What's Wrong with that Beer?

 

I know I know, you have been waiting for this, haven't you? You were starting to ask, when is she finally taking us to the beer garden? She has been writing about München since the beginning of June, but what about the beer??? And what was wrong with that picture in last Tuesday's T post?

Alright then, let's go to the beer garden.

In München you can pretty much go to a different beer garden every day if you want to. There are the big ones by the breweries like Paulaner, but there are also many smaller ones, some really just a bigger garden by the side of the road. 

Beer gardens have long simple tables and benches. Sometimes, when the place is very crowded, you share the table with strangers - a great way to meet and get to know other people. The majority of German beer gardens are in Bavaria, and other than beer gardens in the rest of Germany, you can bring your own food and eat it there as long as you buy your drink(s). We've seen many people who do this - they buy their beer (or whatever they want to drink) and at the table they put out their tupperware and spread their food. It's a great way to spend the evening outside in company without breaking the bank.

Our first evening in Munich, finally spending time with Kaefer again

Of course you can also order food in a beer garden. The food is typical Bavarian dishes and is served cafeteria style.

Kaiserschmarrn, Schnitzel, Weißbier and dunkles Weißbier

Breze, Obatzda (Bavarian soft cheese dish), Radi (radish), Kartoffelsalat (potato salad)

Pretzels are always on offer and they can be very big.

She can be such a goofball!

Weißbier, especially the dark one, is my favorite. It is also often called Hefeweizen and is more popular in the South and Southwest than in the rest of Germany.

Weißbier is served in a special glass that is only used for Weißbier / Hefeweizen. 

A "regular" beer - called "Helles" (light - as in light color) or "Dunkles" (dark) - comes in glasses like this or smaller ones:

But what is "regular" beer anyway? There are so many different kinds of beer in Germany, some are more popular in the areas where they come from. "Kölsch", a very light, top-fermented brew comes from Köln (Cologne); "Alt" (old) is a top-fermented, dark bitter brew from Düsseldorf and very popular in Westphalia; Pilsner or Pils is popular all over Germany, it is bitterer than most beers and must be carefully drawn - usually seven minutes (if you order a Pils and you get it after three minutes, it is not carefully drawn); "Rauchbier" (smoked beer) that is brewed in Bamberg. These are just a few kinds of beers of the rich selection in Germany. And each has its own glass.

Glasses for Weißbier, Kölsch and "Willibecher", a more universal glass 

Glasses for Pils, Alt and the famous Bierseidel which comes in 1 or 1/2 liter

You might have heard about the German Reinheitsgebot (purity law), enacted in 1516 in Bavaria's Ingolstadt. It says that "from henceforth, in our towns, our markets, and in the country, nothing should be used in the making of beer except barley, hops, and water alone." Yeast as an ingredient was added later. In 1987 this ruling was reversed when German brewers lost their case that brewers from countries outside Germany should not be allowed to import any beer if it wasn't brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot. However, brewing beer by only using barley, hops, water and yeast enjoys very high popularity in Germany and brewers proudly announce that their beer is "pure". Weißbier is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley.

German beer "science" doesn't end here. Remember the picture I showed last Tuesday, mentioning that something is wrong here?

When you go out with friends or a group, before you take your first sip of beer you clink glasses. While you clink glasses, you don't look at your glass, but you look into the eyes of the person you clink glasses with. It is very rude not to do that. So far so good. Looking at the picture above, you would think that this looks alright - we're clinking glasses, Kaefer is looking at me... but no. We're not drinking any old kind of beer, we're drinking Weißbier. And with Weißbier, you clink with the BOTTOM of the glasses, not the top as in the picture. This is ONLY for Weißbier, not for any other drink. Why? By clinking the glasses at the bottom, the yeast that has settled at the bottom after pouring is being "shaken up" and distributes throughout the drink. If you happen to pour Weißbier from a bottle, you have to do it very slowly with the glass held almost horizontally, otherwise you get too much foam at the top. Before the bottle is completely empty, you "shake" it in a circular movement so that you get all the yeast at the bottom. I told you it's science! I once even did a Weißbier pouring session at my home with my German class - it was very popular. The fun of teaching adult students!

By the way, we did clink our glasses at the bottom after taking this picture!

Elizabeth, thank you for the opportunity to share this with the T Tuesday gang. Everybody knows now what to do if they find themselves in Germany with some Weißbier (or in a German restaurant outside of Germany).

