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44 recipes

GurkensalatCucumber and dill salad

Gurkensalat is on German tables from Bavaria to Berlin all summer, served alongside potato pancakes, egg dishes or the Sunday roast, and it is just as common at a garden barbecue. Cucumber is sliced almost paper-thin, salted briefly, then dressed with a little vinegar, sugar, onion and lots of fresh dill, so it is cool, sharp and soft-crunchy. Some households stir in soured cream; this vinaigrette version is vegan. It is very light, with about 1 g of protein a portion, so it is purely a side. The most common mistake is skipping the salting: unsalted slices weep water into the bowl and dilute the dressing within minutes. Chef's tip: squeeze the salted slices gently in your hands before dressing; they bend like ribbons and take up the dill dressing much better.

15 minGermanSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Toast HawaiiHam, pineapple and cheese toast

Toast Hawaii arrived in West German kitchens in the 1950s and never left: a slice of buttered toast layered with cooked ham (pork), a ring of pineapple and a slice of cheese, baked until the cheese melts down over the sides. It is still a nostalgic Saturday supper or party snack from Hamburg to Munich, often crowned with a cocktail cherry in the pineapple's hole. The mistake that ruins it is using pineapple straight from the tin, whose juice soaks the bread; drain the rings well and pat them dry. Chef's tip: toast the bread lightly before topping it, so the base stays crisp under the juicy layers.

15 minGermanSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rote-Bete-SalatBeetroot salad

Rote-Bete-Salat is on the table in German homes through autumn and winter, beside potato pancakes, fried eggs or simply bread and butter. Cooked beetroot is cut into slices or batons and dressed with onion, vinegar, oil and a little caraway or grated horseradish, so it is sweet, earthy and sharp at once. It is vegan, gluten free and keeps for days in the fridge. The most common mistake is serving it straight after dressing: give it at least 10 minutes, or better an hour, so the beetroot soaks up the flavour. Chef's tip: wear gloves or rub your hands with lemon juice afterwards, as beetroot stains everything it touches.

15 minGermanSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Fideos con mantecaButtered noodles with cheese

Ask anyone from Buenos Aires to Córdoba what they ate when they came home late or felt poorly as a child, and the answer is often fideos con manteca: short pasta tossed with butter and a snowfall of grated queso rallado. It is the plainest dish in the Argentine home kitchen and the one people cook for themselves on a tired weeknight. The mistake that ruins it is draining the pasta bone-dry and adding cold cheese to a hot empty pan, which leaves greasy strands and clumps; a splash of cooking water makes a light, creamy coating instead. Argentine reggianito and Parmesan are made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese if needed. Chef's tip: grate the cheese very finely, like dust, so it melts on contact.

15 minArgentinianPasta & Noodles
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Strammer MaxHam and fried egg on bread

Strammer Max is the Kneipe snack of Saxony and Berlin: a slice of buttered bread, cooked ham and a fried egg with a runny yolk, served with a gherkin at pubs in Leipzig and Dresden and made at home as a fast weeknight supper. The ham is pork. Hot egg on cold ham and soft butter is the whole point, so cook the egg last. For a vegetarian version, swap the ham for thick slices of tomato. A common mistake is frying the egg too hot until the edges go hard and brown. Chef's tip: toast the bread lightly in the same pan first, so it holds the yolk without going soggy.

10 minGermanSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KäsesalatCheese salad

In Bavarian beer gardens and Swabian Vesper stubes, Käsesalat is the cheese lover's answer to sausage salad: matchsticks of Emmental tossed with red onion, gherkins and a sharp vinegar dressing, eaten with a crusty roll or a Breze. It turns up on Saturday evenings at home too, made in ten minutes from what is in the fridge. The cheese soaks up the dressing and goes tender and tangy, while the onion and gherkins keep it crunchy. Traditional Emmental is made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian Emmental-style cheese if that matters to you. A common mistake is serving it straight away; the flavours need a short rest. Chef's tip: cut the cheese into thin strips rather than cubes, so the dressing coats every piece.

