Features of the traditional cuisine of East Prussia. Koenigsberg bugs and not only Baltic eel and other no less tasty fish

Recently, a lot of new catering establishments have opened and continue to open in Kaliningrad, from fast food, all kinds of cozy cafes to expensive restaurants. You can find everything from classic German sausages and beer, to Italian and Asian dishes, to dishes in a couple of good English pubs. But why is there not a single place with traditional Koenigsberg cuisine?!
Koenigsberg is a city with centuries-old culinary traditions, which, unfortunately, are practically not restored or supported in today's Kaliningrad. And if for a moment imagine that a small family restaurant would open in some villa somewhere in the Amalienau district, which would be furnished with real Koenigsberg furniture and utensils, and in which East Prussian dishes would be prepared! And here a stingy girlish tear almost ran down my cheek.
By the way, about the dishes: once my dad, while repairing the sewers of my German house, dug out a German oval dish with a red border and a swastika on the back. I also remember a beer mug that my neighbor found while digging for a vegetable garden near a centuries-old oak not far from home (the oak has not existed for a year now). He accidentally broke a beer mug with a shovel, but despite this, he collected all the fragments and glued them together.

What an East Prussian restaurant without the famous Koenigsberg bedbugs!
Every self-respecting German housewife made them for the New Year.
a meat dish of several meatballs (meatballs) poured with sauce. Bed bugs made in East Prussia have gained particular popularity in Europe. The classic Königsberg bedbugs were made from fatty ground beef and veal. According to the traditional recipe, minced meat, soaked and squeezed bun, egg, finely chopped onion, salt, pepper were well kneaded, round balls were molded from this mass with wet hands, thrown into a boiling broth with marrow bones, spices, bay leaf and cooked for 10 minutes.
Bed bugs were especially good for schnapps. For example, branded Pregelgestank (“Pregol stink”). It was produced in Gross Holstein (now the village of Pregolsky) and, despite the strange name, was of very good quality. By the way, its name comes from the specific Pregol stink that accompanies western storms and surge winds.

Or, for example, bed bugs for schnapps “Blutgeschwuer” (“Bloody ulcer”), which was diluted with cognac and cherry liqueur (this drink was called Speicherratte or “Warehouse rat”).
Elefantendubs (“Suspicious Elephant”) schnapps could only be tasted at Winkler's and only with branded fried eggs.
The famous schnapps “Zur Katze” (“To the cat”) was served in the restaurant of the same name at Burgstrasse, 7 (Proletarskaya Street) - one third of the contents of the glass were filled with the purest cream.
Also, in local restaurants, visitors were offered Flibb - warm beer with sugar, spices and flour, generously flavored with rum for strength and flavor (Flibb was also prepared at home).
Another dish that was served in local establishments is the Königsberg fleck. Fleck was an East Prussian hot dish made from beef tripe, richly flavored with spices (The cut beef intestine is boiled for four to five hours and, while still hot, is seasoned with salt, pepper, marjoram, vinegar and fruit juice). This is a very ancient dish that became a truly popular dish in the 16th century. It was possible to taste it in Königsberg not only in restaurants and drinking establishments, but also in markets, on street corners, where cooks offered a fragrant “cup of fleck for just ditchen”.
The inhabitants of the city also loved Schwadengruetze - forks of boiled cereals with spices and sugar (relatively speaking, a lump made of very thick porridge). By the way, I ate Polish fleck, but my feelings for this dish are very ambiguous.
Königsberg cuisine consisted of several dozen fish dishes. The most famous are ruff soup and fish in beer.
For ruff soup, the fish was cleaned, the gills, entrails and bones were removed, and the dorsal part was separated. Vegetables, spices, salt - all this was thrown into the water brought to a boil, the backs of the ruffs were neatly lowered there, and all this stuff was cooked for thirty minutes. After that, it was filtered through a fine sieve, seasoned with butter, two raw egg yolks, parsley, salt, pepper, lemon juice - reunited with broth and served on the table in clay soup cups.
Fish in beer was easier to prepare. The secret is that you need to mix half a liter of water with the same amount of dark beer, bring to a boil and cook the fish in this mixture for fifteen to twenty minutes. Then add salt - pepper - parsley - celery, butter, potato flour, lemon juice, and most importantly - a few gingerbread pre-softened in warm water to the broth. And boil for a few more minutes, carefully stirring the sauce and trying not to disturb the fish. Boiled potatoes were usually served as a side dish.
Also in restaurants and cafes, visitors could order Hoppel-Poppel (like an eggnog), hot sausages “Knistchen” (“Knee”), “Sehundschen” (translated as “seal” - or, more precisely, “seal fat”) and “ Moorhundschen” (“Swamp Dog”) is a two-year-old smoked gray curd cheese with caraway seeds and onions.
Common were also Grene Ersen mit Speck (gray peas with bacon), Kartoffelbrei mit SpirKeln (mashed potatoes with spinkel - this food noticeably rounded the stomach), Belten-Bartseh (table beets, boiled, peeled, cut into pieces - served with a sauce of butter or margarine, wheat flour, broth, salt and lemon juice; small meatballs could swim in the broth - cheap and cheerful, and increased hemoglobin in the blood).
Königsberg specialties were Kreide or Chalk (a sweet made from dates, cloves and crushed ginger seasoned with spices). Under Duke Albrecht, it became fashionable to present Chalk at weddings. And at the beginning of the 20th century, the so-called “plum chalk” was popular in Königsberg. It was served with soups (German soups are more like mashed potatoes in their consistency).
For dessert, of course, there was Koenigsberg marzipan.
Marzipan was originally an oriental confection. Back in the Middle Ages, he came to Venice from Cyprus and Greece, and from Venice he was brought to Lübeck - and to Königsberg. The first marzipans that appeared here were donated on June 1, 1526 to the wedding of Duke Albrecht and the Danish princess Dorothea. There were these exotic treats, round in shape, with a mass of sugar on the inside and candied fruit on the outside. Later, marzipans with healing properties began to be sold in pharmacies.
Königsberg marzipan was usually shaped like a heart. He kneaded on rose water. Now it is not available, and during the existence of the old city, it was freely sold in city pharmacies. You can also pour water with aromatic additives into the dough, but the real "marzipan from Koenigsberg" will no longer work. The highlight of the marzipan was the heart of a bitter nut, crushed together with sweet almonds. And besides, marzipan was roasted in the oven, its color became more saturated. With a shiny crust, darker and more piquant, it was different from Berlin, and connoisseurs often preferred Koenigsberg marzipan.
Koenigsberg sweet tooth adored Schmand und Glumse ("Cheese stubborn"), which was prepared from cream and cottage cheese.
Excuse me, but I don’t want to talk about crow dishes, although it was a very traditional ingredient for our city.
I won’t say anything about beer either, since this topic deserves a separate discussion.
The cuisine of Koenigsberg is very interesting and unusual. For some reason, I immediately had a desire to go to the kitchen and cook something from all this, which, again, is not typical for me.
Give me someone a cookbook with recipes from Koenigsberg! It is desirable pre-war, of course, to replenish my collection. Well, or at least links to similar ones on the Internet.

