Top 10 German foods – with recipesexpatica.com/de/about/cuisine/top-10-german-foods-with-recipes-106759

Home About Germany Cuisine Top 10 German foods – with recipes

Each German region has its own speciality dishes plusvariations of top German cuisine. Here are 10 topGerman foods you have to try, recipes included.German food is rich, hearty and delicious and many top German dishes make great comfortfood. Each region has its own speciality dishes and traditional cuisine, and your list of top 10German foods can easily change from one city to the next.

Many German foods are easier to make than you think, and you’ll find it’s not too difficult toincorporate one of these dishes into your weekly meals. Besides this, the Germanfermented cabbage salad known as sauerkraut has been found to be probiotic-rich and fullof vitamins. What better way to explore German culture than creating your own Germanfood specialties?

Here is a list of the top 10 German foods and some of the best German recipes to makeyour own – both authentic and with a twist.

Guten Appetit!

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1. RouladenThis typical German food involves wrapping thinly sliced meat – usually beef but also veal orpork – around a filling of bacon or pork belly, chopped onions, pickles and usually mustard,and then browned and simmered in broth (braised). The mixture changes between regions,with some variations including minced meat. It is common to serve this dish with gravy,dumplings, mashed potato or blaukraut (cooked red cabbage). This was once considered acommon dish using cheap meats but is now eaten at festivals, weekends and family meals.

Make your own:

This video shows the preparation process.Try a rouladen recipe from oma (grandma).Experiment with mushroom stuffed pork rouladen

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2. KäsespätzleThese soft egg noodles are Germany’s answer to pasta. Spätzle is especially popular in thesouth of Germany and considered a Swabian speciality and associated with the Baden-Württemberg state, although the origin of this dish is disputed and variations are found inneighbouring countries. These noodles made from wheat flour and egg are often servedtopped with cheese (käsespätzle) – rather like macaroni cheese – and sometimes with

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roasted onions too. They are also used to accompany German meat dishes that use lots ofsauce or gravy, such as Rouladen, or in stews, such as Gaisburger Marsch (a Swabian stew).They are sometimes served boiling hot, straight from the pan, so be careful. When cooking,a Swabian guide is to use one more egg than the number of guests. In some regions thedough is mixed with other ingredients, such as cherries or apples (Kirschspätzle orApfelspätzle respectively, common in Allgäu), liver (Leberspätzle), saukraut (Krautspätzle) oreven using beer instead of water.

Make your own:

Classic käsespätzle recipe with lots of great reviews, or try a German-language rezept.Find insipiration and instructions with this recipe with pictures.Find tips on getting the right consistency.

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3. Rote grützeRote grütze is a red fruit pudding that is a popular dessert in northern Germany. It’s madefrom black and red currants, raspberries and sometimes strawberries or cherries, which arecooked in their juices and thickened with a little cornstarch or cornflour. It’s served withcream (sahne), milk or vanilla sauce or ice-cream.

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Make your own:

Quick and simple rote grütze recipe.Serve it with a vanilla custard sauce.Watch a video guide.

4. Eintopf4. EintopfA steaming bowl of eintopf will warm anyone on a cold day. The name of this traditionalGerman stew literally means ‘one pot’ and refers to the way of cooking rather than a specificrecipe. However, most recipes contain the same basic ingredients: a broth, vegetables,potatoes or pulses and then some meat (commonly pork, beef or chicken) or sometimesfish. There are many eintopf regional specialities, such as lumpen und flöh (which means ‘ragsand fleas’) in the Kassel area, similar to Irish stew, or with lentils (linseneintopf) typical inThüringen.

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Make your own:

Grünkohleintopf – kale with smoked meat and sausages.Try a warming bean and pork eintopf or lentil sweet-and-sour eintopf.A vegetable option (in German) and sweet and sour lentil recipe.

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5. SauerbratenGermans love their meat dishes, and sauerbraten (meaning ‘sour’ or ‘pickled’ roast) is a potroast that’s regarded as one of the country’s national dishes. It can be made from manydifferent meats, which are marinated in wine, vinegar, spices, herbs and seasoning for up to10 days. This recipe is ideal for tenderising cheap meat cuts. Schweinebraten is a deliciousroast pork dish usually served with braised cabbage or sauerkraut and dumplings (knoedel),and washed down with a pilsner beer.

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Make your own:

A family recipe for sauerbraten.Rheinischer sauerbraten recipe (in German).Cook in a crockpot.

6. Kartoffelpuffer, Klösse and BratkartoffelnSurveying the top German foods, one might come to the conclusion that Germans love thepotato. Certainly it is a common ingredient in many German foods and side dishes.

Kartoffelpuffer are shallow pan-fried pancakes made from grated or ground potatoes mixedwith flour, egg, onion and seasoning. You can enjoy them either salty as a side dish to amain course of meat or fish, or sweet with apple sauce, blueberries, sugar and cinnamon.Look out for them in outdoor markets in the winter.

German potato dumplings (Kartoffelknödel or Kartoffel Klösse) are also a common staple indishes, served either as a side or main dish, in soups or sweet. You may see dumplings onmenus called Klösse (or Klöße, said ‘kla-sa’) in west and north Germany and Knödel (said ‘ka-na-del’) in south-east Germany, or sometimes filled with fruit or meat.

