Archive for the ‘Culinary’ Category

German beers cater to almost every taste, but did you know that they also cater to the weather? Not only do we Germans change our wardrobes with each season, but we also change our beers.

Summer beers tend to be lighter on the tongue than winter beers, and some of them are designed with specific taste pairings in mind. There are even German summer beers that rely on sweetened fruit syrups added by the drinker to achieve their ideal flavor!

To find the German summer beer that will be your new favorite, I’ve compiled a list below to help guide you in your tastings based on what’s popular now in the last summer days of 2010. Feel free to disagree with me on what’s best (why else do we have hundreds of different sorts!), but be sure to sample each beer generously before making your decisions! ;-)

• The Premium Pilsner by Bitburger is heavy with hops for a light, dry finish. As Germany’s originators of the Pilsner style, this Bitburg based manufacturer is hugely popular in the German market and exported abroad. If you can’t find the Bitburger, the Tannenzäpfle Pilsner by Rothaus is also an excellent choice from the Pilsner category.
• Kölsch beers are brewed in Cologne, made using yeast that is aged in a lager style. The Mühlen Kölsch by the Malzmühle Schwartz brewery in Cologne is a delicious example you’ll want to try this year.
• Berliner Kindl offers a distinctive sour tang. Summer fans can request seasonal fruit syrups to add to the beer, allowing for some fun finding your perfect personal version. I’ve also found that the slightly bubbly nature of the beer helps make it a smart summer choice.
• Finally, no summer German beer review would be complete without including a Hefeweizen. As a beer garden staple, this light wheat beer is good with or without food but please, eat something. ;-) Then you can have more Hefeweizen like the excellent Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier by the world’s oldest brewery, Weihenstephan brewery in Freising.

To summer, and to your health!

—Marcus

When you travel to Germany, you will no doubt notice the bread on your table at breakfast and dinner.

German bread is famous around the world for its flavor and texture, but did you know that there are more than 200 recognized varieties?

Pumpernickel is the most famous internationally, but there is so much more to German bread! Experimenting with flavors and textures will let you move beyond the basic loaf and explore other mouthwatering options in every category.

Weißbrot is the basic white bread, although most Germans prefer the more nutritive darker breads. Weißbrot is often used for rolls, like the popular Käsesemmel, which is baked with cheese on top.

Graubrot, while literally meaning gray bread, refers to the bread that are neither black nor white. Sourdough and rye breads fall into this category, as do the delicious sunflower seed (Sonnenblumenkernbrot) and pumpkin seed (Kürbiskernbrot) breads.

Schwarzbrot is the black bread that has made German bakeries famous. It generally has a 90% rye content with a hard crust hiding a dense, moist center. The super grainy Vollkornbrot is a part of this group, as is the renowned Pumpernickel.

Eat your bread with cheeses, creamy spreads, and sliced meats. A mild cheese with small holes is very popular to go with the bread, as is Hüttenkäse, a seasoned cottage cheese. For using jams many foreigners toast it, although the chewy bread really doesn’t need it.

To learn more about German bread, its history, and its role in daily life in Germany, you can even visit a museum dedicated to bread in Ulm. The Museum of Bread Culture covers 6,000 years of the history of bread. Opened 10 am – 5 pm daily and until 8:30 pm on Wednesdays, it has 18,000 works related to bread in its collection.

It is also conveniently located near some cafes where you can snack after you’ve worked up a bread craving looking at the displays ;-)

—Marcus

Spätlese wines are yet another of German’s happy accidents.

The vintage as a class was born in 1775 at the famous Schloss Johannisberg winery, when the harvest was unfortunately delayed by about two weeks — legend has it the field master had been kidnapped, and they couldn’t start until his release. The grapes were harvested reluctantly, and no one thought the wine would amount to much.

With low expectations, the first wine was tasted… and now they deliberately pick the grapes late!

Spätlese, which simply means “late harvest,” was such an instant hit that just three years later it was being handed out to visiting nobles and royalty as a gift. Thomas Jefferson raved so much about his 1778 bottles that the wine became the new American must-have vintage.

Spätlese, my personal favorite of all German wines, has several specific characteristics that make it unique and pleasant to drink. Since the grapes are fully ripened when they are picked, they give a fuller body and more intense flavor than other German wines like Riesling or Kabinett. The wine is also known for its long finish and pleasant aroma.

Available as semi-sweet, Spätlese wines are forbidden by law from being artificially sweetened. The quality of the vintage depends very much on the soil and the weather of each season. 2007 and 2008 were very good years, and the early tests on the 2009 grapes has vintners very excited about the potential of this year’s harvest.

You should be excited, too. Spätlese wines are excellent food pairings, especially with seafood dishes and spicy dishes. The complexity of the flavors with the long finish of the wine really enriches a meal.

Spätlese wines are meant to be enjoyed, rather than stored away for decades. You age a Spätlese for 3 -10 years, but they do peak at a relatively young age. Therefore, why wait to open a bottle? :-)

If you’d like recommendations, Terry Theise, one of the wine worlds leading sommelier’s, gave the 2008 Müller-Catoir Mandelring Scheurebe Spätlese (~$60 USD) a near perfect score. Other German wine houses making good quality Spätlese include Dönnhoff, Meulenhof Erdener, and Leitz Rüdesheimer.

—Marcus