What food is good in Germany ?

[Lardlizard]

What are they know for other than sausages

@Lardlizard gross because of the sound of the language?
Spätzle is something I never learned to make (I am not from Baden), scraped into boiling water from a special board with a knife at speed of lightning.
My winter favourite: Kassler mit Sauerkraut, Kartoffelpüree und gedämpften halben Birnen mit Speckfüllung (smoked pork, sauerkraut, freshly mashed potatoes, cooked halved pears filled with fried smoked bacon)
Then there is: Sauerbraten - rhinish, badish, westfalian, thuringian using beef - or from the Ruhr using horse meat?
Rouladen, Rollbraten, Spießbraten
Streuselkuchen, Micken, Vanillekipferl, a billion different kinds of cheesecake

and now I am hungry
we are having champignons and filet in a cream cognac sauce eaten with white bread

I think the English word for Waldmeister is woodruff.

Also, lots of Italians live in Germany and open their Eiscafés between (roughly) March and September. Fantastic ice creams sundaes. German favourite is Spaghettieis

Am now hankering after all the fabulous foods I used to eat when I lived there.

Hmm this makes me hungry and homesick (after 30 years away!) Luckily I had already planned to make Spätzle tonight!
But yes to bakeries, bread rolls fresh in the morning are a must for breakfast. And a coffee break with cake on Sunday afternoon.
Also: cured and smoked meats are good.

Kartoffelsalat (vinegar-based potato salad, as opposed to mayonnaise-based). My German grandma made this all the time and it was absolutely to die for. I never tried it in a German restaurant, though.
Bratwurst
Bread – Heavy, dark breads mit Butter und Honig.
Spätzle – My grandma used to make it with veal and sauce to top it off.
Quark – It’s difficult to describe. Best I can do is it’s a thick, tangy cream.
Desserts – You can’t go wrong with any of the German cakes and pies.

Not sure what food is good in Germany as never been there. But had a German great grandmother and have German cousins and stuff we liked from them are:-

Rollmop herrings
Picked everything - from Cabbage to beetroot etc
cakes - gateaux etc
sausages and salami - these used to be sent over to us at Christmas along with Stollen and German spiced, iced cookies
Black bread - pumpernickel
Lebkuchen

You can buy all the above here in Lidl/Aldi.

my DM makes potato salad - not sure if this is the German way but it's baby potatoes, chives, French dressing and no mayo or cream etc.

THis thread is making me salivate.

Outonthe Tilez - you read my mind re the Kartoffelsalat which is what my German great grandma used to make and her son (Born in Luxembourg brought up in Bavaria, Bonn etc).

But my granddad also used to put onions, top of the milk etc in it sometimes whereas my mum never the top of the milk - but I forgot the onions in mine...

Kartoffelsalat the variety my MIl (Baden - near the French Alsatian border) makes: potatoes, a vinaigrette of hot meat or vegetable broth, vinegar, sunflower oil, pepper, salt, plus fried smoked bacon - eaten still slightly warm.

My late DM used to make a stunning chicken soup with breadcrumb dumplings. Regrettably it involves the cooking of a whole fresh chicken and I cannot stand the smell. So a memory it stays.

Bread.

I tend not to eat bread in the UK, as after German bread and French bread, most bread in this country is horrid.

Any fresh rye bread is lovely - get it from the supermarket or the Bäckerei. My favourite is Kürbiskernbrot.

And if you're in the bakery, try a piece of Streusel. Yum.

German Nutella is nicer than English Nutella. Not as sweet. Rittersport chocolate is very cheap.

Bratenherringfilet are nice. Their fisch is good - smoked trout - yum.

Actually, most food in Germany is excellent.

But German bread. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Bread and cheese, amazing. And fruit tarts, cake and coffee.
I love Germany.

@CatandtheFiddle
Streuselkuchen used to be the traditional cake served after funerals, because it is easy to make and keeps.
Our family variety involves a quater of unwhipped "Schlagsahne" poured over the "Streusel" when the cake is still warm, but it has no filling.
You can, of course, slice the top half of and fill it with Konditor-/or Chantilly-Creme.

OutontheTilez - how strange - great grandma was from Metz, Alsace Lorraine too - but when it was under German rule.

My granddad mentions lots of chicken and other soups too eaten wit breadcrumb and proper dumplings with flour etc.

Always though lots of picked stuff - anything.

Strangely enough the sayings I recall picking up in German class were 'mit sahne' 'ohne sahne', 'mit milch' etc. with cream, without, crea, with milk etc.

But my granddad was never keen on cream or creamy cakes, that I can recall.

Awww, shouldn’t have opened this one 🙁.
I now want Maultaschen, Spaetzle, a Kaeselaugestange and Griessknoedelsuppe. And Currywurst, natuerlich. They can keep the peanut flips though!

Prokupatuscrakedatus - the streuselkuchen - is that like a strudel cake? I've had strudel over here in UK but not in Germany.

I must go to Germany as the remaining cousins live in Trier.

Grandad was brought up in Bad Godesburg as well as other Bavarian villages and towns, before WW2.

CatandtheFiddle - I don't think all German food is lovely - especially if you go on what Bavarian Beerhouses here serve - which is piles of sausage, potato salad etc...

I think in proper German restaurants you get from what granddad said, far more variety, specialities etc - I recall a great German ran patisserie in London we used to go to.

@MadameDD
no, they are two completely different things (Strudl is a different region as well).

Streusel means
you take about 200 g butter (unsalted) and at least 250 g sugar and 400 g flour (405 or 505) and knead them together until you have crumbs the size of family preference (DH wants large pieces and DS wants almost dust)

MadameDD I can happily say, in 30 years of spending quite a bit of time in Germany, I have never been to a Bayerische Bierkeller. But my family is from the Niederrhein. I've only ever been to really upscale German restaurants, but also terrific pizza places, and good Greek-style food (I avoid Chinese food in most countries, unless there's a proper Chinatown in the city a la San Francisco).

The other thing that's really good in Germany in the summer is the ice cream. In NRW, lots of Italian families set up ice cream cafes for the summer, and then run ski cafes in the south and/or Italy or Austria for the ski season.

The nearest thing to Streusel I've found outside Germany is the USA Starbucks Coffee Crumble cake. They don't do it in the UK, as far as I've found - but I rarely buy coffee at Starbucks anywhere in the world, because their coffee tastes revolting (to me).

It's sort of like a heavy sponge cake (but not quite) with something sort-of like the crumble bit of apple crumble on the top, and generally with fruit such as apple.

I like the way German pastry and puddings use fruit, rather than a lot of chocolate.

Eisbein

@CatandtheFiddle
If you happen to come to Berlin during the summer try Fräulein Frost.

And yes, lots of Italians came to the Ruhr during the industrialisation (There was even a newspaper the "operaio italiano") and some turned to ice making. There is still such an ice cream parlour in my hometown.

If you go to a market, flammlachs is delicious. Sides of salmon attached to a board and cooked over a wood fire. It may be only at Christmas Markets though.

For a basic Streuselkuchen you make a simple "Rührteig" (there is a yeast variety, but not my region) and cover it it Streusel to your own liking.

@Caucasianchalkcircles
Now - that is something I have never eaten. Didn't grow up with it and now living in an "Eisbein"-region do not like the look of it.