Germany's November Bird

Although it is a relative recent addition to the German menu, Germans do like turkey. It is however not often roasted as a whole bird. Happily, we are able to buy whole turkeys in the groceries this time of year. Also everything that is needed for the trimmings, including the dreaded cranberry. But I think this is because there are enough Americans (and curious Germans) living here to create a market at this time of year.

For Germans when it comes to roasted poultry in November, the bird of choice is goose. From the end of October you see frozen goose being offered in the grocery stores. Butcher shops ofter the ability to order a fresh goose. Restaurants have been advertising goose dinners. This reaches a climax each year on November 11th, put does continue through the end of the month.

One reason for this tradition dates back to the 4th century B.C. St. Martin day is November 11th. Legend has it, that upon hearing that he was to become the Bishop of Tours, St. Martin hid in a goose barn because he felt himself unworthy of the honor. However the honking of the geese gave St. Martin away. So the goose has been associated with St. Martin. There is an alternate legend to explain the association of the goose to St. Martin. According to this legend, a goose made so much noise during a service that St. Martin held that it annoyed the saint. As a result, that goose ended up on the table that evening.

In the 6th century, several things came together to secure the goose a place on the table for November 11. First it had become the beginning of 7 weeks of fasting between St.Martins day and Christmas. So a good meal was important. Second and perhaps related, November 11th had become the end of both the financial and farming year. So at this time of year, livestock that would not make it through the year was slaughtered and preserved. Geese would never be so plump as at this time of year. Peasants had to pay 10% of their production to the landlord. What they ate beforehand would not be counted. Still the landlords were receiving an abundance of geese that would not survive the winter. But as it was the end of the financial year as well, the laborers and handmaidens were dismissed on this day and new ones hired for the next year. Landlords would give the dismissed employees a goose as a gift. All this conspired to make a lot of geese available for the November 11th table.

We did have goose one evening at a restaurant in Badenweiler. The traditional trimmings served in Germany with the goose are rotkohl (red cabbage). klöse (potato dumplings), apple sauce and roasted chestnuts. The spätburgunder (pinot noir) was a nice accompaniment.

First Time in Germany

Emily, a friend and former colleague, was on a business trip to Frankfurt last week. Her meetings took place over two days in the hotel at the Frankfurt airport. She didn't even leave the hotel/airport over those two days. But thanks to the cancellation of a third day of meetings and the OK to stay an extra day before heading home, she had two days for an introduction to Germany. What to do?

Day 1 started with the train trip from Frankfurt airport to Koblenz where I met her at the train station. Emily arrived early enough that we could come back to the apartment for a German breakfast (see previous post).

About 10am we headed south for a tour of the "Upper Middle Rhine Valley", a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We began a Braubach with a tour of the Marksburg castle. This castle, built in the 12th century, is one of the few that have never been destroyed. Upstream we stopped at the Loreley. The story of the Loreley distracting the ship captains with her song and her beauty and causing them to wreck their boat brought on the observation, "It just like men to find a woman to blame their mistakes on." Later, we crossed the river using the auto ferry at Kaub, during which we could get some good view of the toll castle, Burg Pfalzgrafenstein. Next we spent a couple of hours exploring Bacharach, a village with a fantastic collection of half-timbered houses and great wines, and its Burg Stahleck. Finally we drove back to Koblenz to explore St Kastor (we were lucky to find the door open so we could see the interior of this Romanesque church that dates back to the 800-900 BC) and Deutsches Eck.

Day 1 finished with dinner at home consisting of very German menu of roast venison, apple sauce, rotkohl, potatoes, rote grutze and a Bacharach wine. Of course that also meant a conversation around the table until jet lag got too much about 11pm.

Day 2 involved a tip to Cologne to see the Cathedral, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, lunch in a traditional Kölsch pub, a bumble through the Altstadt, finishing at the Chocolate Museum. The last stop was to the sake of Emily's two boys.

Day 2 ended in the Koblenz Altstadt walking trough the stalls of the Christmas Market and having a pizza at a small Italian restaurant.

5am the next morning, we drove to Frankfurt to catch the 8:00 flight.

Well I realize, we only glimpsed a small part of what is Germany. Given the time available, I think we did a pretty good job putting together an introduction. Time will tell if it was enough to simulate the wanderlust for some follow-up trips.

German Breakfast

Magda has been home from her school's exchange for about a week. Although the German students are getting together later this week to discuss there experiences, I've heard a few of the things that the German students thought about their stay in the Chillicothe, Illinois. One oft-commented impression was that their American families rarely took time to lay out a breakfast. Everyone seemed to be on their own to grab something quick, or to skip breakfast entirely. It is not that the German students expected the family to sit down together every morning to eat. What was generally surprising was that no one took the time to lay out the meal, if for no other reason than to make sure the kids are eating something and eating healthy.

The picture here gives an idea of a typical breakfast for these German students. There is usually some sort of meat or cheese. In this case, there are cheese slices, two types of salami and some schinken (smoked ham). Just about any kind of sliced meat is possible, but the meat is thinly sliced. Germans will talk about a "window pane" slice especially with highly flavored meats like schinken. This refers slicing of meat that is thin enough that you can see through it. This way, you really don't eat much meat or cheese.

The meat, cheese or jam is placed on a slice of bread or a half of bread roll, often buttered, to make an open faced sandwich. There are so many bread choices in Germany that it is hard to fathom. In this picture are a couple of rye rolls and a pumpkin seed roll. Darker breads based on rye are more traditional, but white rolls, which use to be reserved for special occasions, have become more common.

This picture also shows yogurt and quark. Quark is a bit like cottage cheese, but it is in the form of a single cake, rather than small curds. For breakfast, it is used like yogurt, mixed with jam. But quark is also used to make cheese cake, dips, fillings for pasta or sweet rolls. It is really an inexpensive staple of the German pantry.

Finally there is some sort of fresh fruit available.

There are some variations possible. For instance, a lot of people like to mix muesli with yogurt or milk for breakfast. Milk and corn flakes (or some other breakfast cereal) is an American contribution to a "typical" German breakfast. And yes, sometimes a sweet roll can be found, although donuts are very rare.

But that leads to another surprise for the German students. Things like sweet rolls, cakes, cookies and other pastries were too sweet in the USA for them to enjoy. Certainly we have found that in adapting a American recipe for use here, we often cut out at least half the sugar (and often two thirds) to get something that our German friends and family can enjoy.