German Food German Food Well, you've come to the right place. We're the #1 online merchant for German food, gifts, deli items, and groceries here in the USA. By Inga Bowyer , President, GermanDeli.com Legendary Bratwurst Say the word "bratwurst" to an American and most picture a chubby sausage done to perfection on the grill. But add the word "Nuernberger" in front of the word "bratwurst and most Americans get a puzzled look. Germans or American who lived in Germany, however, get a gleam of sheer delight in their eyes and demand to know, Where?! German law dictates that to carry a food label marked "Nuernberger Bratwurst" in Germany the bratwurst can't exceed a certain size (slightly larger than a breakfast sausage), must be made using a certain age-old recipe, and must be produced within the city limits of Nuernberg, Germany. No variations are tolerated in Germany. After all, there's a legend surrounding why these delectable sausages must look and taste as they do.

The legend includes dungeons, keyholes, a medieval city, and faithful friends and loved-ones To check out these authentic German bratwurst and to read more about the legend, please click here . Cheese European and German cheeses are sought-after for their outstanding quality and versatility. From the most firm to soft and softest and creamiest, these cheeses highlight an elaborate dinner or a humble supper. Flavors range from mild and buttery to bold and pungent. There are texture choices for your every preference, from firm to spreadable and everything in-between. As a savory appetizer or as a sweet dessert, you’ll find a cheese to match your craving. Click here to browse our cheese selection. German Baked Apples using an "Apfelbräter" Germans welcome autumn with many fine traditions, not the least of which is baking apples in a special ceramic baker called an “Apfelbräter”. It’s the perfect way to cook the apples so that all the delicious flavors from the apples along with the fillings you add can be captured within the apple baker.

When there is a little nip in the air in fall or winter and even through the springtime, it’s so easy to fill your house with the smell of apples baking and topped off by the aroma of fillings that can include combinations of cinnamon, sugar, raisins, marzipan, chocolate, hazelnut spread, butter, vanilla, any variety of nuts, and/or your favorite apple brandy. The possibilities are truly endless, but the results are all the same: a delicious treat that takes full advantage of the apple harvest. For recipes and more information click here. Summer Salads German families celebrate the sunshiny days of June with a vast array of cool food options. Summer salads are king on every German table. Thinly-sliced cucumbers are tossed in dressings made of oil, vinegar, dill, and spices for a savory salad that is often enhanced with sour cream or yogurt for extra tang. Cold cuts, like German ring bologna, are often used to make salads that are protein-rich and require absolutely no cooking. Folks in the Northern half of Germany tend to favor mayonnaise-based salads and Germans closer to Bavaria, where temperatures are typically warmer, lean a bit more toward salads that get their zip from vinegar.

Try this hot weather German favorite: Spread a slice of hearty German rye bread with a little butter. Add freshly-sliced tomatoes. Sprinkled with diced onions and garnished with chopped chives. Add salt and pepper to taste. Your kitchen stays cool and your stomach will love you. What is Wiener-Schnitzel? Traditional Wiener-Schnitzel (Wienerschnitzel) is a thin cutlet of veal coated in flour, egg, and breading, which is then sauteed in oil and butter until crispy. However, Germans and Europeans discovered, a long time ago, the joy of occasionally substituting veal with other cuts of meat like pork, poultry (chicken or turkey breast) and even game meats. In Austria the term "Wienerschnitzel" is protected by law and specifies "veal" as the meat to be used. So when you use any other meat for this dish it is proper to refer to it as "Vienna-style pork (chicken, venison, etc.) schnitzel".

On a menu in Europe you might find it listed as: "Schweineschnitzel (Huenerschnitzel, Rehschnitzel, etc) nach Wiener art". A squirt of fresh lemon can enhance a Wiener-Schnitzel or any type of breaded schnitzel, but also try topping the Schnitzel different ways. For Jaegerschnitzel add a rich "hunter's sauce" with mushrooms. For Rahmschnitzel use a luscious cream sauce. Add a sunny-side up egg to create Schnitzel a la Holstein. German Sauerkraut Any conversation about German cuisine is likely to include praise for “Sauerkraut” as a side dish to compliment many classic German meals.Savory sauerkraut is a perfect counterbalance to the richness of pork roasts, beef pot roasts, sausages, or game meats. Sauerkraut is basically fermented white cabbage, using centuries-old techniques for preserving cabbage.Shredded cabbage is layered with salt with pressure applied to release the juices.

