When I was growing up, any time someone suggested eating at a German restaurant, my mother would immediately make a comment about the heaviness of the cuisine and offer Vietnamese or Thai as an alternative. I absorbed her words and spent most of my lifetime assuming that German food was something best avoided.
However, in the years since I’ve been living in Philadelphia, I’ve discovered that the spectrum of German food is much broader I had previously understood. This education has come thanks to Brauhaus Schmitz and their Reading Terminal Market deli, Wursthaus Schmitz.
Happily, the goodness of Brauhaus Schmitz is now available to people beyond the wilds of Philadelphia, thanks to New German Cooking. Written by the husband and wife team behind the restaurant, Jeremy and Jessica Nolen, with local food writer Drew Lazor, it’s a gorgeous book that will no doubt make you hungry (the photography by Jason Varney is also fantastic).
The book has nine chapters (guess which one I’m most excited by?):
- Breads & Spreads
- Salads
- Soups
- Fish, Shellfish & Poultry
- Meat & Game
- Vegetables
- Noodles & Dumplings
- Pickles & Condiments (though I must point out, in the picture above, a threaded mason jar has been topped with a lid from an old time jelly jar. I can see that texturally it looks good, but it irritates the canning stickler in me).
- Desserts
I have a list of ten dishes I’d like to try, with the Pilsner and Pickle Brined Chicken (page 102) being on the very tip top of the list (leftover pickle brine haunts my dreams). I may just go for a two-fer and make the Potato and Sauerkraut Gratin (page 157) to go with it.
Wow, thanks! I am going to order that on Amazon. I have a friend who is enamored of all things German, so maybe I will have to order two…
Oh I must have this! Good German cookbooks are impossible to find. I have a very traditional one so this one looks great. Prost!
Can’t wait to get my hands on this! My mom’s German, so I grew up with German food, but I’m always wanting something “new” but also familiar. Woo hoo!
I live in Germany and the cuisine variations definitely depend on where you live. Here in the east, Bratwurst, spargle, root vegetables are always huge. In Berlin, I always think of doners! German cakes and bread are especially a daily wonder according to my waistline 🙁
My Mother is German but the only German cuisine we’d have growing up was breaded porkchops and then cookies for Christmas. My Dad is Italian and so she learned his favorites from his mother and we ate Italian. (She’s quite good at it BTW.)
But after a few trips to Germany I decided the only way I’d be able to afford to eat kasespaetzle was to learn to make it for myself. I can’t fly to Germany every time I want some.
I’ve gotten pretty good. I use a spaetzlebrett and do it the old fashioned way. (There is a great video on YouTube.)
But I’m always looking for new recipes and techniques.
I also want to make some schnitzle like I had there. Pork, veal, chicken, I don’t care. I want schnitzle.
I have several regional cookbooks that are in both German and English. But I think I’ll be picking this one up too as it seems most inclusive and well organized. If these people could keep a restaurant open and profitable, the food must be great.
AH! The very first recipe is Laugenbretzeln.
SOLD!