Kaliningrad artist Olga Dmitrieva- - published "Culinary Legends of East Prussia". She collected recipes from former residents of Koenigsberg, going on a trip to Germany. She told the AiF-Kaliningrad journalist about what Prussian cuisine was like.

Modest but satisfying

Recently, you can try Koenigsberg cuisine dishes in Kaliningrad restaurants and cafes - public catering has responded to the requests of tour operators. Olga says that, in general, they cook correctly, although they slightly adapt recipes to modern realities. For example, capers (unblown flower buds and fruits of the plant) are replaced with pickles.

Olga Dmitrieva's interlocutor tested all the dishes from the recipes that were included in the book on her household members. This time it's potato salad. Photo: AiF / Evgeniya Bondarenko

In general, Prussian cuisine is very simple and practical. Protestants from all over Europe fled to East Prussia from the persecution of Catholics. Together with Lutheranism, Prussia adopted the ideology of a modest life. According to the artist, it was not customary to boast of wealth here.

Which is reflected in cooking. For example, in the course there was a stew from offal - "Flyaki". Now this dish is common in Polish cuisine.

“The Poles are proud of him. And for my taste - it is impossible! - Olga admits. - Finely chopped beef stomach with "petals". Probably, the meat went to the table of the rich, and the tripe and dishes from it went to the people. In East Prussia, merchants brought "Königsberg flasks" right in buckets. The hard workers on the Kneiphof ate this brew and went to the port to unload the barges.”

In the middle of the 17th century, Eintopf soup appeared in Prussia (translated as “one pan”). It is possible that Peter the Great, who was here just at that time, also tried it. The method of its preparation is simple: everything that was in the house was sent into one pan: cereals, seasonal vegetables, meat trimmings, as well as a variety of vegetables, asparagus, beans that were grown in this area. And in the 18th century, potatoes appeared in Prussia. The inhabitants fell in love with her no less than the Lithuanians and Belarusians. The potato has become a strategic product. In order for it to grow healthy, in East Prussia it was even forbidden to plant peaches, since leaf aphids from them could cause potato diseases.

Most likely, it was in East Prussia that the “Potato Salad” was first prepared, which is now made in various variations in many German states.

Olga Dmitrieva cooked it in front of my eyes according to an old recipe. Seasoned with vegetable broth, added mustard and onion marinated in apple cider vinegar - the taste is unusual!

And once a week on the table of the inhabitants of East Prussia there must have been fish. The Germans used to say: "A fish once a week keeps the spirits high."

Philosophical cod recipe. Photo: AiF

"Fur coat" in Prussian

Until the 18th century, there was local regional cuisine in East Prussia. The exchange of recipes with the rest of Europe took place when Germany was unified after 1780.

For example, pickled herring "Bismarck" appeared in these places thanks to fishermen or fish merchants from Flensburg, who adopted the original method of salting it from the Danes. In the 18th century, the French began to prepare sauces. And they immediately spread throughout Europe. The white sauce in the same Koenigsberg bugs (meatballs poured with sauce) is almost a French béchamel sauce. Only the Germans have it with capers. Strudel, which everyone considers German, was originally prepared according to the baklava recipe borrowed from the Turks, adding local pears.

The author of "Culinary Legends of East Prussia" assures that the "herring under a fur coat" popularly loved by Russians, in fact, comes from Koenigsberg. At the beginning of the 18th century, there was a crop failure, and Frederick the Great gave the order to massively import herring so that the people would not die of hunger. So they began to invent different dishes with herring. German housewives watered each layer of the “fur coat” with vegetable oil. The Lithuanians began to smear the layers with sour cream. Later, “herring under a fur coat” penetrated the Russian Empire, and at the beginning of the 20th century, sour cream was replaced with mayonnaise.

"Restaurants of New Kaliningrad.Ru" visited the evening dedicated to the dishes of East Prussia, in the museum-apartment "Altes Haus". Elena Selezneva, a translator, culinary specialist and lover of the history of Koenigsberg, spoke about what people liked to cook here before the war, and showed two dishes - a classic potato salad and a pie made from apples and bread crumbs.

Elena Selezneva tells about the culinary traditions of the Königsbergers:

For a long time, things were like this: yesterday there was a war, and today we got the Kaliningrad region, and until the end of the 80s - the beginning of the 90s, the whole period - how people lived here before the war, where they went to eat, what they cooked at home and why - was completely hidden from us. And naturally, we tried to fill this information gap by talking to people who lived here before and who began to come here in the 90s.

At that time, I just graduated from the university, met the first German tourists, with whom I still maintain good relations. It was interesting for me to learn the history of the place where I live and which I love through cooking, and I asked German friends to bring different cookbooks.

One of my favorite books on this subject is "Doennigs Kochbuch - Das ostpreußische Familien-Kochbuch" - the Dönnig cookbook - an East Prussian family cookbook. It can be said that this book was the home economics bible of any East Prussian housewife, it is written in such a way that you can absolutely trust it. The situation when you cook one thing according to the recipe, but it comes out completely different - in this case is excluded. It was through this book that I fell in love with East Prussian cooking.

