All recipes

by KrazyBadal 0 views

AmerikanerIced soft cakes

Amerikaner are a fixture of German bakery counters and children's birthday parties: soft, domed little cakes baked flat-side up, then turned over and iced on the smooth base, half in white lemon icing and half in chocolate. A pinch of custard powder in the dough gives their tender, slightly vanilla crumb. Children can ice them themselves at a party. They contain milk, egg and gluten. Chef's tip: ice the flat bottom of the cakes, not the domed tops; that's what gives the shiny, even finish.

35 min

Peruvian Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ChaplasHollow puffed Andean bread

Walk through Ayacucho's central market at seven in the morning and you will see women selling stacks of chaplas from cloth-lined baskets, still warm from the wood-fired ovens of the Andes. These round wheat breads puff up like pita in the fierce heat, leaving a hollow pocket inside a thin, soft, lightly floury crust. In Ayacucho and Huancavelica they are eaten with sweet coffee or hot emoliente for breakfast, or split and filled with queso fresco, avocado or a spoonful of rocoto sauce. Highland bakers traditionally work in a little lard; vegetable shortening gives the same tenderness and keeps the bread vegan. A cool baking tray is the reason chaplas stay flat, so preheat it thoroughly. Chef's tip: let the rolled rounds rest before baking and flip them upside down onto the tray, so the smooth, dry side meets the heat first and the pocket opens evenly.

149 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Quarkbällchen (German quark doughnut balls)

Quarkbällchen fill the trays of German bakeries all year and reach their peak at Fasching, the carnival season, and families in Berlin, Saxony and beyond make them at home for children's afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen. The quark dough needs no yeast, so they are quick: crisp and golden outside, soft and cake-like inside, with a light tang. They are rolled in sugar rather than drenched. They contain milk, egg and gluten. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 170 °C so they cook through; hotter oil browns them before the centre is done.

40 min

German Breakfast & Brunch

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fruit and cereal mash (Obst-Getreide-Brei)

German weaning follows a well-known plan: a vegetable lunch first, then a milk and cereal evening meal, and finally an afternoon Obst-Getreide-Brei, a dairy-free mash of cooked cereal flakes and fruit, usually from around seven months. Fine oat or millet flakes are simmered in water, then stirred into stewed apple or pear with a spoon of rapeseed oil, which German paediatric advice recommends for healthy fats. It is fruity, smooth and naturally sweet. It contains gluten if made with oats (use millet flakes for gluten free); there is no milk, egg, nuts, soya, sesame or fish. Chef's tip: stew the fruit in a little water rather than using juice, which adds sugar.

20 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

German party pasta salad (Nudelsalat)

In Germany a big bowl of Nudelsalat is the backbone of a Kindergeburtstag, a summer barbecue or a school outing: short pasta, ham, peas, sweetcorn and chopped gherkins bound in a mayonnaise and yoghurt dressing, made the evening before so the flavours settle. This version lightens the dressing with yoghurt and gherkin brine. It contains gluten, egg (mayonnaise) and milk. Chef's tip: dress the pasta while it is still slightly warm, then add a splash more dressing just before serving, because the pasta drinks it overnight.

32 min

German Salads

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pan chutaAniseed round bread

The small town of Oropesa, half an hour from Cusco, calls itself Peru's bread capital, and its wood-fired bakeries are famous for chuta: big, flat, round loaves as wide as a dinner plate, glossy on top, with a faint sweetness and the warmth of aniseed. Travellers on the road to Puno and Bolivia stop to buy them by the bagful, and families bring them home for All Saints' Day and for sharing with hot coca tea or coffee, fresh cheese and butter. The bakeries traditionally use lard; this version uses vegetable shortening and butter, so it is vegetarian. The make-or-break moment is the proof: chuta is large and flat, and if it goes in under-risen it bakes dense and splits at the rim. Chef's tip: toast the aniseed for a minute in a dry pan and crush it lightly before adding, for a rounder, sweeter perfume.

