1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (74 page)

Where:
In Munich
, Weisses Bräuhaus, tel 49/89-290-1380,
weisses-brauhaus.de
; Ratskeller München, tel 49/89-219-9890,
ratskeller.com
;
in Houston
, Rudi Lechner’s, tel 713-782-1180,
rudilechners.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The German Cookbook
by Mimi Sheraton (2014);
Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna
by Kurt Gutenbrunner (2011).
See also:
Gulyás of All Sorts
.

Against the richness and complexity of so many of the classic German and Austrian dishes, the coolly refreshing cucumber salad
gurkensalat
provides a welcome foil. A staple with many variations, at its most basic the salad begins with thinly sliced rounds of peeled cucumber. Fresh from the garden if possible, they are layered with salt and left to sit for about an hour—a crispness-enhancing process that draws out some of the
water that makes up more than 95 percent of their bulk. Drained and rinsed of any remaining salt, the cucumbers are then tossed gently with slivers of fresh onion, a zap of distilled white vinegar, a slosh of sour cream, salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of fresh dill or chives. The result is a creamy, pleasantly tart, crunchy, and brightly flavorful garnish that provides a sharp and welcome contrast to meaty dishes such as wintry stews, braised game, Wiener schnitzel, fried chicken, and roast goose and duck. But a good, fresh gurkensalat need not be limited to just the European table. It would be equally welcome at an American Southern barbecue, a church supper, or a Fourth of July picnic.

Where:
In New York
, Wallsé, tel 212-352-2300,
kg-ny.com/wallse
;
in Kansas City, MO
, Grünauer, tel 816-283-3234,
grunauerkc.com
;
in Santa Monica, Venice, and Culver City/Mar Vista, CA
, Röckenwagner,
rockenwagner.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The German Cookbook
by Mimi Sheraton (2014);
Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna
by Kurt Gutenbrunner (2011);
allrecipes.com
(search gurkensalat).
Tip:
This salad is best prepared with young, firm cucumbers. Look for the small Kirby pickling variety or the long, slim, plastic-wrapped European-style cucumbers.

Hamburg’s classic soup.

It’s hard to imagine a more improbable-sounding list of ingredients than those that appear in Hamburg’s most singular soup, a festive specialty that is far more appealing than it sounds. Actually more of a stew than a soup, this one-dish main course comes from northern Germany’s “Free and Hanseatic City.” It combines ham and (usually) meats such as chicken and beef with lengths of the firm, rich eels that swim in the rivers of Schleswig-Holstein. Also tossed into the pot are golden chunks of dried apricots and midnight-dark pitted prunes to simmer away with pot vegetables such as leeks, parsnips, celery root, parsley leaves and roots, onions, and carrots. Some cooks have even been known to add cauliflower, string beans, and who knows what else. Aromatic herbs like bay leaf, marjoram, thyme, and savory, as well as plenty of black peppercorns, combine with white wine as finishing touches, along with a dash of vinegar and—wait for it—a spoonful or two of raspberry jam.

The result is a sweet-sour broth that is both meaty and teasingly saline, darkly rich and full of spoonable delicacies, including tiny puffs of nutmeg-scented flour dumplings. Each ingredient gives up something of itself to the benefit of the complex and intriguing whole. Perhaps Hamburg’s eel soup should be served daily to United Nations delegates for spiritual inspiration.

Because its authentic versions necessitate so many ingredients, it is virtually impossible not to prepare large quantities of this soup, which is why it is reserved by home cooks for special celebrations. Several traditional Hamburg restaurants, however, feature it as a standard. Because of its rib-sticking heft, it generally is relegated to this handsome port city’s cold, gray, and rainy winter months.

Where:
In Hamburg
, Fischerhaus Restaurant, tel 49/40-314-053,
restaurant-fischerhaus.de
; Alt Hamburger Aalspeicher, tel 49/40-362-990,
aalspeicher.de
.
Further information and recipes:
The Cuisines of Germany
by Horst Scharfenberg (1989); for other versions of German eel soup,
Lüchow’s German Cookbook
by Jan Mitchell (1996);
germanfood.about.com
(search hamburg aalsuppe).

Hasen
is the word for hare, the traditional game in this fragrant dish with a dark red wine sauce so rich and complex it tastes like medieval history. But because rabbit (
kaninchen
) is easier to come by for modern cooks, it’s often substituted, for a more delicate if less heady result. Of course, hunters can procure their own hares, saving some of the blood to thicken a sauce similar to that used by the French in pressed duck or in the braised game dishes known as
civets.
When the hare is purchased from a butcher, the sauce may be thickened by scooping some spicy, raw bloodwurst out of its casing and liquefying it in a food processor with a little bit of stock, as suggested by Horst Scharfenberg in
The Cuisines of Germany.