15 minGermanSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bayerischer WurstsalatBavarian sausage salad

Bavarian Wurstsalat is the Brotzeit plate of the beer garden: thin strips of Regensburger or Lyoner, mild cooked pork sausages, tossed with onion rings and gherkins in a sharp, slightly sweet vinegar dressing, and eaten with a pretzel in the shade of chestnut trees. At home it is a fast summer supper on a warm evening. Swabians add cheese and call it Schweizer Wurstsalat. A common mistake is drowning it in oil; the dressing should be mostly vinegar and gherkin brine. Chef's tip: leave the dressed salad for 30 minutes in the fridge so the onion softens and the sausage picks up the vinegar.

15 minGermanSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ApfelschorleApple juice spritzer

At any German beer garden, from Munich's Chinese Tower to the cider taverns of Frankfurt, the drink for children, drivers and anyone on a hot afternoon is Apfelschorle: cloudy apple juice topped up with sparkling mineral water. Germans drink it at family lunches, after sport and at school summer parties, and it is far less sweet than juice alone. The usual mix is half and half, but many people go lighter on the juice. The common mistake is pouring the water first, which knocks out the bubbles. Chef's tip: use naturally cloudy apple juice and very cold, strongly sparkling water, and pour the water in slowly down the side of the glass.

2 minGermanDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

SchnittlauchbrotChive bread

Order a Schnittlauchbrot in a Munich beer garden and you get the simplest Brotzeit there is: a thick slice of sourdough rye, buttered right to the edges and buried under so many chopped chives that the bread disappears. A pinch of coarse salt on top is all it needs. Bavarians eat it with a radish or two in the afternoon, and at home it is a classic Abendbrot when the chives in the garden are growing fast in May and June. The mistake is using fridge-cold butter, which tears the bread and will not hold the chives. Chef's tip: press the bread butter-side down into a plate of chives instead of sprinkling, and every bit gets covered.

5 minGermanSnacks & Starters
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KräuterquarkHerb quark

On summer evenings across Germany, from Hamburg allotments to Swabian farmhouse kitchens, a bowl of herb quark sits in the middle of the Abendbrot table with rye bread, radishes and boiled new potatoes. Fresh low-fat quark is loosened with a little milk and linseed or sunflower oil, then packed with chopped chives, parsley and dill and a hint of garlic, so it tastes cool, tangy and green. It also goes on jacket potatoes at the fair and next to grilled vegetables at a barbecue. The usual mistake is chopping the herbs ahead and letting them sit, which turns them dark and bruised. Chef's tip: let the finished quark rest in the fridge for 20 minutes so the garlic mellows and the herbs flavour the whole bowl.

10 minGermanChutneys & DipsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

FleischsalatSausage salad

Every German butcher sells Fleischsalat in tubs, and it is spread thickly on bread rolls for Abendbrot or a workday second breakfast from Cologne to Leipzig. It is made from Lyoner or Fleischwurst, a mild cooked pork sausage, cut into fine strips and folded into mayonnaise with gherkins and a little of their brine. Making it at home lets you use less mayonnaise and add yoghurt for freshness. A common mistake is cutting the sausage into thick chunks, which makes it heavy; thin matchsticks are what you want. Chef's tip: chill it for an hour before serving so the gherkin brine flavours the sausage.

15 minGermanSaladsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Wiener MelangeCoffee with milk and foam

In Vienna you never simply order 'a coffee'; you order by name, and the Melange is the one most Viennese ask for. It arrives in a large cup on a small silver tray with a glass of water and often a tiny chocolate, and you may sit over it for an hour with the newspapers at Café Prückel or Hawelka, mid-morning or after lunch. Traditionally it is a mild, longer espresso (a Verlängerter) with roughly equal hot milk and a soft cap of milk foam; it is gentler than a cappuccino and the foam is looser and creamier. Expect a round, nutty, slightly sweet cup with little bitterness. The common mistake is overheating the milk: once it passes about 70 °C it smells cooked and loses its sweetness and the foam turns big-bubbled and dry. Stop when the jug is too hot to hold for more than a second or two. It is ready when the foam sits in a smooth, glossy dome about a finger thick and the coffee shows as a brown ring at the edge. One cup has about the caffeine of a single espresso. Chef's tip: always serve the glass of water alongside, as Vienna does; it is drunk first to clear the palate.