For the popular German “wine sauerkraut” white wine is added during fermentation, adding another depth of flavor and making the sauerkraut mellow and savory. While sauerkraut can be eaten straight from the can or jar (cold or hot), most Germans prefer to take the sauerkraut to another level. Slow cooking with one or more of the following can greatly enhance the flavor sauerkraut: Bacon bits rendered until crispy, chopped onions sautéed in bacon grease or oil, a bay leaf or two, a few juniper berries, ground black pepper, and/or caraway seeds.It’s important to note that while cooking the sauerkraut must not be allowed to dry out or scorch.Add water, white wine, or broth as needed to retain moisture. Click for purchasing information. Schweinehaxen (pork shanks) Succulent pork, kept moist and flavorful in a cushion of thick, crispy pork skin. There’s no doubt that this classic dish has been around since humans first discovered the fine art of roasting. In Germany, you will often see Schweinehaxen roasting in giant rotisseries at the fairgrounds or in restaurants.

However, it’s also an easy dish to prepare at home. A pork shank, placed into a roasting pan (large-side down) and roasted in an oven at 350°F for four hours is all it takes. We recommend adding at least a half inch of water or beer to the bottom of the pan. The liquid catches the fat that renders from the shank during cooking, and can be later used to create a rich sauce, if you wish. So, how will you know when your Schweinehaxe is ready to serve? 1) The skin will be hard and deep brown. 2) The meat will have pulled away from the bone. 3) Your house will smell amazing. 4) About four hours will have passed since you put it into your oven. 5) A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the shank will register at least 160°F. One shank can serve between one and 3 people, depending on the size of the shank and the appetite of the eater(s).

Click for more info German Gingerbread (Lebkuchen) No Christmas (Weihnachten) season in Germany is complete without these aromatic cookie specialties made with exotic spices like ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, etc. These spices are combined with varying degrees of sugar, or honey, or molasses, as well as citrus, dried fruits and a variety of nuts. Sometimes crispy or chewy, often soft and delicate, these cookies can be covered in a sugar or chocolate glaze, or left plain. They are sometimes decorated with fruits and nuts. Germans have honed the art of Gingerbread-baking to a fine art. Soft cookie batters are often placed on edible wafers, not unlike Communion wafers to help keep the cookie from falling apart during baking. “Lebkuchen” literally means “life cake” and variations are often unique to certain towns or regions in Germany. And every town offers versions of the classic German Gingerbread house, so beautifully described in the German fairytale of “Hansel and Gretel”.

At festivals in Germany, regardless of the time of year, vendors sell giant heart-shaped versions of a crispy Lebkuchen, each one hand-decorated in fancy icing piped onto the cookie to convey messages of endearment or seasonal sentiments. Fest-goers wear them on ribbons tied around their necks. What is German cuisine? | The Essential Ingredient What is German cuisine? Category: Featured Understand a country’s cuisine, and you will understand their history, their geography, their landscape and their diversity. The food held dear by a nation reflects who they are, proving that when it comes to national pride, you are what you eat. In this way, it’s easy to dismiss German cuisine as a simple combination of meat and potatoes. But, of course, there is so much more to the German people and to their food. As with most countries, it’s difficult to generalise and identify a core cuisine. Dishes, techniques and ingredients vary greatly between provinces, from the weisswurst (white sausage) of Munich- traditionally eaten only in the morning- to the aalsuppe (sweet/sour soup of meat broth, dried fruits and vegetables) of Hamburg. Meat is undeniably the cornerstone of German cooking.