If fresh-killed, the hare or rabbit must be hung for several days and then skinned, cleaned, and cut into serving portions, the best of which are the legs and the saddle. It is also a good idea to marinate the cuts for about twenty-four hours in buttermilk to tenderize the meat and mellow the gaminess. Along with the giblets, the meat is sautéed with bacon, diced pork, and onions until brown, then placed in a casserole with the blood or bloodwurst puree, bay leaves, juniper berries, lots of black peppercorns, red wine vinegar, and, for bright color and a hint of sweetness, a little red currant jelly. The casserole is sealed closed with a stiff flour-and-water paste, and the whole is baked in the oven for a couple of hours, or until the meat is meltingly tender and the sauce has taken on a velvety texture. For a really tantalizing effect, the unopened casserole is carried to the table so diners can inhale the exquisite aroma when the flour-paste seal is broken.

Alternatively, the braising can be done in a heavy casserole on the stovetop, in which case the blood and seasonings are simmered in to finish the sauce after it has been skimmed of fat. Traditional garnishes are red cabbage with apple, and big, porous bread dumplings or boiled potatoes to soak up the succulent sauce. Just be sure the most highly prized front legs of a hare go to the hunter as a reward for making the treat possible.

Mail order:
D’Artagnan, tel 800-327-8246,
dartagnan.com
(search scottish hare; also whole rabbit fryer).
Further information and recipes:
The Cuisines of Germany
by Horst Scharfenberg (1989);
Lüchow’s German Cookbook
by Jan Mitchell (1996);
allrecipes.com
(search hasenpfeffer).

Veal shank with pearl barley and spinach.

Veal, pork, and lamb shanks may be fashionable as comfort foods these days, but that’s no news to Germans and Austrians. Such lusty, softly fatty, savory cuts are virtually taken for granted as budget dishes in these climes, especially in the casual restaurants and rathskellers devoted primarily to their preparation.

Always presented in enormous whole portions—not in the round cross-cuts the Italians know as osso buco—these haxen may be braised, roasted, and sometimes finished on a grill to give the skin a tantalizing, crackling crispness. In Vienna, pork shanks—
schweinsstelze
—are grilled over a wood fire until their rinds achieve crunchy perfection.

The braised shanks are seasoned with salt and pepper, lightly dredged in flour, and browned in bacon drippings, lard, or butter. Then comes a flurry of minced pot vegetables—carrots, celery, onions, parsnips—and a rosy glow of paprika, along with good beefy stock and dried basil and thyme. The mix is left to simmer almost imperceptibly for a good two to three nose-twitching hours (depending upon the size and number of shanks), after which the sauce is skimmed of fat and simmered with some elevating white wine. That abundant, unctuously enticing gravy demands an absorbent vehicle. Enter boiled potatoes or big, spongy bread dumplings, and just enough cool, fresh cucumber salad (see
listing
) to keep the palate interested.

More ambitious cooks (or eaters) like the finished braised shanks to be breaded and fried, and more delicate eaters like the meat sliced off for them—a measure that would doubtless have offended the English monarch Henry VIII, who was known for tackling his meat with bare hands.

Where:
In Vienna
, Schweizerhaus, tel 43/1-72-80-1520,
schweizerhaus.at
;
in Munich
, Haxnbauer-im-Scholastikahaus, tel 49/89-216-654-0,
kuffler.de/en/muenchen/haxnbauer
;
in New York
, Wallsé, tel 212-352-2300,
kg-ny.com/wallse
;
in Milwaukee
, Mader’s, tel 414-271-3377,
madersrestaurant.com
; Karl Ratzsch’s, tel 414-276-2720,
karlratzsch.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna
by Kurt Gutenbrunner (2011).

A lusciously rich late breakfast, lunch, or midnight supper, scrambled eggs enfolding lightly sautéed onions and nuggets of silken, gently flavored brains are getting harder to find on German menus these days—but they definitely deserve to be swept up in the growing trend for organ meats.

Calves’ brains are traditional, as are the even more delicate lambs’ brains, but the larger steers’ brains are often used in this dish as well. Soaked in ice water with a little lemon juice or vinegar for about six hours in the refrigerator (to extract blood), they are then parboiled until just firm, so that the membranes and tubes can be clipped or pulled out before the brain is cut into fork-size bits.

Minced onion and parsley are sautéed in hot butter until soft but not brown, and the pieces of brain are tossed in and fried until lightly golden. Beaten salted eggs are poured over and scrambled until set. Served with or over hot buttered toast and a glass of Alsatian Pinot Gris or Austrian Gewürztraminer, or a tankard of light beer, this is a meal that starts or ends the day right.

For another elegant addition to plain old scrambled eggs, the above preparation can also be applied to sweetbreads. Both, as it happens, are popular with Eastern European Jews, who use vegetable oil instead of butter for the sautéeing if they observe kashruth.

Further information and recipes:
The German Cookbook
by Mimi Sheraton (2014);
ifood.tv
(search scrambled eggs and veal brains).
Tip:
To prepare this dish at home, order the brains from a butcher several days in advance. They will probably arrive frozen, and can be thawed in the first soaking water. Once thawed, they should be cooked and consumed within twenty-four hours, as they are highly perishable.

In a funny gastronomic coincidence, the delicate combination of lobster and chicken is one that is favored by both the northern Germans and the Chinese from the southern region of Canton. In Germany’s misty-gray North Sea city of Hamburg, the fine old Atlantic Hotel used to feature the pairing in a luxurious salad. (The Chinese version is known as Lung Hai Gai Kew.)