Monday, April 14, 2014

Imagine Yourself in a Bavarian Beer Garden

You probably have heard of the Bavarian beer garden ("Biergarten") which you can actually find all over Germany. But somehow we always picture beer garden in Bavaria - they probably have most of them. The beer garden is very casual - you sit on very simple benches at long tables. Often you share the table with other people - friends and strangers - which is a great way to get to know new people and have fun. You can also eat in a beer garden, often the local cuisine with mainly more simple meals. It is not fine dining, but the food usually is excellent. (I'm still practicing my food photography - it's not perfect at all, well, far from that actually. It's perfectly imperfect - and hits this week's Texture Tuesday's theme, which is "perfectly imperfect"...)

Processed with Kim's texture "kk_evolve" in soft light at 100%

Obatzter is one of the beer garden food, and I have to say that it is my favorite. It has lots of calories, of course - everything I really like to eat is certainly not on the light side! Obatzter is made of very ripe Camembert and butter, onions, spices and a little bit of beer. It is actually very easy to make - you just have to find the right Camembert.

On Sunday I made some Obatzter because I felt like eating it - it was a warm day and I had this beer garden feeling. I had baked some Bauernbrot (farmers bread), we still had two bottles of Bavarian Hefeweizen, I had some very ripe Camembert - nothing could stop me!

I can tell you, it was delicious!


If you feel daring, or you once went to Bavaria and had some Obatzter and would like to make it from scratch, or perhaps you're just curious - here's the recipe. Sorry, it's in metric measurements.

You need:
- 250g very ripe Camembert
- 50g soft butter
- 2 tbsp light beer
- 1 small onion
- 1 tsp paprika, sweet
- a trace of ground caraway
- pepper and salt
- a bunch of chives

You may remove the rind of the Camembert if it is "too ripe". Mash with a fork. Stir in butter and beer.
Add finely chopped onion. Add paprika, caraway, pepper and a little salt.
Put the cheese on a plate and top with chopped chives.
Serve with fresh farmers bread or soft pretzel (if you can get real Laugenbrezeln where you live, that would be my choice)

Enjoy!!




10 comments:

Sally H said...

My mouth is watering now! Sounds like heaven! Thanks for sharing your platter with me xxx

gina said...

Looks delicious, Carola! And you included a recipe too! Just a year ago I was traveling in Germany and we visited a number of biergartens. Love that German hefeweizen!

Elephant's Child said...

Yum. Some time after my father came to Australia he saw (for the first time since his arrival) some Camenbert for sale. Of course he wanted to buy it - and had to plead with the shopkeeper who picked it up and said 'oh, it has gone soft... I can't sell you this. It MUST be off'.
Father did buy it, and told the story with glee to the end of his days.

Anonymous said...

Your food photography is great! I especially love the second one! Delicious!

Anonymous said...

Hmm... da bekomme richtig Hunger und Lust dein Rezept gleich heute noch auszuprobieren!
Fröhliche Gruesse,
Patricia

Kokopelli said...

Obatzter ist furchtbar! Aber das liegt vielleicht daran, dass ich keinen Käse mag. ;) Aber Biergärten sind ein Genuss!

patty said...

Looks fabulous, Carola!! I am not a big beer drinker, but my hubby is so sometimes I just have to go with it! Seems that treat would make it worthwhile...

Magic Love Crow said...

Totally yummy!!! ;o)

EarlK said...

Beautiful. What memories this brings back. The thing I miss the most is the fantastic bread. Just look at it. Oh my gosh . . . yummmmmmm.

Vagabonde said...

I enjoy a good Camembert and have tried many but not like in the recipe who showed – it sounds delicious. It is hard to find a good Camembert here – there are just a couple of brands and they usually are very firm. The bread though must add a lot to the eating pleasure – not to forget the beer – I’m ready to come over and taste all this ….