German Cuisine

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Ah, the Germans can, and love to cook, and the eats coming out of this small country, steeped in rich, millennium old traditions, have affected culinary offerings the planet over.

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Heavy on potatoes, meaty dishes, plenty of veggies, the food is just warming and comforting. And here on this page, you will find authentic traditional German cuisine recipes, with pictures.

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As usual, let’s go through a typical day, and start off with one of the German food traditions, their version of the breakfast.

Please note: For your convenience, you can click on the recipes listed below and be taken directly to a page with just that one recipe on it, in printer-friendly format.

You are certainly welcomed to read through this whole page, all the recipes are here as well, and there are some videos and pertinent information on background, history, customs, special notes, etc., so it is well worth the read.

Here is the list, in alphabetical order:

Abendbrot mit Rettich (German Bread Dinner with Cheese and Radishes)

Bauernfrühstück (Farmer’s Breakfast)

Bierocks (Also called “Runzas” – cabbage and meat stuffed pastries)

Bratwurst mit Saurer Sahnensosse (Bratwurst in Sour Cream Sauce)

Garlic Bread – German Style (toasted crispy with fresh garlic, butter, salt, pepper and herbs)

Kaffee und Kuchen (Coffee and Cake)

Siemieniatka kanapiø koðë (Hemp-based Soup/Porridge)

Spargal Lachs Salat (Asparagus with Salmon Salad)

Wiener Schnitzel (German Style Breaded Veal Cutlets)

Bauernfrühstück

(Farmer’s Breakfast)

German Cuisine: Bauernfrühstück

Hearty, hearty, hearty! This breakfast will fill you up and fuel you for hours. And, thankfully, you can note this one as a “traditional easy German food” recipe too, because it is simple and fast to make.

Ingredients:
Directions:
  1. Bring a saucepan of salted water to a good boil. Add in the sliced potatoes, and lower heat to a simmer. Continue to cook for 15 minutes, or until tender.
  2. In a large frying pan, sauté the bacon over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the olive oil and cooked potato slices, and fry, stirring regularly, until golden brown (10 minutes).
  3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the milk, oregano, and salt and pepper. Combine well.
  4. Adjust heat to medium-low and pour the mixture over the golden brown potato. Gently move the potato and egg mixture with a wooden spoon until the egg is cooked (2-3 minutes).
  5. Sprinkle with chives and serve immediately.

The midday meal in Germany is traditionally eaten between high noon and 1:00 p.m. It is the main meal of the day. Quite often it consists of potatoes, vegetables and meat, although for the Catholic Germans, the meat on a Friday would either not be included, or it would be fish or some sort of seafood.

Hungry? Let’s prepare and eat one of the traditional German cuisine recipes, that would be typically served mid-day, the meal they call the …

German Cuisine “Mittagessen”

Bratwurst mit Saurer Sahnensosse

(Bratwurst in Sour Cream Sauce)

Bratwurst-with-Sour-Cream-Sauce

Rich, creamy, and hearty, and one of the best German food recipes you’ll ever prepare and enjoy, use a good quality bratwurst for the best results.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
  • 8 thick Bratwurst sausages
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sour cream
Directions:
  1. In a medium to large saucepan, bring enough water to cover the bratwurst sausages to a boil.
  2. Drop the bratwurst sausages in the boiling water. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let sausages soak in the boiling water for about 5 minutes.
  3. Drain the water from the saucepan, remove the bratwurst sausages, pat them dry with paper towels.
  4. In a medium sized skillet melt the unsalted butter over medium heat. Add the bratwurst to the butter and use a fork or tongs to turn them frequently to brown the sausages on all sides.
  5. Add the 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the bratwurst sausages in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Do not cover. Turn the sausages over occasionally.
  6. If too much of the water disappears, add back a few tablespoons of hot water back into the pan.
  7. After the sausages are well browned and cooked through, transfer them to a plate, cover with aluminum foil and store in a warm place.
  8. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, salt and tablespoon of all purpose flour.
  9. Use a tablespoon to transfer the sour cream mixture a bit at a time to the butter, bratwurst drippings mixture. Whisk the cream mixture into the pan and simmer the sauce for roughly 10 minutes to create a smooth, thick texture. Lower the heat a little more. Do not let the mixture come to a boil.
  10. While the sauce is simmering, cut the bratwurst sausages into small pieces. Transfer them back to the skillet and stir to cover them in sauce. Simmer the bratwurst sausages in the sauce until they are hot.
  11. Transfer the finished bratwurst sausages to a serving platter, cover with the sauce and serve hot immediately.

Kaffee und Kuchen

(Coffee and Cake)

kaffee und kuchen

Oftentimes the Germans will have an afternoon snack, especially so on Sundays and special occasions. Usually it consists of simply a sweet bread or cake, with some good strong coffee, and the coffee might be topped with some sweet whipped cream. Try this recipe out, for your German ethnic foods afternoon delight.

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 c. softened butter or margarine
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1-1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 2 egg whites beaten until stiff
  • Confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 recipe topping
Directions:
Cake-
  1. Cream butter and sugar; beat in egg yolks.
  2. Sift dry ingredients add alternately with milk, a little at a time, beating after each addition.
  3. Fold in egg whites.
  4. Roll out blended cake mixture flat, then roll and fold it several times until it is one full roll, and then place it into a greased 9x9x2 pan. Sprinkle topping over.
  5. Bake at 350º about 30 minutes.
  6. Serve warm.
Topping recipe-
  1. Mix 1/3 c. all-purpose flour and 1/4 c. brown sugar; cut in 2 tbsp. salted butter and mix until crumbly.
  2. Spread over warm cakes, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar, and serve.