6 minAustrianDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

ButterbrotRye bread with cheese and vegetables

Every German schoolchild knows the Pausenbrot: two slices of rye or mixed-grain bread spread with good butter, closed around a slice of cheese, wrapped in paper and eaten in the mid-morning break, with a few cucumber or apple slices on the side. Adults take the same Butterbrot to work. The common mistake is spreading cold, hard butter, which tears the bread and leaves bare patches that let any wet filling soak in. Many Gouda-style cheeses use animal rennet, so choose one marked vegetarian. Chef's tip: butter right to the crust on both slices; the butter is a waterproof layer that keeps the bread fresh until lunchtime.

10 minGermanBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

EiskaffeeIced coffee with ice cream

On a hot July afternoon in any German or Austrian Eiscafé, from a Hamburg promenade to a Viennese Gastgarten, the tall glass with the long spoon is Eiskaffee. It is not iced coffee in the American sense: strong coffee, chilled, is poured over two scoops of vanilla ice cream and crowned with sweetened whipped cream, sometimes a wafer and a dusting of cocoa or grated chocolate. You drink the cold coffee through a straw while the ice cream slowly melts into it, then spoon up the creamy, half-frozen rest, so it is part drink, part dessert, eaten at the café in the afternoon rather than with a meal. The usual mistake is pouring hot or even warm coffee straight onto the ice cream: it melts at once into a thin, lukewarm, milky soup. Brew it earlier and chill it properly. It is ready when the coffee is fridge-cold, the scoops sit just proud of the surface and the cream holds soft peaks on top. It is moderately caffeinated, so keep it for adults and older teens. Chef's tip: freeze leftover coffee in ice-cube trays and add a couple to the glass so nothing gets diluted with water.

15 minGermanDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

KetwurstSausage in a hollowed roll

Ketwurst, from ketchup plus Wurst, was invented in 1977 in East Berlin as the GDR's own fast food, served from state-run snack counters around Alexanderplatz. A long roll was speared onto a heated metal spike to hollow and toast it at the same time, the hole was filled with a spicy ketchup and a hot boiled sausage, usually pork, was pushed inside. It vanished after reunification but is back at a few kiosks in Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain, eaten on the go at lunchtime by Berliners who grew up with it. Chef's tip: heat the sausages in water just below a simmer; boiling hard splits the skins.

15 minGermanFast Food
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

14 minParaguayanDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Martín FierroCheese with quince paste

Ask for dessert in a Montevideo bodegón or a country parador and you may be offered a Martín Fierro: a thick slice of fresh, mild cheese laid with an equal slice of dense quince or sweet-potato paste, named after the gaucho of the epic poem. It's salty against sweet, soft against firm, and takes two minutes to assemble. Uruguayan fresh cheese is usually made with animal rennet, so choose one with vegetarian rennet if that matters to you. The mistake is serving it fridge-cold, which dulls both flavours. Chef's tip: cut the cheese and paste to exactly the same thickness, about 1 cm, so every bite has both.

5 minParaguayanDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

10 minParaguayanDrinksVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ei im GlasSoft-boiled eggs in a glass

In the old coffee houses of Vienna, the breakfast menu still lists Ei im Glas: two very soft-boiled eggs, scooped warm from their shells into a small glass, with a knob of butter, chives, salt and pepper. You stir it into a golden, custardy mess and eat it with a crisp Semmel roll (gluten-free bread if you need it) and a Melange coffee. The mistake almost everyone makes is boiling the eggs a minute too long, so the yolk sets and the dish turns into plain egg salad. Chef's tip: warm the glass with hot water while the eggs cook, so the butter melts on contact and the eggs stay hot to the last spoonful.