Pork is king, with poultry and a range of game meats also popular. Aside from the rich pot-roasted meat dishes, such as Sauerbraten (beef or venison marinated in vinegar for several days before being pot-roasted), it is the sausage that best demonstrates the diversity of the German palate and the importance of meat to their culinary identity. While the Germans may not have invented sausages, they certainly adopted the art as their own. It would be impossible to count the varieties of ‘wurst’ available in Germany, but estimates place it at over 1500. Popular regional variations include: Bratwurst: finely chopped veal, pork or beef either grilled or boiled in broth or beer. Often served with mustard in a bread roll. The bratwurst is the ancestor of our Australian ‘barbeque’ sausages. Wiener: Usually pork, this sausage is smoked and then boiled. The frankfurter, similarly prepared, has a thinner skin, and both can stake a claim as the origins of the American hot dog.

Leberwurst: Literally ‘liver sausage’, these German specialties are made of a combination of liver, herbs and other variable ingredients, such as tomato or anchovy. The sausage is spreadable, with a varying degree of coarseness and a texture not dissimilar to pate. Blood sausage, white sausage, German salami and zwiebelwurst (onion sausage) are only some of the many, many varieties also available around the country. But no matter the sausage, the mustard is rarely out of reach. Fish also forms a significant part of the German culinary landscape, with trout the most common. Sauces accompanying fish are often acidic, with lemon juice or vinegar driving their flavour. Pickled fish- particularly herring- are also popular across the country. Pickling, in fact, is a reoccurring theme in German cuisine, the aforementioned sauerbraten and pickled herring joined by the ubiquitous ‘sauerkraut’, or pickled cabbage. Potatoes, whether mashed, boiled, buttered, rolled into balls, sliced and fried, grated and fried or cut into chips appear on most German plates. But noodles are also popular, particularly the local spätzle .

Bread is the other common accompaniment to meat or fish, particularly at the breakfast and dinner (known in Germany as ‘abendbrot’, or ‘evening bread’) tables, where a meal is often made up of a spread of breads and cold meats. Breads vary almost as much as sausages do, with light ryes, dark ryes, wholemeal, black bread (such as pumpernickel), sourdough and whole seeds available in limitless combinations. Of course, no discussion of German cuisine is complete without mentioning the stunning variety of cakes and tarts that have become such icons around the world. It is the Germans we have to thank for creating and popularising baked cheesecake, doughnuts and, naturally, the Black Forest cake (or ‘Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte’). But this represents only a fraction of the delicious cakes German bakers are responsible for creating. German cuisine may be simple, but it delivers big flavours on heaping plates. What it misses in elegance it more than makes up for in tradition, heartiness and the enjoyment of all who share it.

For a selection of quality food products to go with your German cooking, such as mustard, sauerkraut and bread flours, baking tins and tools to help with your German cake-making, and all the inspiration you need, visit your nearest The Essential Ingredient store today. Be Sociable, Share! Subscribe to our E-Newsletter for news, recipes, tips and more. Email Address* Home - Schnitzelbahn - Food, Travel, and Adventures in Germany The Company Cafeteria, Part II Monday, November 15, 2010 at 12:00 Frau A and I recently met up with a friend of mine from high school. Her sister lives in Germany, and she & her husband were visiting the sister's family and traveling around southern Germany, Switzerland, and France. We had dinner at one of the nicer Bavarian restaurants in Munich, Wirtshaus in der Au . Thanks for stopping by, Heidi and Chris! (Great German names, BTW) Our dinner together was a reminder that the first German corporate cafeteria post deserves a follow-up. Here are some more offerings from the office food service. One common item in colder weather is the " eintopf mit wurst".

This is a bowl of lentil soup with two frankfurters thrown in. A German food site has over 50 recipes for this! It can look a little mushy, and tends to be a bit bland, but with a little salt, pepper, and maybe paprika added it's pretty good. Perfect for you low-carb dieters too. You just get a strange feeling cutting up a hot dog with knife and fork... in soup. Unfortunately, the "wurst" in the soups is not the highest quality in a corporate cafeteria. And it is not bratwurst, but just a standard hot dog style weiner. No grill here either. Boiled. See them floating on the left here: The above photo is also a warning about a typical mistake in Germany. If you order "Pizza Pepperoni" over here you will not get the pizza you expect. Pepperoni means the vegetable , not the meat. You will get what you see above, a cheese pizza with a long green pepper on it (or a bunch of smaller ones). You need to order " Pizza Salami " instead (although they do put salami on it, not the pepperoni style used in the U.S.).

