Drink! More! Wine!

We knew it all along that red wine cannot be bad for you ... It even cuts down cancer risk if you marinate your steak in it first - and it tastes great!

So I've read on BBC, check it out if you need more convincing for pairing your favorite cut with a good glass... I wonder whether internally mixing of the ingredients might help against cancer as well? I've been testing that for a couple of years now, and so far it works..

And, if you're more in the beer-mood, that works just fine as well!
In case you need guidance on cooking with beer: here is a german blog describing pork pot roast in a beer sauce, with potato dumplings - the pictures should guide you along pretty well even if you don't understand german :)

Let me remind you also that in the state of looming and lurking economical crises the consumption of goods is essential to keep the business spirit high and deflation low.. so, keep drinking. Keep marinating. And enjoy the transition into the new year, may it be filled with good food & happy news!

Power to the wineries!

Counterintuitive point #1: Accelerating aging is a good thing.
Counterintuitive point #2: Car batteries & wine go well together.


Chinese researchers seem to have had these paradoxical thoughts. They exposed young red wine to strong electrical fields, let sommeliers test the result, et voilà: the wine had magically matured, improved beyond wildest imaginations.

Here's the recipe from their abstract:
"An optimum treatment, with electric field 600 V/cm and treatment time 3 min, was identified to accelerate wine aging, which made the harsh and pungent raw wine become harmonious and dainty."

Empowering your local winery may soon get a whole new meaning!


But for now, keep your powertools & batteries away from your glass..

Fire it up!

Another cold day, and the temperatures are a good reason to think up other ways of keeping warm.

Around this time of the year, there is a great tradition in Tuebingen, an very old picturesque town in southern Germany..On the "Haagtorplatz", outdoors, the movie "Die Feuerzangenbowle" is shown at night, when it is freezing cold, sometimes snowing. People gather, wrapped up in woolen scarves to protect themselves from the icy wind, and watch this great movie, and drink the "Feuerzangenbowle", prepared on the spot, for a huge crowd - here's how that looks & sounds:


Feuer (fire) zangen (tongs) bowle (punch) - hear how it's pronounced - is Gluehwein (mulled wine), with a sugar cone placed over it, the sugar cone being soaked in rum, and then lit. The sugar burns, more rum is poured over it, while it burns, it all drips into the mulled wine. When the sugar has all disappeared in the wine, it is ready to drink - warm and highly alcoholic, and really really tasty..

Watch this video to see how it is done - you might want to do that at a good distance from your smoke-detectors...

Spice it up!

It is still cold. My rum has gone the path that all good rum, in my house, has to take eventually, and has disappeared in those last sips of hot tea. Grog, that is.

Now what?

I will follow the leads of my ancestors who had the great insight to heat up whatever alcoholic beverage they could find, and add spices as they found appropriate for the season.

So, how about a glass of hot wine?

The "Gluehwein" (glowing wine, or mulled wine) concept is simple: warm up red wine with sugar and christmas spices, such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, and a slice or two of orange (some add lemon, I prefer orange). If you let the wine stand for a while first with the spices, and then heat them up to warm them for 10-20 minutes (without ever boiling it) the spices will nicely get into the wine. You can try now and then to test whether it needs more sugar, or more time to spice it up.

Here is a nice recipe you might want to try, and here another one that sounds great as well. Most recipes I found online use water. I never do that, the wine itself with sugar & spices is just fine.. however, admittedly, somewhat deadly. Even more deadly is this one: with brandy! Sounds great..
Try & find out what you like.

In germany, you will find Gluehwein sold on every christmas market, in bottles or cardboard boxes (like juice/milk boxes) for sale in the grocerie store, all ready to warm & drink, and there are Gluehwein-spice teabags as well that can be put into the wine while heating it up.

It'll make you happy and fuzzy and guaranteed very warm..
Enjoy!

Heat it up!