Another common German side dish made of potatoes is bratkartoffeln, sometimes referredto as Germany’s answer to fries. It’s a basic but tasty recipe that involves boiling potatoesand then frying them with bacon and onion.

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Make your own:

This step-by-step photo recipe shows kartoffelpuffer being made.This German recipe includes a video plus ideas for sweet and savoury potato pancakecombinations.Try this bratkartoffeln recipe.Choose from a number of sweet and savoury German dumpling recipes or try apricot-filled dumplings.

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7. BrezelBrezel are soft, white pretzels made from flour water and yeast and sprinkled with salt (andsometimes different seeds). It’s great to eat as a side dish or snack, especially with a strongGerman beer. They’re in every bakery and on street stands, sold plain, sliced and buttered(butterbrezel) or with slices of cold meats or cheese.

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Make your own:

Try Laugenbrezel, traditional German pretzels.Pretzel recipe with rave reviews.Top-rated brezel recept (in German).

8. Schwarzwälder KirschtorteYou’ll find lots of cakes and tarts to tempt you in Germany, commonly made with fresh fruit.Few can resist a huge slice of the most famous of German cakes: the deliciousSchwarzwalder Kirschtorte, or Black Forest gateau. The cake is named after SchwarzwalderKirschwasser, which is a liqueur distilled from tart cherries. Alternating layers of richchocolate cake, cherries and whipped cream are topped off with more cream, maraschinocherries and chocolate shavings.

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Make your own:

A recipe from the Black Forest.Try a classic Black Forest gateau recipe, or with extra cream.The cupcake version.

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9. Schnitzel and apple strudelWhat do these dishes have in common? They are both the national dishes of Austria,although they have also been adopted into German cuisine and in restaurants worldwide.

A schnitzel is a thin, boneless cutlet of meat, which is coated in breadcrumbs and oftenserved with a slice of lemon. You can choose a Wiener Schnitzel (Viennese schnitzel), which ismade of veal, or a Schnitzel Wiener Art made of pork (Schwein). If you order a Hamburg-styleschnitzel, it will arrive with a fried egg on top, while a Holsten-style schnitzel will come withan egg, anchovies and capers.

Apfelstrudel (apple strudel) is a popular dessert of buttery pastry filled with apples flavouredwith sugar, cinnamon, raisins and breadcrumbs. It became popular in the 18th centuryunder the Habsburg empire. The delicate flakey pastry is made from an elastic dough, which

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is kneaded and stretched until it’s almost paper thin. The thin pastry layers are butteredtogether, before being wrapped around the apple filling and baked. It’s served warm inslices sprinkled with powdered or icing sugar.

Make your own:

Try an ‘original’ German-language recipe for Wiener Schnitzel, or one in English.If you don’t fancy veal, try chicken schnitzel.A lemon and thyme pork schnitzel with potato salad.German apfelstrudel rezept from the imperial Schönbrunn bakery, or cheat with filopastryQuick apple and pecan strudel with cinnamon.

10. WurstThere are more than 1500 different types of Wurst (sausage) made in Germany and you’llfind street stalls selling them everywhere. The most popular include Bratwurst (friedsausage) made of ground pork and spices, Wiener (Viennese), which is smoked and thenboiled, and Blutwurst and Schwarzwurst, which are both blood sausages. Look out forregional specialities like Berlin’s Currywurst (sausage with curried ketchup on the top),Bavaria’s Weisswurst, a white sausage that you peel before eating with a sweet mustard, andNuremberg’s grilled Rostbratwurst, served with fermented shredded cabbage (sauerkraut).

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In Thuringian the local Thüringer Rostbratwurst has received protected geographical statusand the recipe dates hundreds of years. It is characterised from other sausages bydistinctive spices (such as marjoram and caraway).

Make your own:

Simple recipe for Wurst with sauerkraut.Currywurst sauce, as made by Schnell-Imbisse (fast food stalls).Martha Stewart’s beer-braised bratwurst with cabbage.

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The benefits of German sauerkrautThe fermenting process that naturally preserves sauerkraut is ripe with probiotic power.Sauerkraut contains properties that also reportedly fight cancer and aid upset stomachsand ulcers. It is also a good source of iron, protein and fiber, plus contains vitamins A, C andK. Apart from cabbage, water and salt, which starts the process, you don’t need any otheringredients – except time, for the fermentation to occur.

To make it at home, you can try this Bavarian-style sauerkraut or see a video and imageguide. Make sure you don’t make mistakes during fermentation, and read tips on how toknow if your fermentation has gone bad .

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For a quicker cabbage side-dish you can also try Rotkohl, which is a braised red cabbagedish (see a recipe with photos) that is typically served warm.

Read more on local and traditional foods in othercountries:

Top 10 foods in Belgium – with recipesTop 10 foods in France – with recipesTop 10 foods in Spain – with recipesTop 10 foods in Switzerland – with recipesTop 10 foods in the Netherlands – with recipesTop 10 foods in Russia – with recipesTop 10 British foods with recipesTop 10 foods in Luxembourg with recipesTop 10 Portuguese food – with recipesTop 10 South African food – with recipes

Photo credit: Alex Morley (Apple strudel), Robspinella (Rouladen), Takeaway (Kasespatzle), Butaris(Eintopf), Brücke-Osteuropa (Sauerbraten), superscheell (Brezel), Mikelo (Schwarzwalderkirschtorte), Benreis (Schnitzel), sanfamedia.com (thumbnail).

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