The culinary traditions of this area were such that everything that this land and the farms located on it gave was used to the maximum. Despite the fact that in Königsberg itself there were shops with colonial goods where you could buy spices, interesting seasonings and many other interesting things, there were nogourmet dishes and complex sauces.

To a greater extent, the cuisine of East Prussia was homely and rural: a lot of root crops were used in it in different variations. Sometimes I, referring to my culinary sources, think: why is this tradition of processing and cooking our seasonal vegetables and root crops practically lost and unpopular today?

One of the dishes that we will cook today, just from root vegetables, is potato salad.

Potato salad

It was one of the favorite dishes of the inhabitants of Koenigsberg, which was prepared and served at any family celebration. It is prepared quite simply, the only thing to consider when preparing this salad is that some of the ingredients are prepared the day before: that is, tonight we boil potatoes and prepare the dressing, and we will have the salad only tomorrow. This dish can be served separately, on its own, or as a side dish: with meat, fish, game, stewed red cabbage, or sauerkraut with prunes, or homemade sausages.

So, we need potatoes, preferably, as they say, a “hard” variety, that is, not mealy. We select potatoes of approximately the same size and boil them “in uniform” in the evening. Drain the water and peel the still hot potatoes. We cut the hot peeled potatoes with “washers” and pour the broth - it can be vegetable (cooked, for example, on roots) or meat. There should be enough broth so that it gets under the bottom layer of potatoes: chopped vegetables should not float in the broth. You will make this salad once or twice, and it will be clear to you in what proportion to take the ingredients. For example, one and a half liters of broth will go to 3 kilograms of boiled potatoes.

As a traditional dressing for potatoes, we have pickled cucumbers, cut into small cubes, and juicy onions, which we also cut, scalded with boiling water to remove bitterness, and marinated in good vinegar with a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar. We put this dressing in potatoes and let the salad brew for about an hour. We've got the basic foundation.

The last thing I do is take a glass of good vegetable oil, add a third of a glass of vinegar to it, mustard to taste, salt and pepper, dried thyme and shake everything together well. This will be our salad dressing just before serving. You can also add fresh parsley or dill. This is how potato salad was cooked in Königsberg, and it is cooked in much the same way now in Germany.

Those Germans who like food more satisfying added a mixture of ordinary and sour cream to the salad as a sauce - I can’t say that this salad somehow changed the taste, but it definitely became fatter and more nutritious. That's the whole secret. The rest is a matter of taste. You can add herring fillet or smoked pork barrel to it, but you are already familiar with the basic base.

apple beggar

No family feast is complete without sweets. At first I wanted to make a dish, which in translation into Russian is called "chalk" - these are short sticks of chopped dates mixed with powdered sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and candied ginger.

But the fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century, not all middle-class families could afford such a dish, so I decided to cook another sweet dish that was very popular at that time - it is called "apple beggar". Why it is called that, I don’t know, maybe because this pie is so tasty that everyone asks and asks for it, or maybe because the ingredients go into it, as they say, “poor”.

Let's take yesterday's or the day before yesterday's very simple black bread, for example "Darnitsky". We pass it through a meat grinder or cut it into small pieces, but an interesting consistency is obtained when we use both cutting options. Mix bread with powdered sugar and cinnamon. We grease a baking sheet with good butter, put the first layer of bread on it, then a layer of apples blanched in sugar, then again a layer of bread. Lubricate the top of the pie with sour cream or cream, sprinkle with cinnamon or powdered sugar and put in the oven for ten minutes.

German Sloboda. Recipes of Berlin cuisine.

Royal battle.

“Once in the Berlin Cafe Royal I heard Monsieur Michel
Martinet spoke French, and understood every word, although in
these words were not reasonable "...

Heinrich Heine

If Heine were transported back to the 13th century, he would hardly have understood even a word, even if there were a lot of reasonable things in these words. After all, then on the site of Berlin there were two Slavic, according to our historians, villages - Cologne and Berlin (translated as "Free Place"). They lived for themselves, did not grieve, developed well due to their favorable geographical position, and in 1307 merged into one city - Berlin. They ate unpretentiously, but satisfyingly, since there was plenty of meat in the forests and fish in the rivers, in addition they grew turnips, cabbage, peas, and apples.

The “Free Place” defended its liberties and products very successfully until 1422, when the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg extended their greedy paws to it, suppressing any freemen and taking away a fair amount of products.

But the status of the city has risen noticeably - in 1486, he even managed to become the capital of Brandenburg. Here you have the court, and the aristocracy, and, of course, the best cooks, and the fruits of their kitchen master's labors. The burghers, keeping their nose to the wind, also tried, at least by smell and hearsay, to reproduce something similar in their kitchens ...

In fact, this could have put an end to the history of the development of Berlin cuisine, if not for two kings. The first is Louis XIV. Indeed, "there would be no happiness, but misfortune helped." The Sun King became more and more severely restricting the rights of the French Calvinists - Huguenots, it came to forcible conversion to Catholicism and the abolition of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 (adopted in 1598 and guaranteeing freedom of religion). Nothing to do, the Huguenots had to flee to the "fraternal" Protestant countries.

By 1701, the date of the formation of the Kingdom of Prussia, 6,000 French people (25% of the population) lived in Berlin, which became its capital. It was they who turned the land, exhausted by the Thirty Years' War and devastated, into a flourishing land. On the table of Berliners hitherto unknown vegetables appeared - cauliflower, green beans, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, artichokes, cherries. Cheese making and white bread are also their merit. And the culinary technique has undergone a noticeable French influence ...

The second king who greatly influenced Berlin cuisine was Frederick the Great. True, he was distinguished not by gourmetism, but by a wolfish appetite for foreign territories. To carry out plans for large-scale seizures, by a special circular dated March 24, 1756, subjects were ordered to plant potatoes everywhere. As a result, the "second folk bread" began a victorious march through Prussia.

In the building of the oldest inn in the city (1410) at Karolinenstrabe 12, there is a restaurant named after Frederick the Great Alter Fritz, where, in addition to international cuisine, old Berlin dishes are served Oh'n Fetzn(Roasted drunk bull) Rind auf Reisen(Traveling Cow) and a dessert with a reconciliatory name Suedes Ende(Sweet demise). Simple folk potato ideas are still alive in Berlin, take at least Kartoffel mit Beamtenstippe- Potatoes with Poor Official Sauce.