It's frickin' cold. It really is. I've been freezing on my way home, and now, two hours and two bowls of hot spicy thai-style chicken coconut broccoli soup laterI finally feel that my bodytemperature has somewhat recovered.
To get it back up to normal & cozy, I do what is a custom thing to do among freezing people in Germany.. I drink a Grog.
Originally, it may have been hot tea with a splash of rum, possibly after 18th-century British admiral Edward Vernon, nicknamed Old Grog for the grogram fabric cloak he wore (although wiki gives various possible backgrounds), who made his sailors drink rum with water, sugar and lime to help against scurvy.
But the following recipe, the best I know, gives you the spirit of what it is about - a warm, and warming, drink at a cold winter night:

Rum muss.
Zucker kann.
Wasser braucht nicht.

Rum a must. Sugar optional. Water not needed.

If this recipe is too light for you, here is another one from one of my favorite writers that is more "spirited":

Kurt Tucholsky:
"Aus meinem Privatkochbuch: Man nehme guten alten Whiskey, fülle ihn in eine nicht zu kleine Suppenterrine, rühre gut um, und geniesse das Getränk - soweit angängig - nüchtern. Anmerkung: Der Whiskey muss von Zeit zu Zeit erneuert werden."

From my private cookbook: take good old whiskey, fill it into a soup bowl, stir well, and enjoy the beverage - as far as agreeable - without food. Note: the whiskey has to be renewed from time to time.
Note from me: there is no harm in using Rum instead of Whiskey.

Now I feel warmer.. :)

Nectar of the gods

Two nights ago, I had the pleasure to taste mead home-made by a friend's friend, lovely people willing to share a godly drink with me..
Mead, in german called "Met", also known as honeywine, or, in the old germanic and wikings time, as drink or "nectar of the gods". They knew why they called it that..

It contains all the good stuff from honey, lots of vitamins and minerals; warmed it tastes wonderful at cold winter nights, and helps against colds, both warming you up, soothing a sore throat, making you nicely sleepy and providing biochemical support for your immune system to fight off the intruders.

As one of the oldest, or the oldest alcoholic drink known to mankind, it deserves a special hommage: it is known since about 7000 BC from China (!), at least 3500 BC in egypt, and has been brewed by the Germanics in central Europe around 1000 BC, long before the Wikings roamed the region.

One idea how the Germanics came to make mead so early is the following: for long trips by sea, bee pollen were stored on board and eaten by the crew to prevent skorbut. To protect the pollen, they were covered with a layer of honey. If the honey was too young, and thus contained too much water, or if the container was not air-tight such that the pollen could draw water from the outside air, then spontaneous fermentation could occur. The resulting mead was an unexpected surprise for the Germanics, and thus was considered a gift of the gods.Making mead caught on easily with the Wikings, who liked roman wine, but lived in regions too cold to grow grapes.

Wiki tells us this how they might have made it:

“

Take of spring water what quantity you please, and make it more than blood-warm, and dissolve honey in it till 'tis strong enough to bear an egg, the breadth of a shilling; then boil it gently near an hour, taking off the scum as it rises; then put to about nine or ten gallons seven or eight large blades of mace, three nutmegs quartered, twenty cloves, three or four sticks of cinnamon, two or three roots of ginger, and a quarter of an ounce of Jamaica pepper; put these spices into the kettle to the honey and water, a whole lemon, with a sprig of sweet-briar and a sprig of rosemary; tie the briar and rosemary together, and when they have boiled a little while take them out and throw them away; but let your liquor stand on the spice in a clean earthen pot till the next day; then strain it into a vessel that is fit for it; put the spice in a bag, and hang it in the vessel, stop it, and at three months draw it into bottles. Be sure that 'tis fine when 'tis bottled; after 'tis bottled six weeks 'tis fit to drink.[17]

”

In simple words: take lots of honey, add some water, maybe some lemon juice, brewer's yeast and some additional nutrients for the yeast, put all that in a big jar with gas valve so it won't explode, and let it do its thing.