Then there is leberkäse , or shortened to leberkäs. It's the German meatloaf, made with pork instead of beef, so it looks and tastes completely different. It is typically Bavarian comfort food, found at every train station (a slice of it is eaten in a roll with mustard), and often even served for breakfast! In my experience, quality varies greatly (like meatloaf, I guess) but I think there is a reason that the Germans eat it with a lot of mustard, if you know what I mean... Need something with your leberkäs? Looking for big and starchy? Go right for the knödel . It's a mammoth dumpling -- usually potato but can also be bread-based. You will need some kind of sauce to add moisture and get it down, that's why it often accompanies roasted pork dishes that come with sauce, like schweinebraten . Finally, I need to end with something positive: another photo of bienenstich. Love it. In the first post it was a stock photo from Wikipedia. This time, they were serving it in the cafeteria and I grabbed one. Didn't last long...

1000+ images about German Main Course on Pinterest | Beer bratwurst, German schnitzel and Kielbasa and cabbage Little Meatloaf Balls Klopse - My German-Irish mother calls these “klopses,” but I call them “little meatloaf balls.” The recipe was passed down from her German mother, and they’ve become a favorite here at my house. See More Herman Ze German in Charlotte Street | Camden Review Home >> Reviews >> Food drink >> Herman Ze German in Charlotte Street Herman Ze German in Charlotte Street Food and Drink Key Words: Event Title eg: Life of PI <script language=JavaScript src=""></script><noscript><a href=""><img src="" width="120" height="600" border="0"></a></noscript> Herman Ze German in Charlotte Street Published: Classic street food: Bratwurst roll Published: 23 October, 2014 by TOM MOGGACH IN a bizarre coincidence, an old friend stumbled into Herman Ze German as I sampled their sausage and schnitzel. John grew up on an army base in Germany, where older siblings called him “Bratwurst” – the bratty youngest child.

“Bratwurst was always our take-away food rather than fish and chips,” he explained, with a misty hungry look in his eyes. These fond memories help explain the origin and subsequent success of Herman Ze German, now a small chain with three branches in the West End. The business specialises in fast, simple food and good beer, served with no frills or pretension. At first, trade was mainly take-away. But now, with this third branch on Charlotte Street in Soho, the owners have added tables and a downstairs bar. The décor is modern – bare walls and tiles, with a sprinkling of monochrome photos of German butchers and vast chains of plump sausages. Historically, German food has always been surprisingly hard to find in London. It struggles with its image – not exotic, spicy, or fashionable enough to merit much of our attention. But it does deserve credit: especially its sausages, which are a different eating experience to the British banger. “They are really tight – if you break them you get that snap,” explains the manager. The top quality sausages served at Herman are made by a butcher named Fritz based in the Black Forest.

The meat is ground finely, with a lower fat content and different spicing to the common British sausage. In Germany, currywurst and chips is classic street food. Slices of Bockwurst (mainly smoked pork) are served with fries or in a bun, with a tomato sauce with a hint of curry seasoning. “It was the kind of curry sauce you get in a Chinese,” remembers my friend, in between mouthfuls. Here, you are offered a choice of a homemade spiced tomato sauce offered at varying heats – from “Mild” to “Ringer”. “Different temperatures, like Nando’s. That’s new, that’s brand new!” he exclaims excitedly. The sausage was excellent: juicy meat with a crisp skin and subtle smoky seasoning. The dish costs £5.95 for a small serving, £7.95 for the large. We tried a chicken schnitzel, too (£9.95), with chips and salad. The meat was moist, with a crunchy coating. It paired well with a well-dressed salad of spinach, cucumber, radicchio and grated carrot – an authentic final touch. Drinks are a highlight.