This has become quite long... so let's lean back and have a beer. Prost!

What is German Food?

 

Left: Schnitzel "Wiener Art" (pork instead of veal) with fries and lingonberrry sauce; right: breaded schnitzel with potato salad

You have probably heard the term "German food" and maybe you thought of schnitzel and bratwurst. Both are certainly typical German food - but actually the term "German food" is quite misleading. Germany has several local cuisines and depending in which region you are, you will get the special food of that area. Even food that you can get all over Germany like bratwurst is not the same in the different regions - a Nürnberger Bratwurst is quite different from a Thüringer Bratwurst. In the following picture you can see three foods that are typical for certain regions in Germany, but are differently made in those regions. Of these three, Currywurst - originally from Berlin - might be the most popular one. It is a typical fast food (and way better than McDonalds, Burger King etc. It actually tastes like food.). I wrote about it here.

From left to right: Sauerbraten (marinated and braised beef) with potato dumplings and red cabbage; Zwiebelrostbraten (onion beef roast) with Bratkartoffeln (fried potatoes); Currywurst with fries

In this post I will show you Bavarian food and a little bit of Swabian food - both are favorites of mine. Most (but not all) of the Bavarian food photos were taken in a Biergarten (beer garden).

From left to right: Leberkäs (a type of meat loaf) with fried egg and bread; Obatzda (a spread made with very ripe camembert, butter, beer, onions and spices) with bread; Kaiserschmarrn (cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins)

The Leberkäs is also called Fleischkäs which is essentially the same thing. We often eat it sandwiched in a roll. A roll has several names in Germany, depending in which region you are. In Bavaria they're called Semmeln, in Swabia they are Wecken or Weckle. The short form for Leberkäswecken is LKW - which is also what we call a big truck. Welcome to the confusing peculiarities of the German language.

One of the biggest food seasons in Germany is Spargelzeit - white asparagus season. This is the time when many Germans kind of lose their minds foodwise. It only lasts a few short months - the start of asparagus season depends on the weather, but the last day traditionally is June 24th. My preferred way to eat white asparagus is as Spargelcrèmesuppe (creamy asparagus soup).

Two more very popular Bavarian soups are (on the left) Brezensupp'n (pretzel soup) and (on the right) Leberknödelsupp'n (liver dumpling soup). Both are delicious.

We also love to eat fish. Most fish here comes from the lakes and rivers, but also from the sea. I love Zander and I was very happy that I found it on the menu in a restaurant in Würzburg. The rainbow trout I had came from the Königssee, one of the most romantic lakes in Germany (blogpost will follow, I promise).

Clockwise from top left: Fish and chips; Zander with potato salad; pollock with potato cucumber salad; rainbow trout with herb butter and potatoes

You may be surprised that I include Döner in this post. Not a German food at all, it is one of the most popular street foods in my native country. Germany has a large population of Turkish people and they brought us the Döner (teşekküler, Türkiye!) When we're in Germany we need at least one Döner.

It was SO good!

Let's take a little break and have some gelato, shall we?

Now let's go over to Swabia and explore three of their local dishes. We had them when we stopped for lunch in Tübingen where I used to live.

From left to right: Fried Maultaschen (kind of Swabian ravioli); Saitenwürstle mit Linsen und Spätzle (the Swabian version of Vienna sausage with lentils and Swabian noodles); Schupfnudeln or Bubaspitzle mit Sauerkraut (potato noodles with sauerkraut)

Maultaschen has always been my favorite Swabian dish. You can prepare them in many different ways, the filling can be meat or vegetarian - they are so versatile. A glass of Trollinger (typical red wine from Baden-Württemberg) completes the meal.

We need dessert! What about (on the left) Dampfnudeln (a usually sweet yeast dumpling) or (on the right) a slice of Käsekuchen (cheese cake)? This is a Swabian Käsekuchen - it is not made with cream cheese like cheese cake in the US but with Quark which is very popular in Germany (I was looking for a good translation but couldn't find one; it's a low-fat dairy product, in France often called "fromage blanc" or white cheese; it is not like cottage cheese since it doesn't have any curds).

We're almost done! Just one more thing - cinnamon roasted almonds. They ae often sold at Christmas markets and at fairs, but in Munich's pedestrian zone I found a booth that sold small bags of them, they were still warm - the best way to eat them! So darn delicious!

I'm linking up to Kathy's Food Wednesday.