Cathy Z, if you are around and dry...what kind of pork roast did your mom use in the

And speaking of pork, here's an old family favorite: Piggy Pudding

For those tough cheap roasts, this was one of my favorite foods growing up.

Not really a recipe, but here goes:

Place the chunk of pork in a pot. Simmer until nearly done at a very low temp (this would be several hours usually). About 30 minutes before it is finished. Add several chopped onions and several stalks of diced celery (carrots are something I add now that they didn't). Let the pork cool in the pot and refrigerate. It is preferable to do this the day before.

Skim the solidified fat layer from the pot. Shred the pork. Combine it with a loaf of bread (they used white, now I use a rich potato or egg bread). Strain the broth and add the vegetables, sage, and 5-6 eggs. Moisten well with the broth and turn into a greased baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour, or until it is sinfully puffed up and golden brown on the crust, and wonderfully custardy on the inside.

Make a roux with the pork fat. Stir in the reserved remaining pork broth to make gravy (I add Kitchen Bouquet).

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve a spoon full of the pudding, with a piece of crust attached, then nap it with the gravy. Pass the rest of the gravy at the table.

This is comfort food at its finest.

 
Rec: Ananas Sauerkraut (Pineapple Sauerkraut)

1 Onion, chopped
100 g bacon
1 bay leaf
1 package sauerkraut, rinsed, soaked, rinsed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 Pikkolo Champagne ( or use a big bottle and drink the rest!)
1/2 can pineapple (crushed) with juice
4 tbls. honey
pinch of cayenne pepper

Dice the bacon and fry until nearly done, then add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cover and let the juices reduce.

» 1 Zwiebel
» 100 g Speck; durchwachsen
» 1 Lorbeerblatt
» 1 Dos. Sauerkraut
» 1 Pikkolo
» 1/2 Dos. Ananas; mit Saft
» 4 El. Honig
» - - Cayennepfeffer

 
Rec: Fritierte Ananas-Sauerkraut (Pineapple Sauerkraut Fritters)

Use 500 grams of the pineapple sauerkraut to 100 grams of flour. Add a tsp. of baking powder. Let sit for 30 min.

Form little balls and fry in hot fat until golden brown (about 8 minutes).

Drain on paper and serve hot.

 
Rec: Sektkraut (Champagne Sauerkraut)

1 Onion
1/2 apple, a tart fall apple is best
20 g butter
500 g sauerkraut (refrigerated in a bag)
1/8 liter chicken broth
10 juniper berries (press them with the back of a spoon to lightly crush them, but leave them intact)
1 bay leaf
2 tbls. honey (forest or acacia)
200 g. white grapes, seeded if not seedless, and halved
1/4 liter champagne
120 g whipping cream
10 g butter

Dice the onion and apple. Sweat the onion and apple in the butter until tender.

Add the spices, kraut, and broth. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the honey, grapes, and one half of the champagne. Cover and simmer another 20 minutes.

Stir in the cream and butter and the rest of the champagne.

 
Now that is interesting. My mom used to make a sauerkraut salad...

with green peppers, onions, oil and sugar. I always assumed that it was a North American concoction but maybe it had some European roots.

And yes, there are so many wonderful memories! My grandfather seemed incapable of thinking in small quantities. I can still visualize the day they pulled up in the half-ton and unloaded a filled-to-the-brim truck bed of rhubarb on the back lawn! And, as us kids stood there slack-jawed, he admonished my mom to "mach schnell" and get it "put up" as there was another load coming next week!!!

It was always a great adventure when they came in to town or when we went out there to them - so many stories...

 
What fun...

Yes, there is a Krautsalat like you're describing. One will usually find it as part of a "Gemischte Salat Teller" (mixed salad plate) that accompanies a lot of Bavarian/Austrian restaurant meals. There will be a little spoonful of the kraut salad, a tomato salad, a potato salad, a bean salad, etc. All arranged in a ring on the plate with lettuce lining the bottom.

I was lucky enough that my Great Great Grandfather lived until I was about 9. What a gruff old kraut he was (he looked like Bismark, LOL). Definitely old school. The produce from his gardens was prodigious and of every variety. And, like you said, "Mach Schnell!" the Frauen had to put it up for the winter.

 
I grew up in a German household, both parents were "off the boat" immigrants.

Your recipes always remind me of home.

 
Hmmmm....now that you mention it, mom also made a bean salad...

using frenched green beans, onions, oil, a little vinegar and sugar... maybe that too had European roots. I'm learning all kinds of stuff here...lol!

And what long lived ancestors you had - lucky you - good genes! I know what you mean by old school. The only photograph we possess of my one grandfather depicts him with a Charlie Chaplin mustache, but his expression indicates that no comedic bone would have dared reside in his body...lol!!!

Richard, it HAS been fun tripping down memory lane with you...

