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 | | Guten Appetit! - Trends in the German kitchen | | |
German cuisine has long suffered somewhat of an inferiority complex in comparison to that of its neighbours in France and Italy. Traditional German cuisine is hearty with rich sauces, pork and beef, and potatoes or Spätzel. Specialities like sauerbraten with sauerkraut and pureed potatoes often seemed better suited to a restaurant with waiters in Lederhosen than one serving fine cuisine. This is the kind of food that is best washed down with a stein of beer. Still, this staid reputation is melting away like a succulent dessert from one of Germany's star chefs. Long known in their own country, Germans like Alfons Schubeck, brothers Dieter and Jörg Müller, Eckhard Witzigmann are enabling the cuisine to step out of the shadow of their European counterparts on the international scene. While more and more Germans are enjoying pasta with pesto sauce, hamburgers, or enchiladas at home, German cuisine is making a renaissance, particularly traditional German fare with a new twist. |
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Good plain cooking
One of the leaders of the back to the roots movement is Bavarian Alfons Schubeck, who long ascended to the rank of star chef in Germany. He is even a fixture on the German Bavarian (BRD) television station. At his restaurant 'Schubeck in den Südtiroler Stüben, star chef Schubeck serves up traditional classics like country-style duck, mountain trout, and white cabbage. He takes pride in the fact that he has spurned trendy cooking for the classics: “East meets West, California free style or fusion kitchen remain foreign terms in my kitchen. My programme is based on local roots, quality, and freshness – in a word Bavarian.” Nor does he put much stock in calorie counters who have forgotten how to enjoy life and let go. He also breaks with the stereotype that German food is bland. “I like to use spices and seasoning.” His latest book Hausmannkost für Feinschmecker, roughly translated as Plain cooking for Gourmets, underscores these sentiments.
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The three-star chef
Dieter Müller’s food is also anything but plain. Born in the heart of Germany's Black Forest in 1948, Dieter Müller burst upon the international scene back in 1987 when Gault & Millau named him ‘Chef of the Year’. Two years later, they recognised the budding German star as one of the six best chefs in the world. He further cemented his reputation in 1997 by becoming only the second German to receive a coveted third star from the Michelin Guide. (Today six restaurants in Germany hold this honour.) Earlier this year he followed up his Secrets of Three-Star Cooking, which won the the Prix La Mazille International for the best cookbook, with his new book Dieter Müller: ‘Einfach und genial. Die Aromenküche des Meisterkochs’, translated as Dieter Müller Simply Brilliant – The aromatic kitchen of the master chef.
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Dining with the stars
What's on the menu this month at his Restaurant Dieter Müller at the Schloss Lerbach in Bergisch-Gladbeck, outside of Colonge? For starters, he prepares succulent turbot filets topped fresh perennial celery flakes and seasoned with a pungent saffron-and-tarragon mixture. The main course consists of medallions of elk with a crust of mushrooms in a vegetable broth served with red cabbage and traditional German ‘Schupf’ noodles. No reason to worry about going home hungry, Müller believes in serving up healthy portions. “Each plate should have plenty on it,” he adds. Mr. Müller tops off the meal with a heavenly brioche covered in an orange-blossom and brandy syrup and almond-cream sauce. By the way, his brother Jörg is no slouch himself at his Meine Sylter Küche on the German Island of Sylt, on the North Sea.
Combining show business and gourmet cooking
Born in Austria, Master Chef Eckhard Witzigmann is also certainly no newcomer to the German culinary landscape. As chef cook at the Tantris and Aubergine, he has expanded the horizons of the country’s cooking by combining Nouvelle Cuisine with recipes that Germans grew up eating in their grandmother’s kitchens. Cooking like Mom’s is also the theme of his new book with TV-cook Alfred Biolek called Rezepte wie wir sie mögen. Alte und neue Klassiker, which can be translated as Recipes the way we like them – Old and New Classics.
He combines gourmet cooking with a flair for show business with his Gatro-Theatre experience Palazzo this winter. A mouth-watering four-course meal and a show filled with top acrobats, performance artists, and live music is what visitors to the Bayernmetropole in Munich can expect from 05 November 2003 until 15 February 2004. Both the entertainment and the menu have already delighted guests at performances in Munich and Frankfurt. The menu features a crab mousse as an appetiser. This treat is followed up by a succulent turbot filet on a bed of barley risotto. The main course consists of veal in a white-bread crust. He finishes with a flourish – a cappuccino mousse with home-made banana and coconut ice cream. Little wonder Gault Millaut recognised him as the ‘Chef of the Century’ in 1994 and was accepted to the ‘Hall of Fame de Grands Chefs’ in 1999.
Eating well in Germany has clearly become easier in the last decade with a wider choice and more creative cooking. With the cook books of some of these household names or, better still, a cooking course with them, fine German cooking is something that people can enjoy in the privacy of their own homes. As the Germans say, ‘Guten Appetit!’ |
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© July 2010 - European Publications GmbH
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