But, really, in a modern version, this dish of the urban poor of the 19th century would be more suitable for a middle-ranking official, since flour sauce is now prepared with minced meat or fried bacon.

POTATOES WITH "POOR OFFICIAL" SAUCE

We will need:

300 g minced meat;

2 onions, cut into small cubes;

4 tbsp flour;

2 bay leaves;

50 g butter;

0.6 l hot water;

Salt, pepper - to taste;

Potatoes - according to appetite;

parsley greens;

Pickled cucumber.

Stir fry the minced meat for 10 minutes, add the onion and fry for another 5 minutes. Pour flour, mix thoroughly, pour in boiling water, add bay leaf, salt, pepper and simmer for another 15 minutes. Serve with pickled cucumber and boiled potatoes sprinkled with parsley.

To be honest, it turns out quite tasty, although the recipe seems to be simpler than steamed turnips ... Speaking of turnips. The Germans, as well as many other nations, have been growing this vegetable for a long time. The roots of the turnip can be traced back to German folklore. The Brothers Grimm have an instructive tale "The Turnip", which tells the story of a poor man who has grown an outlandishly huge turnip. He pulled it out without difficulty, not like our unlucky family (the Germans have always been distinguished by their thorough approach to technical problems), but he didn’t eat! Don't be a fool, our hero on a wagon drawn by two bulls took a repeshcha as a gift to the king and became fabulously rich...

But in Berlin, not at all a huge, but even a small, slightly elongated turnip from the Teltovsky metropolitan volost, the size of a chicken egg, was famous. She has a very pleasant taste - tender and sweet. The Teltower Rübchen, stewed in oil with white meat sauce, sugar and vinegar, was very fond of Goethe and Kant. Once this root crop was prepared for gala dinners and even delivered abroad. Today, the Teltov turnip is much less common (potatoes planted by order filled everything), and, nevertheless, they still try to treat important and honored guests from foreign countries with it. So know this: if Teltower Rübchen is on the Berlin table, you are a VIP person!

But after all, non-Vipovites also need to be refreshed. Paying tribute to the Huguenots and their leader Henry IV (smart enough to change religion in time), let's remember his historical phrase: "Paris is worth mass", we will paraphrase it in an earthly German way: "Berlin is worth lunch" and let's go to dinner. After all, after all, we are in the capital of modern well-fed and abundant Germany.

And therefore, as Heine wrote: “We will not lack Goettingen sausages, Hamburg ham, Pomeranian goose breast, bull tongues, steamed veal brains, lamb heads, dried cod, various types of jellies and Berlin crumpets.” Therefore, forget about the diet (sit at home), work up an appetite (legs, legs, without any taxis), loosen your belts and forward - to storm the bastions of grub! Let's start, as is now customary, with "fast food" ...

Outsiders In

In modern Berlin, there are Italian pizzerias, and Irish pubs, and French bistros, and Japanese sushi bars, and Chinese restaurants, and even Georgian ones - for example, "Genazvale"(knowing about our indifference to a good barbecue and khachapuri, we will tell you the address: Windscheidstrasse 14).

There are, of course, Russian establishments with inescapable borscht and dumplings. One of the worth visiting Russian bars is located on Steinstrasse 12 and bears the Winnie the Pooh name "Outsider In" (in German "Trespassers-W"), which already testifies in favor of its owners: a sense of humor is an indispensable attribute of an Epicurean grocery store.
And the assortment of drinks will give odds to the most fashionable bar - from caipirinha (a favorite swill of Brazilian villagers and, they say, German burghers) to Bloody Mary, from all kinds of homemade tinctures and vodkas to very interesting wines. Borscht and dumplings are not canceled at the same time ... However, we would not advise locking ourselves in our “original-historical” - in Berlin there is what is, and there is where there is. There are more than 11 thousand catering establishments here. Choose I don't want...

Sausages Herta Heuver

Toropyzhki can eat quite satisfyingly and cheaply (!) at kiosks Schnellimbiss("fast, in one bite"), which offer typical Berlin sausages Currywurst - cut into pieces, abundantly poured with ketchup and powdered with “Indian” curry powder, unknown to real Indians.

Berliners fell in love with this “uncrowned queen of fried sausages” so much that in June 2003 a memorial plaque was hung on the wall of 101 Kantstrasse in memory of Gert Heuver, who ran a diner here and invented the “meal” back in 1949. And after that, who dares to try not to try the "memorial" sausages! You can imagine the quality of sausages in hungry post-war, cut off from the rest of West Germany, Berlin, if they had to be drowned in a spicy spicy sauce. However, to hungry Berliners, this simple food seemed to be the height of culinary perfection, more than one generation grew up on it, poems and songs were written about it, and little by little it became a cult. Sausages can be ordered with or without a casing, and in addition (for lovers of spicy) you can get chili peppers, red onions flavored with this chili, or Worcester sauce.
However, fast-food is not suitable for true gourmets, so let's start with classic snacks...

Curled up pug.

In the category of Berlin snacks, there is one that we just can't help but say a few words of praise about. Deutsch Rollmops is a marinated roll of fresh herring fillet (a classic, although a well-soaked salted fillet will do), wrapped around some savory tidbit, such as pickled or pickled cucumber. Historians believe that this dish appeared in Berlin somewhere in the middle of the 19th century, when a developed network of railways made it possible to quickly deliver herring from the North Sea coast. Today, rollmops are widespread in the cuisines of the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, and the term itself has long become the property of international cuisine (although now meat rolls are sometimes also called rollmops).

ROLMOPS

We will need:

4 herring fillets, cut in half crosswise;

2 gherkins (or 1 tsp capers);

1 tbsp mustard;

1 finely chopped onion;

For marinade:

250 ml 3% vinegar;

125 ml of water;

2 onions, cut into half rings;

8 black peppercorns;

1 tsp mustard seeds.

For marinade, boil water with vinegar, add chopped onion with spices and let cool to 40 ° C. Lubricate pieces of herring with mustard, put chopped onion and a quarter of a cucumber, roll up tightly. fasten closer to the center with two wooden toothpicks and place in a jar of marinade. Marinate for 5 days, although, if guests suddenly appeared, you can put it on the table for the third.