240 min

Peruvian Breads & Parathas

by KrazyBadal 0 views

MohnkuchenPoppy seed crumble cake

Bavarian and Austrian bakeries, Saxon ones especially, cut Mohnkuchen from huge trays into thick, dark slabs that are eaten at the Sunday Kaffee und Kuchen table and at village fêtes. Under a sandy butter crumble sits a deep layer of ground poppy seeds cooked in milk with semolina and lemon, nutty and slightly bitter-sweet, on a thin shortcrust base. Some families add a splash of rum to the filling; it is written here without, and you can stir in 2 tablespoons with the lemon zest if you like. Whole seeds are the most common slip: they stay hard and gritty and never thicken the filling, so buy ready-ground poppy seed or grind it in a spice grinder. Chef's tip: let the filling cool before spreading it; hot filling melts the base and the cake splits from it when cut.

95 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

HochzeitssuppeWedding soup with meatballs

At weddings in Lower Saxony and Westphalia the meal begins with this soup, often served at village inns around Hanover and Münster long before the roast arrives. A clear beef broth carries three garnishes: tiny meatballs of beef and pork, cubes of Eierstich (a steamed egg custard) and pieces of asparagus or peas, so every spoonful has something different. It can be prepared in stages a day ahead, which is why it suits a crowd. A common mistake is boiling the meatballs hard, which clouds the broth. Chef's tip: poach the meatballs separately in salted water, then add them to the clear broth just before serving.

180 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

SteckrübeneintopfSwede stew

Swede carries hard memories in northern Germany, where it fed families through the 'turnip winter' of 1916–17, yet in Mecklenburg, Holstein and along the Elbe it is loved again as a sweet, golden winter stew. Chunks of swede, potato and carrot cook down in broth with smoked pork shoulder (Kasseler) until some of the vegetables collapse and thicken the pot, and it is ladled out on frosty days with mustard and dark bread. Expect a mellow, earthy sweetness. The usual mistake is cutting the swede too large; it takes longer than potato, so keep the cubes small. Chef's tip: mash a few ladles of vegetables against the side of the pot at the end for a thick, creamy stew without any flour.

90 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ParadiesäpfelCandy apples

Paradiesäpfel shine from the sugar stalls at German fairs and Christmas markets, from the Cannstatter Wasen to the Hamburg Dom: small tart apples on wooden sticks, dipped in a glassy red sugar glaze that cracks when you bite it. Children often get them on the way home from the rides in autumn. The glaze is just sugar, water and a drop of vinegar boiled to the hard-crack stage, so a sugar thermometer helps. The most common mistake is using wet or waxed apples, which makes the glaze slide off. Chef's tip: scrub the apples in hot water and dry them completely first, then dip quickly and twist so the excess drips back into the pan.

40 min

German Desserts

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KartoffelauflaufPotato bake

Kartoffelauflauf is the bake German parents turn to on busy weekdays, from Hanover flats to farmhouses in the Allgäu: thin slices of potato layered in a dish, covered with a custard of eggs, milk and cream and topped with cheese, then baked until golden and set. It is often a complete meal with a green salad, though some add leeks or ham between the layers. The common mistake is cutting the potatoes too thick, so they are still hard when the top is brown. Chef's tip: use a mandoline or slice about 3 mm thick. Hard cheeses such as Emmental are traditionally made with animal rennet, so pick a vegetarian cheese.

80 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Spargel mit KratzeteAsparagus with torn pancake

In the asparagus villages near Bruchsal and Schwetzingen in Baden, Kratzete is what goes on the plate beside the spears: a thick egg pancake that is torn ('scratched') into ragged pieces in the pan with two forks and fried in butter until crisp at the edges and soft inside. Melted butter or hollandaise goes over everything, and in spring inns serve it as a full vegetarian main. Many families add raw ham on the side, but it is complete without. Keeping the batter thin is the mistake; it needs to be thick enough to coat a spoon, or the pieces fall apart. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 20 minutes so the flour swells and the Kratzete turns out fluffy.

55 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

HühnerfrikasseeChicken fricassee

From Kiel to Konstanz, Hühnerfrikassee is the comforting weekday dish children in Germany ask for, a fixture of school canteens in the old East and of family kitchens everywhere else. Chicken is poached gently with soup vegetables, then the broth becomes a pale, creamy sauce with mushrooms, peas and pieces of asparagus, sharpened with lemon and capers if you like. It is always served over plain rice. The common mistake is boiling the chicken hard, which makes it dry and stringy. Chef's tip: finish the sauce with a little lemon juice off the heat; without it the frikassee tastes flat and heavy.