And, maybe a year later or less, fill the golden liquid into bottles and distribute it to friends.
That's where I come in, have a dear friend come over with one of those bottles, and we drink to our health all night. :)

Kraut-Pork-Brezen-Beer

Let's continue with the Oktoberfest menu before Oktober is over...
What should such a menu feature? Sauerkraut, pork, Brezeln, Beer should be the basics, and that's what we'll deal with here:

The Oktoberfest staples


****

THE one major veggie item on the Oktoberfest menu has to be Sauerkraut!
Do I need to comment on this? Maybe a little - there are big differences in how much Sauerkraut one eats, and how it is prepared, across Germany. Actually, germans do not eat it a whole lot to begin with. A few times in the winter, and that's it. I've never seen Sauerkraut being eaten in spring or summer until I came to the US, and never ever on a sausage.

Making it involves frying bacon, and adding the Kraut, adding spices (cloves, juniper berries, bay leaves, pepper, salt), and, according to one's preference, mellowing agents to reduce the acidity of the Sauerkraut. This almost always is butter, and can be in addition pieces of apple. Some people throw uncountable numbers of butter sticks into the pot (after it is cooked well and almost ready, the butter should not be heated up too high), others just add a little spoonful, almost as a spice. This choice also instantly changes the way this dish behaves as either a side or center of the meal.

If you are into do-it yourself the whole way, here's a link to make Sauerkraut yourself. It is very healthy - I'm not sure if I would trust it for dealing with birdflu though as that site claims...


***

Depending on which kind of meat is available, you can find Kloesse on your Oktoberfest menu, or Knoedel, dumplings made either from potatoes or bread. A real staple food of Oktoberfest, unthinkable of not being present, and also commonly served in beer gardens all over Germany, however, are Brezeln, or, in bavaria, "Brezen", specifically Laugenbrezeln.

These on the picture were actually made by me and found lots of old and new friends at the Oktoberfest. They are based on a recipe from a book ( "Das Kochbuch aus dem Saarland") I keep referring to a lot - here is how they are made:

make a yeast dough from 500 g flour, 40 g yeast (or 1 pack of dry yeast), 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1/8 l milk, 2 eggs, a pinch of salt, 125 g butter (unsalted, please).
Let the dough rise and be happy, and then take little pieces, roll them into long finger-thick snakes and tie them into the Brezel-shape.
Let them sit again to rise a little and prepare the 'Lauge' that gives the Laugen-Brezel its name & special flavor: boil 1l water with 100g baking soda. When the water is clear, let it be simmering or just lightly boiling. Carefully slide the brezeln individually into the water (they sometimes like to unwind if you're not careful enough..), let them float in the water for about 30 seconds.
Take them out, put them on a baking sheet, let them cool down a little, brush with egg yolk (I mix it with a little water to make it easier to brush on), sprinkle coarse sea salt on, and bake at 220 deg C (425 deg F) about 10-20 minutes. Check back early to see how brown they look - when they look great, they taste great - eat them as fresh as possible, still warm they are really addictive.


***

I failed. Miserably. There was Bratwurst, and I did not even try it!
Yes, shame on me. But, honestly, I wasn't in the mood. The Nashville-Oktoberfest Bratwurst got many good reviews, though, and looked alright, and can be bought at Publix, so I heard. Go, try it.

Anyhow, in the context of german food, I need a different thing than what you can get at Publix - here's my Bratwurst concept:

You go to a little takeaway. A very heavy elderly lady with bleached curly hair that appears a little on the greasy side after a day of hanging out in that little fryer-world, in a white work-dress, almost like a labcoat, grabs a couple of those long, slender sausages, clear casing, filled with white, finely ground meat, with very small speckles from parsley. She throws them on the grill, rolls a few previously started ones around to get nicely brown outside. She takes a white wheat bun, soft inside, with a lightly crunchy crust, that makes a crackling sound as she cuts it half open with that huge knife, picks one of those beautifully browned, partly broken up sausages for me, and shoves it into the bun, so sausage looks out on both ends. She hands it to me, I use the mustard-push-device to cover the sausage along its whole length - there it is. Not even just Bratwurst. It is Rostwurst.