Expect a selection of fine German pilsners and wheat beers, plus a line of artisanal colas, lemonades and sodas. We drank their house draught beer, an unfiltered lager brewed in Germany. To be fair, this particular batch was the only duff note in the meal – perfectly fine, but no rival to the many excellent alternatives now brewed around London. Herman Ze German is a fun place for a fast meal. The new downstairs bar, complete with neon signs and chessboard floor tiles, is the only place to linger. Vegetarians need not apply. HERMAN ZE GERMAN 4 out of 5 stars Bow wow and woof woof for these delectable dogs – the best German tube-steaks in London. The last 12 months have been the year of the dog. The hot dog, that is. Previously relegated to being a street food sidekick – the Robin to burger’s Batman – the hot dog has had enough of prancing around in the background with its pants over its trousers, and has elbowed its way on to the menus of sit-down restaurants.

First there was Bubbledogs in Fitzrovia – a fine concept (champagne served with interesting hot dogs in a gorgeous space), foiled only by the dogs themselves not living up to the hype. Meatmarket in Covent Garden did a better job – but the burgers are better there. Only the bar at Hawksmoor in Spitalfields, with its knock-your-socks off chilli dog, really impressed. All the above porkers have one thing in common: the US of A. Yup, if any of these prime sausages appeared on an episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’, their great-great-granny would have been from New York’s Coney Island. We’ve all been so caught up with the stars-and-stripes invasion, we forgot about the original wiener: the wurst. Until now. Herman ze German, in case you hadn’t guessed, is a purveyor of German sausages. Its outlet on Villiers Street is cherished by sausage fanciers and the late-night commuters of Charing Cross, but is no place to linger.

This, its first ‘restaurant’, in the beating heart of Soho, is really a fast-food joint – but its larger size and playfully utilitarian interior (part log cabin, part wet room – with planks on the walls, a painted concrete floor and a butler sink for washing your hands) has made it a place that’s comfortable enough to hang out in. The sausages are imported from the Schwarzwald, and are sehr gut: high-quality pork (no ‘mystery meat’ here), juicy, springy middles and a proper ‘knack’ when you bite. More bonus points for serving them in proper bread rolls (as opposed to a US soft finger bun) – at HzG, you’ll get chewy baguettes. Our ‘ze Wilde Bock’ had a bouncy bockwurst (smoked pork sausage) layered with ‘curry’ sauce (spicy ketchup, preposterously popular in das Mutterland), squidgy fries and crisp onion shards: a sort of Teutonic chip-and-sausage butty. Straightforward sauerkraut with no embellishments proved a suitable digestif; only the sloppy potato salad (with a good taste, but not texture) disappointed.

But for a hearty meal in central London that won’t make you bleed through your wallet, it’s time to consider a wiener. The burger is dead. Long live the dog. More Less Herman ze German says Born out of a love of our traditional German dish, Herman ze German first came to life upon realising there was a distinct lack of our beloved sausage here in the UK. Having grown up in the Black Forest with an abundance of great wurst, we began importing homemade sausages from our trusted family butcher to sell in our local pub in Brighton. Fast-forward six years and after countless festivals, events, a comedy takeover staring funny-man Alan Carr and ze World Cup victory, we now share our passions with two (soon to be three!) permanent homes in London. Herman ze German Soho is our first restaurant-style home with seated areas throughout and ze basement which is a perfect rest-bite from the hustle and bustle of Old Compton Street. More Less Typical food - Switzerland Tourism Typical food 5 Stars Swiss cuisine combines influences from the German, French and North Italian cuisine. However, it varies greatly from region to region with the language divisions constituting a rough boundary outline.

Mind you, many dishes have crossed the local borders and become firm favourites throughout Switzerland. These dishes include, among others: Cheese fondue Melted cheese with bread cubes. The bread cubes are picked up on the fork and swivelled in the melted cheese, which is served in a traditional ceramic fondue pot called ‘caquelon’. Raclette Melted cheese served with "Gschwellti" (jacket potatoes), cocktail gherkins and onions as well as pickled fruit. Älplermagronen A kind of gratin with potatoes, macaroni, cheese, cream and onions. And most importantly, stewed apple on the side. Rösti A flat, hot cake made of grated, cooked jacket or raw potatoes and fried in hot butter or fat. The dish is bound by nothing apart from the starch contained in the potatoes. Birchermüesli Developed around about 1900 by the Swiss doctor Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Brenner, it contains oat flakes, lemon juice, condensed milk, grated apples, hazelnuts or almonds.