Serve cakes with fresh brewed strong coffee (suggest Jacobs Kronung Coffee), and provide fresh sweetened whipped cream and granulated white cane sugar for everyone to use as per their tastes.

Abendbrot mit Rettich

(German Bread Dinner with Cheese and Radishes)

Abendbrot mit Rettich

About six in the early evening is typical dinner time in traditional Germany. It is usually a cold meal, a selection/combination of cheese, salad, cold meats, and whatever the choices to be served, they are always served with thick, hearty, artisan bread.

The word, Abendbrot, literally means “evening bread”. A small hot dish of leftovers or a soup might also find its way to the dinner table. Lots of Germans will take herbal or black tea with the meal.

This recipe is a good example, a sampling of the traditional, yet simple German food recipes for the day’s final meal, the Abendbrot mit Rettich.

Ingredients: (serves 2 to 4)
Directions:
  1. Drizzle a bit of EVOO on the sliced bread and toast until golden brown.
  2. Add the thinly sliced cheese rounds on top of the hot toast.
  3. Add the fresh parsley on top of the cheese.
  4. Sprinkle the pink salt and pepper on top of the radish slices. Layer the slices into a neat pile and place on a serving platter, or splay out several slices in a nice pattern beside the bread on the individual serving plates.

This next outstanding example of German cuisine is a traditional easy German food recipe, as well. It’s one of the many things I love about the eats coming out of this country – authentic traditional German food is often much simpler to prepare than the absolutely scrumptious results you get at the dinner table would suggest.

If you have not had the pleasure of tasting this one yet, please come back and leave me a comment afterward. I was just delighted my first time partaking of this exquisitely simple, yet complex textured and tasting dish.

Wiener Schnitzel

(Viennese Cutlet)

German Cuisine: Wiener Schnitzel

Ingredients:
  • 4 veal cutlets (4 to 8 oz. each), pounded to a uniform ¼” thickness (Note: pork or chicken can also be used, but traditional Wiener Schnitzel is veal)
  • ½ cup brown rice flour
  • ½ tsp. freshly ground coarse sea salt
  • ¼ tsp. freshly ground black peppercorns
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 4 large eggs
  • Lard for frying (you can use vegetable oil, if your health consciousness demands it, but again, for the authentic and traditional German cuisine experience, lard is essential)
Directions:
  1. Place the cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap on a heavy, flat surface, and pound them into ¼” thickness with a meat mallet. (or any heavy flat object with a handle, like a cast-iron skillet will work, if you don’t have a meat mallet)
  2. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl, until frothy, then dredge the cutlets through the froth, until coated on all sides.
  3. In another large bowl (or a casserole dish would work, too), combine the rice flour and bread crumbs well, and spread the mixture out, then dredge the egg-coated cutlets through the flour/crumb breading mixture until well coated on all sides. Important! Do not press the breading mixture into the meat—you want a loose covering, a sort of “shell” if you will, when your Wiener Schnitzel is done.
  4. Melt enough lard in a large skillet, over medium-high heat, to where the cutlets are swimming in the lard (or oil, if you are not using lard). This deep frying method will actually result in less fat being absorbed into the breading mixture than having the cutlets resting on the bottom of the pan and sticking to it. It also allows the breading shell to puff up a little, which is desirable.
  5. Fry until the breading mixture coating is a rich, deep golden brown, then remove the cutlets from the pan with a slotted spatula, and set them on a rack placed over some paper towels, to drain off excess fat, and also to allow the cooked cutlets to “set up”.
  6. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes, then serve while still hot, with quartered fresh lemons as a garnish—Wiener Schnitzel tastes great with a light drizzling of lemon juice over it.

 

There are some really great traditional German salads, and this next dish is a salad so filling it is considered among the German main entree recipes.

Spargel Lachs Salat

(Asparagus with Salmon Salad)

asparagus-and-smoked-salmon-salad

Ingredients:

(serves 4)

Directions:
  1. Wash the asparagus, trim off the tough bottom ends, and chop the spears into 1-1/2” long pieces.
  2. Put the asparagus pieces into a large cooking pot, with just enough water to not quite cover them. Add the salt and sugar and bring the water to a rolling boil. Cover the pot and let the asparagus steam/boil for about 5 or 6 minutes—until fork tender, but not mushy in texture. The time will depend on the thickness of your asparagus spears.
  3. Drain the water off the asparagus well, then set aside and allow to cool.
  4. Make the marinade (which doubles as the salad dressing) by combining the raspberry vinegar with sugar, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl, and then whisking in the mustard and oil. Add in the onion, stir and blend together well.
  5. Mix together the salmon chunks (should be bite-sized) and asparagus pieces in another large bowl, then pour the marinade over them, gently toss and blend, making sure all pieces of fish and asparagus are coated, then refrigerate for at least a half an hour.
  6. While the salad is marinating, hard boil the eggs, peep and quarter them.
  7. To serve, place a bed of lettuce leaves on each serving plate, then a generous helping of the marinated ingredients, add also 4 boiled egg quarters, and garnish with croutons and fresh dill. Have a peppermill grinder on the table for those who wish some freshly ground black pepper on their salad.

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