So, yes, I haven't had Bratwurst at the Oktoberfest. Don't blame me, I'm spoiled. :)


***

Beer - beer? Yes, well.. I'm not big on bavarian Weissbier. Sorry. The Oktoberfest in Nashville actually did not feature that either - there was some good stuff from the local Blackstone brewery, something a little on the malty side, I forgot which one.. Nashville is actually a really nice city for beer drinkers - there are several small breweries, each with distinct specialties that one can get seriously used to. If you get the chance, get a sampling set and an appetizing cheese plate & roasted nuts at hidden special treat Yazoo, then go to Big River on Broadway, have a heavy southern dinner, like Magnolia ribs with your magnolia brown ale, watch cowboy hats in horse carts passing by and listen to the distant noise of the downtown music scene, then move up-town to Boscos on 21st for another sample set & apple crisp for dessert...
and if you don't have enough yet, join me at 12th South Taproom to find more beers to select from then you can count at that point..

Aeppelkeschd

Talking to Joe last night reminded me on the fruit trees in my home area - he was telling me about small apple trees that friends of his are planning to put into their backyard. The trees are basically hybrids, i.e. set on top of a different tree that does not get very large. This way, one can have a full-fledged apple orchard in a relatively confined space. Yield is similar to full-size trees, but with the hybridization come also fortitudes of the tree partner into play - the new tree might be small, but also more hardy in different climates, more robust against different diseases etc.
Germany has a very long tradition of hybridization of trees. Saarland, specifically, also named the "apple box of Germany" (in the local dialect: "Aeppel kischt"), has hills full with apple, but also pear, and plum trees, most of them hybrids.

Every local family used to have a little piece of land somewhere on the hills surrounding the respective village, with a couple of nice, old trees on them (Streuobstwiesen). Comes fall, one can go and harvest, collecting the fruit on the tree, but also those that have already fallen to the ground. It was normal for us as kids to go for a walk with the parents on these hills in fall, collect fruit, pick some berries, eat some apples and plums on the way, and mostly we would not stick to our own families piece of land, but picked fruit, pretty much only for direct consumption, from any tree that had something nice to offer.

Lots of the apple varieties there are not commercially available in a normal grocery store. Some are very small and sour ("Viezaepfel") and used exclusively for Viez-production. Some have a very strong skin, tough texture, and a not very sweet, but really great flavor, like "Boskop"; those are used a lot in apple pies, or apple sauce, where they are mostly mixed with other varieties as well, or as Bratapfel.
One can harvest all the apples on one's own land, bring them to Merziger, the fruit juice company, stand in line with all the other locals with their boxes and barrels and baskets full of fruit, get the harvest weighed, and according to yield, trade it in against fresh apple juice and Viez. The company receives the harvest of the year for nothing, all locally grown, fresh, and basically organic, and we, the apple tree owners, don't have to deal with fruit press and bottling and, if having only the sour and tart Viezaepfel, receive sweet apple juice we'd never get out of these fruit.
A perfect deal.

Dornfelder - the german Red

German wines are commonly thought to be white, maybe along the lines of Riesling, sometimes very dry, some very sweet and fruity, dependent on which region they come from, with an almost metallic smell that speaks to the slate the vines thrive on.
Rarely one talks about german reds, and, in my opinion, which is tainted by a strong bias towards liking heavy-body wines like Rioja, Ochoa, Cabernet etc., there are good reasons for being not too excited about red grapes from central-north europe. Typically, red vines are less hardy in the german climate, also the traditional viticulture in Germany does not appeal to those plants, and the grapes that are grown are more light red, almost rose in color, and taste rather like that as well. All good for someone who really likes Trollinger and Lemberger, but I was never cut out for those wines.

But, I have to revise my opinion.

Recently, I drank two different german red wines, both from the Dornfelder grape, and was really stunned - one of them was aged in a barrique by the Weintor winemaker cooperative, and could have almost been a Rioja, in terms of oakiness, while being really soft and round, or Cabernet, in terms of complexity of flavours, a very rich nose with lots of berries jumping at you, blackberries and maybe cherry, a very deep red color - the kind of wine I want to take home with me.
Apparently, this grape is really doing well in the german climate (and has been crossed from the Helfensteiner and Heroldrebe vines for this purpose and other features, by August Herold in 1956), that can be a little tough on other reds, and being grown as well in England, and in colder areas of the United States.

I'll be looking out for this one.