Swiss chocolate Chocolate came to Europe in the course of the 16th century, by the 17th century at the very latest it became known and was produced in Switzerland as well. In the second half of the 19th century Swiss chocolate started to gain a reputation abroad. The invention of milk chocolate by Daniel Peter as well as the development of conching (fondant chocolate) by Rodolphe Lindt were closely connected with the rise of Swiss chocolate's renown. But Switzerland not only exported chocolate, its chocolatiers went abroad as well and their names remain well-known to this day: the Josty brothers, who opened their famous chocolate shop in Berlin or Salomon Wolf and Tobias Béranger who ran the famous Café Chinois in St. Petersburg. The Cloetta brothers opened chocolate factories in Scandinavia while Karl Fazer established the first confectionary shop in Helsinki; later this developed into the Cloetta-Fazer brand. Even Belgian chocolate has Swiss roots: Jean Neuhaus opened a confectionary shop in Brussels and his son Frédéric in 1912 invented the praline chocolate. To find out more about Swiss chocolate visit Verbands Schweizerischer Schokoladefabrikanten.

Swiss cheese One could quite easily explore Switzerland travelling from cheese dairy to cheese dairy. Each area of the country, each region has its own types of cheese – the diversity of products created from one single base ingredient – good Swiss milk – is quite astonishing! Such as, for example, the soft and melting Vacherin cheese. The aromatic Appenzeller. The full-flavoured Sbrinz. The Emmentaler, famous for its big holes. The world-famous Gruyère. Or the Tête de Moine which is shaved into decorative rosettes. All of these – and their round about 450 other cheese siblings – make a fondue, a raclette, an «afternoon snack platter» a culinary experience. By the way, the stalls of farmers and cheese merchants at the weekly markets are a true treasure trove. Many of the cheeses sold there come straight from the Alpine pastures and are cut from the wheel. The many demonstration cheese dairies and Alpine cheese cellars are also well worth a visit. Specialities from different regions Romandie (French-speaking Switzerland) d Saucissons, raw pork sausages to cook at home, are popular throughout French-speaking Switzerland.

These are served either poached or cooked on vegetables (Papé Vaudois). Cheese fondue, raclette and Croute au fromage - a Swiss version of cheese on toast (Valais) also come from the French-speaking part of Switzerland and these days are well known throughout Switzerland. Then there is a kind of vegetable tart called Cholera – which hails from the Valais. Apparently it owes its name to the fact that it was created as a result of the hardship during a cholera epidemic. Fish dishes are popular around lakes Geneva, Neuchâtel and Biel with powan, perch and trout being the most commonly served. On the shores of Lake Biel in particular, saucissons containing spent grain and cooked in distilling kettles feature on the menu. Dessert Gâteau du Vully (cream tart) and Moutarde de Bénichon (very sweet mustard) are popular specialities which, like the Cuchole (typical saffron bread), both originate from the canton of Fribourg as does the. The Bénichon Fete which takes place in autumn offers the perfect opportunity to enjoy the specialities of this region.

Appenzellerland The Appenzeller „Biberli“ is a gingerbread which is pressed into a wooden mould to make it look like a picture. Other specialities the Appenzell is famous for include: Appenzeller cheese, the Appenzeller cheese tart and the Appenzeller scalded sausages. In terms of drinks, the Appenzeller Alpenbitter is famous throughout Switzerland. St. Gallen The OLMA bratwurst comes from St. Gallen and gets its name from the Swiss Agricultural and Food Fair St. Gall called OLMA. It is considered the nation’s favourite sausage for barbecuing or frying. True connoisseurs know that this sausage is best eaten without mustard because this allows the full aroma of the meat to unfold. In fact, people from Eastern Switzerland generally consider it an insult if the sausage is eaten with mustard. Bratwurst connoisseurs recommend picking the sausage up in the hand to eat it rather than using a knife and fork. All you need with it is some bread, ideally a traditional "Bürli" roll.