Rollmops are eaten, of course, cold with various sauces based on sour cream, horseradish, dill and onions, and sometimes with mashed potatoes, sprinkled with parsley.
Do you want to be accepted as one of your own in any Berlin eatery? Unite with the local proletarians! They eat rollmops in three bites, pushing their forks and spoons aside. First, the rollmops bites off to one toothpick, then turns the other side and - to the second. Down with her! In the end, there is one left - and on it the last most delicious kusmanchik goes into her mouth.

On this topic, appetizers could be completed if not for Mikhail Bulgakov: “Note, Ivan Arnoldovich, cold appetizers ... only landowners who have not been cut off by the Bolsheviks have a bite to eat. A more or less self-respecting person operates with hot appetizers. The right direction is planned - forward!

hypocrite slob

For a hot appetizer, we will not order a warm German potato salad, but we will choose hard-boiled eggs typical of Berlin with mustard sauce and mashed potatoes ( Senfeier mit Kartoffelpuree). This uncomplicated dish fully reflected both the taste of Berliners and the slightly arrogant irony of the inhabitants of the "big city". The Berliners dubbed the dish - Senfeier mit Tarttiffelpampe, inserting the name of the hypocrite and hypocrite of Moliere's Tartuffel (Tarttiffel) instead of potatoes and calling the mashed potatoes a slur (Ramre). They sneer that its consistency is exactly for dentures.
And about the mustard sauce, indispensable in this dish, they say that it is a joy for any man - it can be fat, like a wife, and skinny, like a mistress. They are malicious and witty, but they order these eggs with mashed potatoes.

EGGS IN MAID'S SAUCE WITH mashed potatoes

We will need (for 3 servings):

100 g butter;

250 ml of liquid sour cream;

1 kg of potatoes;

ground nutmeg;

For sauce:

100 g of melted butter;

1 tsp flour;

2 tbsp spoons of spicy mustard;

1 onion;

0.5 l chicken broth;

1 tsp Sahara,

Salt, black pepper.

Peel and boil potatoes. Add butter, sour cream, salt, grated nutmeg and mash. For the sauce: sauté finely chopped onion in oil, add flour, mix, add broth, boil by half, add mustard, salt and pepper to taste and let it brew a little. Hard boil eggs, peel. Put on a plate, place a mound of mashed potatoes next to it and pour plenty of sauce over it.

Peas sound loud!

Let's try to master German for the "first" Erbsensuppe mit Würstchen- thick hearty pea soup, which in itself can replace a full meal. We do not at all insist that you order it in a restaurant, but at home, especially in winter, it will go very well. Cooking in Berlin, as it should be:

BERLIN PEA SOUP

We will need:

300 g dried peas;

60 g diced bacon;

1 chopped onion;

1 potato cut into small cubes;

1.3 liters of chicken or beef broth;

1/2 tsp dried marjoram (or oregano) or a pinch of dried thyme;

2 chopped smoked sausages;

Salt and black pepper, a little chopped parsley.

Rinse and soak the peas overnight in cold water.
Fry the bacon in a large deep saucepan over medium heat. As soon as fat begins to stand out. add onions and potatoes, fry for 5 minutes. Pour in the peas, pour in the broth, bring to a boil, remove the foam, let it boil for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat, add the herbs, cover with a lid and cook for 30-40 minutes. At the end, season with salt and pepper. If desired, you can process the soup in a blender to a homogeneous consistency (we like this option), although this is not to be done “more neatly”. When serving, add the chopped fried sausages and parsley to the soup ...

The rise and fall of famous restaurateurs Aschinger is associated with Berlin pea soup. These Württemberg brothers opened at the beginning of the 20th century a whole network of restaurants, bistros and pastry shops, traditionally located on the corner of the house. They served pea soup, and buns were served free of charge and without restrictions. The Ashingers, on the other hand, owned the Ninth Spring brewery - those who bought beer there received a package of Berlin white buns (Schrippe) as a gift. These establishments saved many Berliners in the hungry 1920s, including great artists and writers, and live in the memory of native Berliners to this day.

During the war, most of these restaurants were destroyed, and the premises in East Berlin were nationalized.

Schnitzel of the gray cardinal

Schnitzel a la Holstein could be called the most curious dish of classic Berlin cuisine ( Holsteiner Schnitzel). It is associated with the name of the gray cardinal Wilhelm II, Privy Councilor Friedrich von Holstein, who was involved in the removal of Bismarck from the post of "Iron Chancellor". It is said that this dish was first prepared according to the recipe of the adviser himself in 1890 by the chef of the Borchardt restaurant in Berlin. Holstein did not like to be exposed in public places (the “gray” position was obligatory) and therefore, unexpectedly appearing in the restaurant, he immediately told the cook: “I have absolutely no time! Appetizer and second serve in one plate, and quickly!” The cook did just that, it turned out quite well - no worse than our habit of throwing a ladle of Olivier salad with a piece of melted aspic and a piece of herring on one plate.

SCHNITZEL A-LA HOLSHTEIN

We will need:

1 veal schnitzel (150 g);

2 slices of white brick bread;

40 g butter;

2 canned anchovies washed in water;

1 tsp capers;

2 slices of smoked salmon;

1 sardine canned in oil;

Salt, pepper - to taste.

For garnish:

Caps of small champignons fried with onions;

Fried potatoes.

Heat 30 g of butter and fry the schnitzel on one side, then turn over. Salt, pepper, fry on the other side, transfer to a warmed plate. In the same oil, fry the fried eggs. In parallel, fry the toasts, cut them diagonally. Cover the schnitzel with fried eggs, put anchovies crosswise on it. Fill the gaps between the fish with capers. Place a side dish next to it, leaving the sector of the plate free. Spread remaining butter on hot toast. Arrange salmon slices and sardines on toast. Place them in the free sector of the plate.

Piggy flight.

