Sounds and Smells of Deutschland

Names and units involved in this story are witheld to protect the guilty.

On one NATO excercise around the Hoxter - Holzminden area some characters were dickering with the hausfrau to trade a jerry can of gas (petrol) for beer at one of the places alan8376 mentions. As the chief negotiator got back in the vehicle he inadvertently sat on the C42 set mike, thus activating the presso switch. The entire net could hear how: "That cheap #*##!___?#* would only give us one f---- case of beer for a can of gas. Let's try someplace else!".

Chemist wrote:

Don't recall aerials in roof space,but I do remember the guy in the top hat who came to clean the chimney. Up into the attic,out through the skylight window, walk along the roof ridge, and DOWN with the brush to clean the chimney.
In our cellar we had the boiler AND the oil tank. Fire hazard?That was a great place to do a bit of DIY.
Yes solid floors,great idea, but sound insulation? We had a Canadian couple next door who had frequent shouting matches.
The sound from the hiring I lived travelled down through the bathroom,could hear the lady upstairs sliding up and down the bath.
In the quarter we had that wire mesh in the garden with the rush type material wired to it.Another unique German thing

German chimneysweeps = shoensteinfager. If you shook hands with one, or touched him, it was good luck. Mom had, and I inherited, a charming little wood carving of a shoensteinfager with top hat, ladder, brush, and slippers.

Never thought about the boiler and oil tank being in the basement as a fire hazard but of course it was/is. I don't recall many house fires resulting from them, mind you. And what about the oil stoves over in the corner that you lit with a paper taper? Smelly old things, too!

Sorry to hear your Canadian neighbours had regular shouting matches, however....and we have a reputation of being such a quiet, self-effacing lot, too!!

alan8376 wrote:

Remember the 'Germans' who had ciggi machines at their garden gate or even sold beer as a side line from their keller?

You mean the kiosk-window thingies? I'm not sure what sort of licensing one had to go through to be such an 'establishment' but it certainly was a good source of income for little old ladies. Of course, they'd be on call all the time as if the window was closed, all you had to do was ring the buzzer next to it, and out she'd shuffle.

I also remember a neighbour lady when we lived in Helle-Balve in 1960 who used to dispense, just because she was a nice lady I suppose, raw strips of bacon fat to all us kids out of her sewing table drawer! We'd slurp on those for quite a while...or until our horrified Canadian parents realized what we had been given and took it away from us (I'd be about 5 or 6 at the time). As I recall, as disgusting as raw bacon fat may sound, it was delicious!

the same food item was also used, btw, to move those huge schranks; one would slide a strip of fat under the legs or the ends and it slid very easily across the wood floor to where ever it was you wanted to move it...not that they got moved that often.

A cup of coffee, a slice of Black Forest Cake (Schwarzwalder Coo-ken). Probably have the spelling wrong on that, but to those who experienced it, they'll know.

Ah,now we're talking Ross,a large slice of Shwartzwalderkirchtorte,washed down with a few cups of strong perculated coffee,about the only time I'd drink it.

Heise Schokolade mit rhum oder vodka !

We have a Continental Market here in Harrogate once a month and several German traders turn up plus a 'Shnell Imbass' I had a Curreywurst the other week for the first time in 15 years, which was the same Bratwurst as in the buns chopped up with a warm curry sauce with sprinkled paprika.

Luvverly

Wiener Schnitzel ( proper ones made with veal). Lidl used to do them.
Had a currywurst at the Christmas market in Edinburgh along with Kirschwein served warm.
The smells of the market brought back memories of Germany.

in detmold,just opposite the detmolder hof hotel,was a resteraunt run by a greek and his family,my wife and me were regular there,our favourite was,schnitzel mit salat und pomfrites,oh the memories,dave.

We are fortunate to have a Gasthof here in Winnipeg that serves a veal schnitzel that transports you back to Germany. And have just heard about another place outside the city that is supposedly equally good. Then there is the Crispy Bun Bakery (All German) first time I have ever seen Wasser Brochen for real in Canada. Also his baking is definitely German. Not loads of sugar as in North American baking, but real fruit flavour with just a bit of sugar to emphasize the flavor.It's a fairly new establishment and many an old Oma or Opa is found leaning on their son/daughter/grandchild's arm buying the goods. They serve a light lunch, I should talk to him about a curry wurst..... OH YES I should.

When I was stationed at 3 BAPD at Bracht we were not far from the Dutch border so would cross over into Venlo like poping into the next town! in fact it was closer than the NAAFI at JHQ

We also had a Shnell Imbas owned by an ex ACC Chef at the end of the road who did a mix of British Fish n' Chips, German & Dutch dishes and did just as well with the locals with Fish n' Chips as he did with the Brit's

He also did a very nice Dutch Frikadellen Sausage, deep fried and filled with finely chopped raw onions with mayo and tomato ‘curry saus’ mit Pom Frites of course!

Remember German potatoe salad? Markedly different than the bland glop that passes for potatoe salad around here! Not sure what the difference is...I suspect vinegar in the German version.

At any rate, I could polish off a tub of that no problem....loved it! It had bit of a 'bite' to it, which is why I am half-thinking now it had a healthy dash of vinegar added to it/mixed in with it. And, as I recall, a dash of red pepper (not the salt, the real diced stuff)...very few, but there.

Weinerschnitzel is of course a standard! But it has to be done just right or it's actually rather tasteless. I enjoyed weinerschnitzel and the other variations such a zieguenerschnitzel, jaegerschnitzel, curryschnitzel, etc.

Oh...and what was it that often had a fried egg on top of it which in turn was topped with a very hot pepper of some sort? That was awesome!