The barbecue sausage is not only available during the OLMA fair but is omnipresent at other times and in other places too, such as at fairs, barbecue parties and sausage stalls. But the bratwurst takes on yet another guise when it is fried with rösti in a pan to create the highly traditional bratwurst with onion sauce dish. Experts estimate that an unbelievable 45 million bratwursts are devoured in Switzerland per year. That equals an impressive 6.5 sausages per head per year. The St. Galler Schüblig, another sausage, is also popular. Bern Bern is famous for its wholesome Berner Platte – a sumptuous dish containing a variety of meat and sausages such as beef, smoked pork and beef tongue, smoked belly of pork, smoked pork chops, pork shoulder, knuckle of pork, tongue sausage and pigs ears or tails which are cooked with juniper-spiced sauerkraut, pickled turnips, green and/or dried beans (shukky beans) and boiled potatoes on a large platter.

The traditional Zibelechueche (onion tart) is associated with the Zibelemärit (onion market), which takes place every year in November. The Bernese Haselnusslebkuchen (hazelnut gingerbread) is in fact not really a gingerbread at all as it doesn’t contain many of the typical gingerbread ingredients. Honey, for example, is added to hazelnut gingerbread in very modest amounts, if at all, and of the many exotic spices which are normally contained in gingerbread, the Bernese speciality only features cinnamon. As a matter of fact, the Bernese Haselnusslebkuchen is created without a grain of flour or drop of water. Instead the sweet pastry consists of an aromatic dough made of ground hazelnuts, sugar and egg white. The sweet Meitschibei biscuit is also made with hazelnuts. Meringues, usually with a generous helping of whipped cream are served as a dessert throughout the canton of Bern.

Basel Basel counts Basler flour soup which is traditionally served during the carnival (Fasnacht) with cheese and onion tart as well as suuri Lääberli (sour, liver strips) and sweet Basler Leckerli, small, relatively hard gingerbread biscuits with a delicious sugar icing among its most best-known dishes. Mässmogge are colourful thumb-length sweets filled with a brown hazelnut mixture. Mässmögge are a regional and seasonal speciality of the City of Basel. However, they are also sold at other Swiss fetes and fairs as well. The Mässmogge season reaches its climax at the Basel Autumn Fair (Basler Herbstmesse) at the end of October. Zurich and Zug Zürcher Geschnetzelte, a veal dish, sometimes also containing veal liver and mushrooms, served with a cream sauce and rösti is well-known throughout Switzerland. Hüppen are biscuits rolled into a tube shape and usually filled with a chocolate mixture. Hüppen are part of the wafer family, many types of which are common in Switzerland. Other wafer biscuits associated with Zurich are Offleten.

They are made of an equally brittle, extremely thin pastry but are disc-shaped and consequently not filled. They are the opposite to soft waffles which are best eaten warm. At Christmas Tirggel, dry honey biscuits, baked in special picture moulds are available in Zurich. The Zuger Kirschtorte is a round, approximately five-centimetre high cake consisting of a biscuit centre which is soaked in kirsch and placed between two short japonaise layers. Inside the cake, two thin layers of butter cream contain the kirsch. Butter cream is also spread over the top and sides or the cake. In terms of taste, the Zuger Kirschtorte is delicate, creamy and crunchy with the flavour of kirsch and butter cream dominating. As the name suggests, the Zuger Kirschtorte comes from Zug. It is made in many cake shops throughout Switzerland, mainly on a commercial basis as making this speciality is very elaborate. Central Switzerland Well-known and popular throughout Switzerland, Älplermagronen (macaroni, potatoes, cheese, cream and roasted onions) hail from Central Switzerland as do a whole variety of cheese dishes.