Corned beef from Kassel

Berlin product - "kasseler", or "kassler", ( Kasseler, Cassleg) - pork harvested in a special way: first salting, then boiling and smoking. This method of preserving meat was invented sometime in 1880 by the Berlin butcher Kassel.
The meat is salted in a dry way for a day, after which it is kept in brine with the addition of sugar for several days, then it is boiled in it until the temperature inside the piece reaches 70 ° C, dried well and smoked at 100 ° C for three hours. The result is a beautiful and an appetizing product, brownish-gold on the outside and pinkish-reddish on the inside.

Kasseler, which can be stored for a long time, has revolutionized the preparation of meat and German cooking. It does not take much time to prepare a wide variety of dishes with it, so it can be laid at the same time as vegetables. Today, two versions of kasseler are sold: hard parts of the carcass - for further cooking or stewing, tender pieces (tenderloin and tongue) - in the form of cutting. The list of kasseler dishes alone would fill an impressive brochure. For example, Kasseler Braten - boneless loin roast (shoulders, neck), Kasseler Rippenspeer - brisket baked in puff pastry, with a side dish of potatoes and sauerkraut.

Finally, you can look on the menu for Kasseler Kotelett - this is the name of the loin with the bone, which is usually stewed and sometimes served with vinegar jelly (the latter dish is called Siilzkotelett). Interestingly, since the 1960s, the “lightness” German cuisine has treated these two dishes with disdain, if not contempt, because for the generation of hippies and their descendants, corned beef patties became a symbol of inertness, narrow-mindedness and conservatism. Only in recent years have Kasseler Kotelett been winning over the hearts of Germans again and are being used by many chefs as a basis for creativity.

Another typical Berlin dish, now popular throughout Germany, is the Eisbein pork knuckle ( Eisbein). Eisbein literally means "foot of ice". It is believed that such a strange name for a hot dish arose long before the appearance of the dish itself and is associated with sports. Several centuries ago, when metalworking was still imperfect and expensive, skate runners, on which German boys, having learned from the Dutch, drove across frozen lakes and rivers, were made from the strongest bone of the pig leg - the femur. The runners got the name "icebein", and over time this concept passed to the most popular dish of Berlin cuisine. A real Berlin icebain is prepared only from salted shank (that's why we mentioned "kasseler"), although there are options that allow raw shank as a starting material. The shank is pre-boiled for a long time with spices and herbs (celery is required), and a handful of sugar added to the broth gives the meat a soft pink hue. Then the knuckle, cooked until completely soft, is either baked in the oven until crispy, or fried on the grill and served hot.

Knuckle in Germany has many regional names, and the recipes themselves differ in the same way. In the East, it is customary to serve it with yellow peas, which were especially popular in the 18th-19th centuries. and even served as a symbol of Prussian army cuisine. In the Berlin version, pea puree (Erbspuree) must certainly be homogeneous and always thick. If the density is not enough, add boiled potatoes, once again pass through a blender, and to top it off, spread diced and fried bacon with onions on top. The notorious German sauerkraut (Sauerkraut) in such a dish is implied by default, since in Berlin it is called in full - Eisbein mit Erbspuree und Sauerkraut.
Philosopher Immanuel Kant, the poet Friedrich Klopstock, the actress Marlene Dietrich, and even the famous jazzman Louis Armstrong have favored the Berlin icebein.

ICEBINE / ICE FOOT

We will need:

1 pork knuckle;

1 onion;

1 carrot;

1 stalk (with leaves) celery, thyme;

4-5 black peppercorns;

1 minced garlic clove;

Rosemary, ground black pepper;

Light beer.

Boil water in a large saucepan, add carrots, onions, celery, peppercorns, put the knuckle in the same place and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the shank, cut the skin with a diagonal mesh, rub with a mixture of garlic, black pepper, thyme and rosemary. Place the knuckle on the wire rack, place a baking sheet under it, pouring a little beer into it. Bake for 1.5-2 hours, greasing with beer every 15 minutes, 30 minutes before the end, brush with a mixture of beer and honey every 10 minutes (the crust will be like varnished). Pea puree, boiled potatoes, stewed sauerkraut are suitable for garnish.

More life.

Another German word Kotelett firmly migrated to the Russian lexicon, in Germany it, in turn, came from the French cotelette (“meat between the ribs”). This is how the Germans still call only chops, often on the bone, which until a certain time we did. However, since the end of the 19th century, “cutlets” (sometimes with the addition of “chopped”) in Russia began to be called mainly products from various minced meats. Thus, two completely different dishes appeared in Russian culinary terminology - chopped cutlets (from minced meat) and chops, or natural ones (from a whole piece of meat). Over time, the former were simply called cutlets, and the latter - chops.

So, the cutlet (in our current understanding) is the same symbol of Berlin as the Brandenburg Gate, although the most direct relation to this dish is not the Germans at all, but the same French Huguenots who have taken root in this city. So the old Berlin cutlet is about 300 years old. In the Brandenburg Cookbook, published in 1723, potato salad is mentioned as a dish of court cuisine, to which chopped cutlets boulets berlinoises were served - then the Huguenots cooked them exclusively from veal. The name of the cutlets has changed over time to Bulette and only survived in Berlin, in the rest of Germany, Düsseldorf is adopted Frikadelle(from the Italian frittadella - "fried in a pan").

In French, a boulet is a six-pound cannonball (perhaps because of this, cutlets were so fond of the Prussian warriors), and therefore it was originally assumed that the Berlin cutlet must certainly be large, juicy and round, which it still remains. As a filler, Berliners usually add a stale soaked bun to minced meat (no more than 25% of the total mass) - this strict standard was scientifically established in 1936, when veterinarian Willy Bernsdorf defended his dissertation on the topic: “Histological studies of Berlin cutlets. Critical comparison.

Not giving a damn about science and dissertations, every Berlin hostess keeps her family recipe. The Germans are very fond of fatty pork oozing with meat juices, and therefore they believe that without it a real cutlet is impossible to cheat. The most important secret is to mix minced pork with minced meat from raw Bratwurst sausages intended for frying. Firstly, it is already seasoned as it should, and secondly, any housewife is sure that a good butcher uses only the highest quality minced meat in them.

CUTLETS

We will need:

1 kg of fatty meat;

250 g stale white bread without crust;

200 g of water or milk;

Chopped onion, garlic, salt and black pepper.