 
Thank you Cathy Z and Richard for sharing your recipes using sauerkraut! I have squirreled ...

them away for when I can get my hands on some good sauerkraut again :eek:)

 
Ang thanks for the kind words...

it's so hard to cling to the traditions once they're removed from their native habitat. I've clung to them so closely although no one else in the family did. They're very special to me as well as all the memories of those that went before. I'm glad you're enjoying the recipes and the memories.

 
and I forgot, the strudel dough...

I admit I usually use phyllo. It's just too easy. But when I really want to reach back, the old world stretched sheets will only do the trick.

 
Definitely has teutonic roots. That's the basic recipe...

for a lot of the germanic salads. One or two simple ingredients with a simple vinaigrette and maybe an herb, then combined with others on a plate to make the simple building blocks part of a bigger picture.

 
Don't forget Fleischsalat---I had the best in Munich waaay back in 1972

when I attended the Olympics there and we would wander down to the big department stores and in the basement they had these fabulous delis with fab salads. We students were so hungry for salads, since our student group was being fed by the Red Cross in Big tents just outside the Olympic park and the daily menu was a HUGE knoedel(dumpling) with some kind of mystery meat. We did have lovely broetchen(hard rolls) every morning with cheese and jam and a new box of those chocolate candy fruit sticks, a new box every day. Can we say overload on those! We were on our own for dinner though. Ah, memories.

 
I lost my Mom 2 years ago, so I try to bake up some Stollen every year

to send to my Dad and sisters, and now at Easter we always had Ukranian Easter Bread since my Mom grew up there in a German settlement. I'll try to bake some this year again, but my husband is fighting cancer just now, and I don't know if I have it in me this year, but I do find baking to be theraputic for me these days.

 
NFRC: What a small world! I too was in Munich that summer! In my case, however, it..

was just a few days before the start of the Olympics.

I was touring with a youth orchestra, but I can't recall if we did a concert in that city (must have, otherwise why did we stop there?) but I do recall wandering around on the Olympic grounds one evening as they were testing the lighting systems and such.

Wow, what memories this has stirred up for me!!!

Our group was DEATHLY sick of those lovely buns, midway through the tour, as they were the mainstay of every single breakfast. We would have loved some fruit or at least some variety. There was definitely a serious lack of fresh food and/or fiber in our daily diet and being part of an organized tour, it was very difficult to make individual purchases. The lack of fibre was of special concern to us because we found ourselves on a buses - several hours, everyday, for about 3 weeks. I can tell you it did a real number on our internal systems - lol!

As for fleischsalat - never had it there but the local German deli makes it fresh here...

Wonderful memories indeed! Just think - a couple of days shift in our schedules and we could have passed one another in the crowd ;o)

 
WOW Ruth, small world!! We probably did pass each other as I was there a few days

early too, if I recall(it was a lonnnnng time ago). I was with a youth group as well. It was a German sports group that my Aunt and Uncle from Bremen were chaperoning and I was allowed to be part of the group along with my cousin. We stayed in schools and slept on these great boxy air mattresses. We had metro passes and it was such fun. I even got my backside pinched while climbing up those metro stairs. I hear ya about the rolls, but wouldn't I love to have one(or 2) for breakfast tomorrow!! No chance in finding anything like that up here. Our bakeries are sad.

 
It's like we were living in parallel worlds! ...

Our youth orchestra was invited to participate at the 1972 International Festival of Youth Orchestras in Lausanne, Switzerland. After the festival was done, we toured Switzerland, Austria and Germany, giving a few concert performances along the way. A film crew from the Canadian National Film board even travelled along with us and produced a documentary. It was all SOOOOO much fun!!!

Similar to your group, while in Lausanne, the youth orchestras were housed in schools, 2 orchestras to a school - designed to allow for the spirit of international community and friendship to develop.

We were paired with the tiny Yugoslavian orchestra. Our icebreaker was discovering that we had a common interest in the Beatles - lol! First thing you know someone was at the piano and a spontaneous sing-along was soon underway - we had transcended the common language of music and found ... the Beatles - lol!

I'm flooded with so many lovely, lovely memories of that time...

The Red Cross supplied our cots and bedding - the pillows were filled with a bristly, unyielding substance that was akin to straw. We also bought some sort of traveling passes and bounced around Lausanne with great glee. Our midday and evening meals were held in the Palais de Beaulieu (sp)- a mixture of youth from many countries - all mingling together in one big happy group.

It was the experience of a lifetime for a bunch of eager and adventurous kids!

As for buns, we are lucky to have several very good German delis and bakeries here, so we can't complain on that front. I must confess, however that I tend to frequent our excellent Italian grocer's more - seems to fit in better with my current dietary habits.

This is just too much fun - finding someone with a similar past experience and getting a chance to relive and share it!

(Hugs!)

 
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