It so happened in Germany that the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II did not let anyone finish their meal in peace, and talking about food was just as indecent as talking about illnesses. In such an atmosphere, of course, fertile ground for gastronomic culture could not arise. A prudent Prussian puritan would consider it a great sin to cook a dish with wine or to add an extra drop of vegetable oil to a salad. Thus, the Prussians at the table were silent, dutifully chewing boiled potatoes, poured with white, like chalk, flour sauce. This mucous "seasoning" was "flavored" with vegetables, and meat or a side dish. With ill-concealed envy, they looked sideways at their neighbors, at the Rhineland regions living for pleasure or the South German kingdoms, whose inhabitants, with democratic self-confidence, were not ashamed of either their dialect or their addiction to good, tasty food. Against the insipid Prussian background, only the areas where the inhabitants of boring Prussia encountered cheerful Danes or drinkers Poles and Russians stood out somewhat.
After the end of World War I and the abdication of the Kaiser, widespread poverty and hunger did not allow the population to catch up. And the upbringing that had been ingrained over many decades could not disappear in a matter of days. Everything began to change cardinally only as a result of the “economic miracle” after 1948, the first gastronomic programs on television and cookbooks that flooded the counter. In addition, the population had the opportunity to compare with the way of life of the allied troops stationed in the country, and on tourist trips, in fact, the whole world. While the southern and western parts of Germany have dignifiedly retained their traditional dishes, such as STEAM CREAMED PRETS, BEEF TENDULOS WITH SOUR CREAM, or MEAT DUMPLINGS, in Northern Germany, the inhabitants happily said goodbye to their monotonous "pickles" and swapped them for french fries, Hawaiian chops, and a not-so-successful imitation of BEEF STROGANOVE or CORDON BLEU (high-end BLUE RIBBON delicacies). Along with the growing attention to delicious food, a taste and determination to experiment boldly developed. Thrift suddenly ceased to be known as a do-gooder, delicatessen shops and restaurants noted an influx of visitors, and eventually even students began to spend a significant part of their modest pocket money on lunch in public catering.
That is, the German consumer has finally passed the maturity test. In the wake of chicken grill bars and Anglo-Saxon restaurants, Chinese, Italian, Greek and Turkish restaurants began to appear in abundance. Housewives bolder began to hide according to foreign recipes, freezing and canning enterprises flooded the trade in "exotic" ready-made dishes. A fresh wind of foreign gastronomy penetrated German cuisine. If the younger generation of chefs, adherents of the French "New Cuisine", conjures with German scrupulousness over the delights of gourmet gastronomy, then the older ones recall with nostalgia such domestic delicious national dishes as COTTAGE COTTAGE PIE, SILEZER PARADISE FOOD or KINEGSBER KNEDLIKS, which have now gone into oblivion . After all, if today smokers are bringing back snuff, this should not be seen as a return to Kaiserian asceticism, but rather as an expansion of the range of tobacco products.
Over the past twenty years, significant changes have occurred in relation to drinks. Between the Alps and the North Sea, people drank beer most of the time. As a result of rationalization, some breweries have closed, but still the German trade offers more than a thousand varieties of beer. The ever-increasing consumption of wine, with which the Germans pay homage to delicious food, is striking. Every year the consumption of dry wine especially increases, it is drunk with food more and more often.
The main distinguishing feature of German cuisine is satiety. It is noteworthy that culinary traditions with characteristic European features are also distinguished by the unusual simplicity of cooking. The most common products, for example, in Germany are potatoes, meat and vegetables. The “crown” dish of the Germans can be safely called a rather simple dish to prepare - Bavarian sausages with stewed cabbage, which can be found on the menu of every restaurant in this country.
Another equally interesting classic German dish is the sweet and sour "Sauerbraten", which is a typical example of the original cuisine of Central Germany. Preparing the dish is quite simple - the beef is marinated in wine and vinegar for several days, after which it is stewed with the addition of raisins, beetroot syrup, ginger, apples and vegetables. This dish is usually served on the table with potato dumplings or diced apples.
White Bavarian sausage - "weisswurst" - is another unusual dish that Germans most often eat for breakfast. It is noteworthy that this dish has a very light, even airy texture and consists of pork, veal, herbs and lemon. This sausage is usually consumed hot.
In some regions of Germany, sausages are so popular that they are consumed at any time of the day - at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Moreover, the Germans use sausages and sausages both as an independent dish with or without a side dish, and as additional ingredients for salads, soups or second courses.
In addition to sausages, many varieties of cutlets, schnitzels, steaks and schnelklops can be included in the traditional meat cuisine of Germany. It is noteworthy that the Germans are not too fond of spices and seasonings in the process of cooking, so you will not find spicy recipes in traditional German cuisine.