Soak bread for 10 minutes in water or milk. Then squeeze well and mix with minced meat. Form cutlets and fry over high heat. Bring the fried cutlets to readiness over low heat under the lid.

Let's pay tribute to Prussian cuisine, remembering that Berlin was once the capital of Prussia. In this regard, the famous dish pops up - "clops" (Klops), which originally consisted of beaten and fried pieces of meat, which explains its name - from klopfen ("beat"). Bed bugs were prepared from any meat, naturally cut across the fibers - beef, pork, venison, bear meat or wild boar, but most often from veal. In pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, one of the restaurant dishes on duty was "schnelklops" ( Schnellklops) - "quick chop". Let's get it ready quickly.

SHNELCLOPS

We will need:

1.5 kg of meat;

3 art. spoons of oil;

2 onions;

10 potatoes;

Salt and pepper - to taste.

For sour cream sauce:

1 glass of sour cream;

2 cups of broth;

1 st. a spoonful of flour;

Oil, salt to taste.

Thoroughly beat the meat, sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper. Quickly brown in a pan on both sides. Transfer the meat to a deep saucepan, and in the same pan fry the chopped onion until golden, combine with the meat and pour over the sour cream sauce prepared in the same pan. For the sauce, grind a handful of flour with a piece of butter to make a lump of crumbly dough, and dip it into a mixture of sour cream and broth. The flour introduced in this form will not give lumps in the sauce. Stew the meat for a couple (putting the stewpan in a bowl of boiling water) under the lid. When it becomes soft, put on a dish. Serve boiled potatoes as a side dish, pouring it with melted butter.

However, traditionally economical (everything for the front!) Prussian cuisine came up with minced meat bugs, for which any tough parts of the carcass are suitable. The most famous Prussian recipe of this kind is "Königsberg Klopsy" ( Konigsberger Klopse) - stewed meatballs in a spicy white sauce. The classic version is made with fatty ground beef and lean veal, although the Königsberger Klopse canned food sold everywhere in Germany, including Berlin, is often made from pork ...

Cooking classics:

KOENIGSBERG BUGS

We will need:

500 g mixed minced meat (beef and veal);

100 g white roll without crust;

Half an onion;

40g lean bacon

For the broth:

0.5 l vegetable broth;

3 pcs. bay leaf;

5 peas of allspice and black pepper;

1 onion, cut in half.

For sauce:

30 g butter;

30 g flour;

50 g capers;

Juice of half a lemon;

1 tsp mustard;

0.5 tsp Sahara;

1 yolk.

Soak the bun in water, then squeeze. Cut the onion and bacon into small cubes. Add the egg, salt, pepper, knead the minced meat. Add the onion and spices to the broth. Put on low fire. Form balls with a diameter of 3.5–4 cm from the minced meat and place in the broth. Increase fire. As soon as the broth boils, reduce the heat to a minimum. Boil the bugs for 20 minutes, then remove from the broth along with the onion and bay leaf. Lightly sauté flour with butter. Strain the broth through a sieve, add browned flour to it, bring to a boil, pour in lemon juice. Salt the sauce, pepper, add mustard and sugar. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add yolk and capers; mix. Return the bugs to the sauce. Cook for 10 more minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes and boiled beets, cut into circles.

Less meat is used for minced meat dishes, and its quality can be any, so Prussian bugs very quickly gained popularity in Europe, including in Russia, gradually turning into meatballs ... And it's time for us to move on to dessert - we are well behaved led, and no one left us without sweets.

Oil guns.

It is unlikely that after such a dinner you will be able to master Berliner Pfannkuchen (Krapfen), "Berlin-style donuts", or simply "Berliners". But if you want to eat, buy at least one.

These donuts were invented in 1756 - during the Seven Years' War. A certain Berlin apprentice baker was eager to serve at the "Old Fritz", but, unfortunately, the doctors found him unfit for combat. Then he asked to be a baker in the convoy and, as a token of gratitude, he made delicious donuts for fellow soldiers, shaped like cannonballs (well, the warlike Prussians love the gun theme - be it a cutlet or pastries). He did not have an oven, so he hastily fried them in fat in a pan. I liked the idea, and in just a few decades, his donuts went to all German lands, but only masters trained in Berlin, in the homeland of the hero, were allowed to fry them in other cities. And then they were called Berliner Pfannkuchen(Berlin donuts) - over time, the second word simply disappeared.

Berlin donuts gained world fame on July 23, 1963, during Kennedy's visit to Berlin, when the American president, deciding to support the Berliners, frightened by the premonition of a new world war, shouted: "Ich bin ein Berliner." This amused many.

Sweets need to direct their feet to cafes and pastry shops Konditorei. The best of this kind is considered Cafe Kranzler on the corner Kurfierstendamm and Joachimstalerstrasse-navigate around the round pavilion on the roof. However, each Berlin cafe has its own clientele. The most elegant institution with a literary touch is reputed to be Cafe Einstein on the Kurfierstenstrasse 58. And in Zum Trichter at Schiffbauerdamm 7 actors and journalists prefer to spend time.

BERLIN DONUTS

We need for the test:

800 g flour;

45 g fresh yeast;

50 g of sugar;

150 ml and 3 more tbsp. l. lukewarm milk;

5 yolks;

70 g butter at room temperature;

Salt - to taste.

For deep frying:

Deodorized vegetable oil

For filling:

Jam (raspberry, cherry, plum or apricot)

For sprinkling:

Powdered sugar

Crumble yeast with 1 tbsp. sugar, pour 3 tbsp. milk, mix and put in a warm place for 15 minutes. Sift the flour into the bowl of the food processor with a mound. Make a well in the center and pour in the diluted yeast and remaining milk. egg yolks, add sugar, butter, salt. Process the dough in a food processor until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Put the dough in a warm place for 30-40 minutes (it should double in volume).

Flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of just under 2 cm. Use a glass or cup to cut circles, cover with a towel and let rise for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a fryer to 190°C. Dip 2-3 donuts into hot oil and fry until dark golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Let the donuts cool, and then fill with jam using a pastry syringe. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

In law.

Beer (bier)- the main drink of Germany, and probably no one understands it like the Germans, who like to say that their beer comes in only two varieties: good and very good. This is true - there is no bad or mediocre beer in Germany.