Also famous are Luzerner Chügelipastete (a vol-au-vent filled with sausage meat balls in a white sauce), stews such as Hafenchabis (lamb or pork stew with cabbage) and Stunggis (pork and vegetable stew). Sbrinz is an extra-hard, full fat cheese made of raw milk. A wheel of Sbrinz weighs between 25 and 45 kilograms. This cheese is „blind“, i.e. it doesn’t have any holes, and is slightly brittle which makes it particularly suitable for grating. Its flavour is a little salty and full-bodied. Sbrinz is quite simply the quintessential cheese of Central Switzerland, a fact born out by the area it is produced in which includes the cantons of Lucerne, Schwyz, Obwalden and Nidwalden as well as Zug. Sbrinz is also produced in a small number of locations in the Oberaargau and the canton of Bern. The extra hard cheese is sold in shops and at wholesalers throughout Switzerland. Frying cheese is a full fat semi-hard cheese. A wheel weights between 750 grammes to 1.1 kilograms.

It has a mild flavour and typically has a slightly sour aroma. Frying cheese is common in the cantons of Obwalden and Nidwalden where it is regarded as a local speciality. Meanwhile it is almost exclusively produced in Obwalden and Nidwalden valley cheese dairies from pasteurised milk. In the Unterwalden mountains however, cheese makers use raw milk. Ticino Polenta, a maize puree which in this area is mixed with cheese and served as a main dish or accompaniment (typically, for example, with rabbit cut into strips) comes from the Ticino. During the winter months, Marroni (sweet chestnuts) are available throughout Switzerland. They are sold either roasted and hot at the roadside or in form of vermicelli (cooked, mixed with sugar and then forced through a press to create a spaghetti effect) as a dessert. A whole range of products made with chestnuts are available at the many chestnut fetes in the Ticino. These include bread, pasta, praline chocolates, spreads etc. The cylinder-shaped Zincarlìn is a typical fresh cheese from the Valle di Muggio. It is made from cows or cows and goats milk and seasoned with black pepper.

It has to ripen for two months in a natural cellar before going on sale. Amaretti are delicious, small Italian macaroons made of whipped egg white, sugar, ground almonds and/or apricot kernels. They rise a lot during baking and turn into wonderfully airy and crunchy biscuits. Gazosa is a clear, non-alcoholic, sweetened fizzy lemonade from Italy and the canton of Ticino. From the Misox, south of the Alps, hails the Gazosa “La Fiorenzana”. It owes its name to a medieval tower in Grono. Right next to it, the Ponzio-Tonna family has been producing its fruity drinks following original recipes since 1921. The original lemonade is available in eight flavours nowadays. Gazosa is extremely popular throughout Switzerland – particularly in fashionable bars.

Grisons Pizzoccheri (a stew made with buckwheat pasta and a variety of vegetables and cheese), Capuns (rolls made of chard or cos lettuce and filled with Spätzle dough), Maluns (grated potatoes mixed with flour and cooked slowly in butter), Churer meat tart and Birnbrot (a thin layer of bread dough filled with a mixture of fruit, nuts and dough) are all typical Grisons dishes. Then there is the Grisons barley soup(with bacon), the Plain in Pigna (a kind of rösti with bacon and sausage) and, last but not least, the Bündnerfleisch (an air-dried raw salt meat made from beef leg. It is usually rectangular, of a firm consistency and a deep red colour in the centre). A true culinary showpiece and export hit is the Bündner Nusstorte (short crust tart with a nut filling) which is not to be confused with the Engadiner Torte (layered cake with two to three thing shortcrust layers, vanilla butter cream and Florentine top).

Culinary heritage of Switzerland The association Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz (Culinary Heritage of Switzerland) was founded in 2004 and from 2004 to 2009 for the first time gathered details of the production, features and historical background of traditional foods of Switzerland across cantonal and regional boundaries. To date approximately 400 products have been researched and published in an inventory. *All prices are in Swiss Francs and correct at time of print. Prices shown in currencies other than Swiss Francs are guideline prices only and subject to exchange rate variations. All programmes and prices are subject to change without prior notice. You are here:

Question: Bratwurst is a greatly varying German food made mainly of?
Answer: Meat