75 min

German Chicken

by KrazyBadal 0 views

DibbelabbesPotato and leek hash

Dibbelabbes takes its name from the Saarland words for a pot (Dibbe) and to lick out (abbes), because the crisp crust stuck to the cast-iron pan is the best part. Families around Saarlouis and Merzig make it on cold evenings: raw grated potatoes, leek and onion cooked slowly in a heavy pan and turned now and then until golden chunks form all through. Traditionally smoked bacon or Dörrfleisch goes in; this version keeps it vegetarian with a little smoked paprika. Apple sauce and a green salad go alongside. Stirring too often is the mistake; the crust needs time to form. Chef's tip: cook it in the oven in a cast-iron casserole for an even, deep crust with less work.

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

ErdbeerkuchenStrawberry flan

When strawberry stands pop up on every country road in June, bakeries from the Rhineland to Saxony fill their windows with Erdbeerkuchen, and families bake one for Sunday afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen. A light sponge is baked in a fluted flan tin with a raised rim, spread with a thin layer of custard or jam, covered with halved strawberries and set under a clear red glaze, then served with whipped cream. The mistake most people make is filling the base while it is still warm, which makes it soggy. Chef's tip: brush the cooled base with a little melted white chocolate or jam first; it seals the sponge against the fruit juice.

55 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

PichelsteinerBeef, pork and vegetable stew

Every summer the town of Regen in the Bavarian Forest holds a Pichelsteiner festival in honour of this layered stew, said to have been first cooked on the Büchelstein hill in the 1800s. Cubes of beef and pork shoulder are stacked in a heavy pot with potatoes, carrots, celeriac, leek and cabbage, a little marrow-bone fat or butter goes between the layers, and the whole thing cooks gently without stirring. Each spoonful mixes tender meat with soft vegetables in a clear, peppery broth. Stirring early is the classic mistake: the potatoes turn to mush. Chef's tip: brown the meat well first and the broth turns a rich amber instead of pale grey.

130 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Folienkartoffel mit KräuterquarkBaked potato with herb quark

Wrapped in foil and split open, Folienkartoffel is what queues form for at Christmas markets, village fairs and summer barbecues across Germany, and it is just as easy at home in the oven or in the embers of a grill. A large floury potato bakes until fluffy, then gets a big spoon of cold Kräuterquark with chives, parsley and garlic, sometimes with sweetcorn or grated cheese too. The contrast of hot potato and cool, tangy quark is the whole point. A common mistake is choosing waxy potatoes, which stay dense. Chef's tip: prick the potatoes and rub them with oil and coarse salt before wrapping, so the skin turns tender and seasoned.

75 min

by KrazyBadal 0 views

KartoffelkrokettenPotato croquettes

Kartoffelkroketten belong to the German Sunday roast as surely as red cabbage, alongside Rinderrouladen in the Ruhr or venison in the Harz at Christmas. Dry mashed potato is bound with egg yolk, nutmeg and a little butter, rolled into small cylinders, breaded and fried until crunchy outside and fluffy within. Homemade ones taste far better than the frozen kind and can be shaped a day ahead. The usual mistake is a wet mash, which makes croquettes burst in the oil. Chef's tip: steam-dry the boiled potatoes in the hot pan for two minutes and press them through a ricer, never a blender, which turns them gluey.

60 min

German Sides

by KrazyBadal 0 views

BrennsuppeBrowned flour soup

Farmhouse kitchens in Upper Bavaria and the Swabian Allgäu once started the day with Brennsuppe, a soup built from almost nothing: flour browned slowly in butter until it smells of hazelnuts, then whisked into water or stock with caraway and onion. Grandmothers still make it on cold evenings or for anyone feeling poorly, with cubes of stale bread toasted in the pan and a heap of chives on top. It tastes far richer than its ingredients suggest. The usual mistake is rushing the roux on a high heat, so it scorches and turns bitter instead of nutty. Chef's tip: whisk the stock in a little at a time while it is cold or lukewarm, and the soup stays perfectly smooth.

25 min