In this country, and still remains in force Reinheitsgebot- an old Bavarian law on the purity of the "holy" drink, adopted back in 1516 and regulating the quality and quantity of components from which German beer can be made. This law first applied to the three main products of brewing: water, barley malt and hops; later the Bavarians added yeast to this list and made a special reservation about wheat. Until now, water for German beer is taken only from underground sources, the highest requirements are imposed on hops, and German barley malt remains as unique as the Pinot Noir Burgundy grape variety in winemaking. It is its aroma that gives German beers an extraordinary depth.

No wonder the Bavarian princes, while revising the law on the purity of beer, left a "wheat" loophole for themselves, because only princely breweries were allowed to brew beer from wheat (and not barley) malt. Today, when German wheat beer Weizenbier(sometimes called Weissbier - “white” beer) is already 800 years old, it is back in fashion. Weizen beer does not undergo the intensive processing characteristic of a lager, and often undergoes secondary fermentation in the bottle, and yeast cultures endow the drink with a spicy, clove-like aroma. Wheat malt (wheat beer should contain at least 50% wheat) gives the beer lightness, fullness of taste and a slightly sour refreshing aftertaste.

One of the typical varieties is Berliner Weisse(Berlin White) is a foaming low-alcohol beer born in Berlin in 1680. Drinking is traditional in Berlin Weisse mit Schuss, that is, “wheat with an additive” - the green syrup of fragrant woodruff (Waldmeister) and red raspberry (Himbeer) most often act as “additives”. However, there will be no sin in drinking German wheat beer without any additive.

Königsberg fleck gained general fame in the 16th century and was a kind of ritual Prussian dish. It was offered by traders in the city markets, and in the area of ​​​​Konigsberg warehouses there was a very popular stall selling flack.

Fleck was popular not only among the common people, in the 19th century there was a Hilderbrant fleck restaurant in the city, where they served specially prepared tripe, that is, gutted and stuffed pork or beef stomach. On one of the city restaurants it was written: “Fleck is everything,” and the Königsberg poet Walter Scheffler wrote a poem about fleck, which became popular among the people.

The people simply got along without any fuss. The cut beef stomach was boiled for four or five hours, seasoned with salt, pepper, marjoram and vinegar while still hot. The most troublesome thing was to clean the scar and rinse.
The dish is very satisfying, allowing you to thoroughly refresh yourself and at the same time inexpensive. Real fleck was usually well spiced.

Tripe was prepared not only in East Prussia, it was known in Germany, and in Lithuania, and in Belarus, and in Russia.

Before the war, Koenigsberger Fleck, along with marzipan and bedbugs, was considered the city's specialty. Nowadays, traditional beef fleck can be tasted in Germany, it is also prepared in Poland (the Polish part of East Prussia). They call it flaki wolowe there (flaki wolowe) and are prepared from a semi-finished product (ready-made and peeled scars) in some cafes and eateries, serving hot along with buns.

In modern Kaliningrad (former Königsberg), after many years of neglecting Prussian cuisine, some cafes and restaurants serve Königsberg Fleck and other traditional dishes of East Prussia.

Koenigsberg bugs(K?nigsberger Klopse, from the German klopfen - beat, beat) - a meat dish of several meatballs (meatballs), poured with sauce. Bed bugs made in East Prussia have gained particular popularity in Europe. The classic Königsberg bedbugs were made from fatty ground beef and veal. According to the traditional recipe, minced meat, soaked and squeezed bun, egg, finely chopped onion, salt, pepper were well kneaded, round balls were molded from this mass with wet hands, thrown into a boiling broth with marrow bones, spices, bay leaf and cooked for 10 minutes.

Semi-finished products in cans under the brand name "Königsberg Klops" are still widely sold in Germany. Ready-made bed bugs are also sold in Poland.

In some restaurants in Kaliningrad, this dish was included in the menu and is listed as a signature dish.

salted crows are considered a true Königsberg dish. Before the war, the menu of the restaurant at the Königsberg Hotel Continental included a dish called Nehrungstauben (Curonian Spit Pigeon), served with a side dish of rice or sauerkraut. The role of the dove was performed by salted crows, and this dish was considered a great delicacy.

Ravens were caught with nets in the area of ​​Rossiten (Now Rybachy) on the Curonian Spit in winter and salted in barrels. Before use, the crows were soaked.

The dish itself appeared on the Curonian Spit in the 17th century and was the food of poor Curonian fishermen in the winter, when the bay froze and fishing stopped. And since the area was not rich in game, and vegetables did not grow on the sand, the crow hunting began in the fall. They were caught with fishing nets and salted in barrels like herring. And there were a lot of crows, because migratory routes of birds ran through the spit. Crow fishermen were called Krajebieter or crow biters, because the crows caught in the net were killed with a special bite to the skull.

Hunters bought permission to catch crows in the local forestry, where they were allocated a special area for arranging nets. Experienced catchers managed to catch 150-200 birds a day.

Generally Ravens were salted and even smoked not only by the Curonians, but also by other peoples, but the “pigeons of the spit” received real recognition only at the end of the 19th century, when the Königsberg-Kranz railway was built, which made it possible for the inhabitants of the spit to sell raven in the Königsberg markets. It is believed that salted crows were even exported abroad, and in the restaurants of Königsberg they could be eaten at the end of 1944. After the war, crow fishing was firmly forgotten, they talked about it only in the museum of the ornithological station on the Curonian Spit.

As historians joke, only one circumstance interferes with the revival of the crow trade - there is no one to bite the crows correctly ... And this is the main operation in their preparation.

The Koenigsbergers also had other favorite dishes.

One of them was a fork of boiled cereals with spices and sugar, in other words, a very thick porridge, stuck together in a lump. This dish was called Schwadengruetze. Popular were gray peas with bacon - Grane Ersen mit Speck, mashed potatoes with bacon - Kartoffelbrei mit SpirKeln and boiled, sliced ​​beetroot served with a sauce of wheat flour, broth, butter or margarine, salt and lemon juice, sometimes with small meatballs - Belten-Bartseh. In principle, everything is simple, unpretentious, cheap and useful.

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