel the tomatoes. Cut into small pieces and place in a bowl.
Sprinkle the tomato pieces with sugar then set aside.
Melt butter inside a large kettle. Add the green onions and saute until they are golden brown. Add the parsley, 1/4 cup of the chopped dill and the tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and cook for 10 minutes over medium heat; stir at even intervals.
Add the chicken stock and allow to simmer for another 30 minutes.
In a separate bowl mix milk with flour to a smooth consistency.
Pour the flour/milk mix in the soup slowly while stirring.
Simmer slowly.
Dumpling preparation:
2 Tsp. sour cream
1 egg
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup flour
One pinch of pepper
Thoroughly mix all of the above in a separate bowl.
Drop the dumpling mixture one level teaspoon at a time into the soup.
Boil slowly to allow dumplings to rise to the top of the soup.
Put one spoonful of sour cream into the bottom of individual place bowls.
Pour the soup and dumplings over the sour cream.
Sprinkle each top with the remaining 1/4 cup of chopped dill.
B-man
Mustard Pickles (Senfgurken)
Ingredients:
5 kg Gurken (vorbereitet gewogen ) (4.5 lbs cucumbers)
200 g Salz salt …3/4 Cup Salt
250 g Perlzwiebeln …1/2 lb. … pearl onions
15- Pfefferkörner … pepper corns
10 Gewürzkörner … allspice
100 g gelbe Senfkörner …1/2 Cup… yellow mustard seed
3-5 Lorbeerblätter … bay leaf
1 ½ liter Weinessig …1 1/2 liter… wine vinegar
1 liter Wasser …1 quart .
500-600 g Zucker … 2 cups sugar
Preparation
Use only big ripe yellow, but still firm cucumbers. Peel and cut lengthwise, and with a spoon scrape out all seeds.
Cut in strips or chunks and layer them with the salt in a glass or porcelain dish. Leave them sit for 12-24 hours, and then strain them in a sieve, and carefully dry all chunks, again layer them with the onions and herbs and spices in a large glazed ceramic pot or individual mason (canning) jars.
Bring vinegar, water and sugar to a boil on med. heat and pour over the cucumber chunks. After they have cooled cover each glass with wax-paper or Saran wrap.
After about 4 weeks you’ll have delicious Senfgurken
B-man
Wurstsalat (Sausage salad)
Everybody in Germany likes to prepare Wurstsalat once in a while. It is very easy to make and is one of those German specialties that best reflects the German food industry. It is either made Coarse grain sausage or fine grain sausages like Knackwurst or Frankfurter. German summer afternoons spent at home working in the garden often end with a meal of wurstsalat. Wurstsalat is also an everpresent item in almost all the menus of German inns and restaurants.
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 precooked cold sausage such as knackwurst, peeled, and sliced thin (about 3/4 of a pound)
Red Onion rings , trimmed, peeled, sliced thin
salt (to taste )
freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
3 Tablespoons wine vinegar
4 Tablespoon vegetable oil
Other vegetables , such as cucumbers, tomatoes, asparagus whatever is fresh or in season.
In a salad bowl combine sliced knackwurst and sliced onion. In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, oil, salt and pepper, our dressing over knackwurst, toss and serve with a good rye bread or hearty German Bread.
B-man