8 minAustrianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

EinspännerBlack coffee with whipped cream

The Einspänner is named after the one-horse carriages of old Vienna: coachmen waiting outside in winter supposedly liked their coffee under a lid of cream that kept it hot and stopped it slopping. Today it is served in a handled glass at classic coffee houses, a strong black mocha (a double espresso or Großer Brauner without milk) topped with a thick layer of cold, lightly sweetened whipped cream and a pinch of icing sugar. You do not stir it: you sip the hot, bitter coffee through the cold, sweet cream, so each mouthful is two temperatures and two textures. It is an afternoon or late-morning coffee, often with a slice of Sachertorte. The common mistake is runny cream that sinks and turns the drink into a milky latte; whip it until it just holds a peak and spoon it on gently so it floats. It is ready when the cream stands at least 2 cm above the coffee and slowly sinks at the edges. It is strong: a double shot of caffeine in one glass. Chef's tip: pour the coffee in first and wait ten seconds before adding the cream, so the crema settles and helps support the cap.

6 minAustrianDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Salsa criollaTomato, onion and pepper relish

Chimichurri gets the fame, but at a Sunday asado anywhere from Buenos Aires to Salta the other bowl on the table is salsa criolla: tomato, onion and red and green pepper cut into small, even dice, dressed with vinegar, oil, oregano and salt, and left to sit until the juices pool. It is spooned over steak, chorizo and provoleta, piled into choripán, and eaten with grilled vegetables, and it brings freshness and acid to rich, smoky food. Expect crunch, a clean sour note and a mild sweetness from the peppers. Chopping it all in a food processor is the mistake: it turns watery and pulpy, so take the time to dice by hand. Some cooks use only red onion, others add spring onion or a pinch of chilli; adjust to taste. Chef's tip: dress the onion with the vinegar and salt first for 10 minutes before adding the rest; it softens the raw bite without losing the crunch.

15 minArgentinianChutneys & DipsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Quesillo con miel de cañaFresh cheese with cane syrup

In the Tafí del Valle hills above San Miguel de Tucumán, quesillo is made by stretching hot curd into long, thin, elastic sheets and folding them into flat rounds; along the road up from the city, stalls sell it beside jars of miel de caña, the dark syrup boiled from the juice of Tucumán's sugarcane. Put the two together and you have the province's simplest dessert: mild, milky, slightly squeaky cheese with a pour of syrup that tastes of molasses and caramel, plus walnuts for crunch. It is eaten after lunch or as a merienda with mate. Drowning the cheese is the usual misstep; the syrup is intense, so pour a ribbon, not a puddle. Real quesillo is hard to find abroad: fresh mozzarella, Oaxaca cheese or another fresh stretched-curd cheese is closest, and light cane syrup or a 2:1 mix of golden syrup and black treacle stands in for miel de caña. Most of these cheeses use animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one if needed. Chef's tip: warm the syrup slightly so it runs into the folds of the cheese.

10 minArgentinianDessertsGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Licuado de bananaBanana milk shake

Order a licuado in any Argentine café or bar and you will get a tall glass of fruit blended with milk (con leche) or water (con agua), and banana with milk is the one nearly everyone grows up on. It is breakfast for teenagers in a hurry, a merienda with tostados, and the drink parents in Buenos Aires make when the fruit bowl has spotty bananas. It should be thick, cold and smooth, with a light froth, sweet mainly from ripe fruit. Using under-ripe bananas is the mistake: they taste chalky and need lots of sugar, so wait for brown freckles. Chef's tip: slice and freeze the bananas the night before and you can skip the ice; the shake comes out colder and thicker without being watered down.

5 minArgentinianDrinksGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ensalada mixtaLettuce, tomato and onion salad

Simplicity is the whole idea of the ensalada mixta, the salad that comes with almost every order at a parrilla and sits beside the meat at every family asado: crisp lettuce, ripe tomato and thinly sliced onion, dressed at the table with oil, vinegar and salt from the cruets. There's no mustard, no sugar, no herbs, so the quality of the tomatoes and the crunch of the lettuce carry it. It is cool, sharp and refreshing, and cuts through grilled meat, provoleta and fries. The usual blunder is dressing it too early: the salt pulls water from the tomato and the lettuce goes limp in minutes, so toss it just before it goes to the table. Round butterhead lettuce (criolla) is the classic, but any crisp lettuce works. Chef's tip: soak the sliced onion in iced water for 10 minutes and drain; it stays crunchy but loses its harsh edge.

10 minArgentinianSaladsVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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