I remember when I was about 17 or so, in Soest, and the sister of our teen hut DJ, Gloria (who was quite a character...absolutely convinced UFOs existed and hoping aliens would come and get her. She was also prone to wearing a lot of bike leathers) took me to a restaurant down Bruederstrasse called Monch Hof (been around since something like the 16th Century and was once operated by monks, hence the name) and insisted I have the Chateaubriande. I'd never had it and found it delicious. What was memorable was the huge red pepper on the side. I'd never seen one, let alone ever ate one and she encouraged me to try it.

Naive as I was, I chomped down on the whole damn thing and almost immediately discovered just how hot red peppers were! The only thing to drink was the red wine we had ordered...trust me, that didn't help!!! LOL

Both she and the waiter thought it hilarious, of course. I didn't at the time, but looking back...yeah, it was funny. Dumb kid...lol

Kenneth, German potato salad is made with sour cream and dry mustard powder, green onions . Potatoes should be boiled the day before and left to cool over night. This gets rid of chlorine taste in the water. You can add any other spices you want eg: paprika, etc. But that is the basic salad.

Whoops forgot to mention: Don't forget the chopped up hard boiled eggs.

Also one (1) potatoe per person if making a large quantity.

Good cooking advice Hardrations Does'nt the variety of potato also come into it?. I think that the "waxy" type that the French use would probably be best,but I bow to superior knowledge.

Certainly the "floury" potatoes we have in Ireland would not work,they break up if they are not cooked by steaming.

Hav'nt had a decent potato salad since I left BAOR in 1988. We can dream can't we.

That first chateaubriand in a place on the Warendorf to Munster road-came on wooden platter with thirteen vegetables-never to be forgotten

Warrendorf to Munster Rd ... Pit Stop

Chemist wrote:

Good cooking advice Hardrations Does'nt the variety of potato also come into it?. I think that the "waxy" type that the French use would probably be best,but I bow to superior knowledge.

Certainly the "floury" potatoes we have in Ireland would not work,they break up if they are not cooked by steaming.

Hav'nt had a decent potato salad since I left BAOR in 1988. We can dream can't we.

That first chateaubriand in a place on the Warendorf to Munster road-came on wooden platter with thirteen vegetables-never to be forgotten

What we Brits call 'New Potato's' or 'Jersay Potato's' work best.

Right on there Mike. Mind I remember that German potatoes were of a yellowish hue, but they were firm one. We use red potatoes mostly out west with some white. There is the Yukon gold potatoe which is one firm potatoe.

Whoops forgot to mention: Don't forget the chopped up hard boiled eggs.

Also one (1) potatoe per person if making a large quantity.

We have Yellow Potato's here in BC ... my 'frau' is going to make some with the recipe above .. quantities will be 'by gosh, by golly' until we get it right ...

Len (Ciphers)

Trial and error Len..sounds good but watch that waist line..(if you are still lucky enough to have one,That is)

I find the Katoffel Salat supplied by ALDI and LIDL are the best you can find here,especially the one with chives.

Hardrations wrote:

Kenneth, German potato salad is made with sour cream and dry mustard powder, green onions . Potatoes should be boiled the day before and left to cool over night. This gets rid of chlorine taste in the water. You can add any other spices you want eg: paprika, etc. But that is the basic salad.

Whoops forgot to mention: Don't forget the chopped up hard boiled eggs.

Also one (1) potatoe per person if making a large quantity.

Sour cream...that rings a bell re German potatoe salad, green onions --yes (not the peppers I thought...) but hadn't thought/realized the dry mustard powder component.

The recipe re boiling the potatoes the day before and leaving to cool overnight....I do recall that, now that you mention it. And the chopped hard boiled eggs; added a wonderful texture to the whole concoction.

Chemist wrote:

Good cooking advice Hardrations Does'nt the variety of potato also come into it?. I think that the "waxy" type that the French use would probably be best,but I bow to superior knowledge.

Certainly the "floury" potatoes we have in Ireland would not work,they break up if they are not cooked by steaming.

That makes sense, actually. I suspect the garden variety (no pun intended) German potatoe is quite a different creature from the Canadian/American potatoe which has more in common with the Irish potatoe -- and given the huge impact Irish immigrants had on the culture of both Canada and the US, that wouldn't be surprising either. More flavour, I'd say.

Chemist wrote:

Hav'nt had a decent potato salad since I left BAOR in 1988. We can dream can't we.

Glad I'm not alone in that, then!

Chemist wrote:

That first chateaubriand in a place on the Warendorf to Munster road-came on wooden platter with thirteen vegetables-never to be forgotten

That is one of the things I am most thankful for...growing up in Germany as so many of us did exposed us to foods, ideas, ways of being we never would have had a chance to experience had we remained "home" and grown up in the same neighbourhood or the same city.

I certainly never would have ever had the opportunity to dine on Chateaubriand. I've had it once since returning to Canada in 1974 and it A) cost a fortune and B) was not, IMHO, anywhere near as good as the dish I had in Soest. Of course, as with anything else, the 'first time' is always, in memory, the best or certainly if not the best, the most memorable.

I have just dug out a menu from the Hotel Feldmann in Munster dated 19th Jan 1994. I will just put one item up to get the comments going.

Drei Jungswcheinslendschen im Speckmantel mit einer Sauce von schwarzen Johannisbeeren am feinen Gemusen des Marktes dazu Kartoffel-Reibekuchlein.-----DM 32.50..

Get cracking with the translation lads!

something with bacon and a black current sauce and some sort of potato.

Jungswcheinslend??don`t know but there`s three of them

Kartoffel-Reibekuchlein.-----???? Potato ??

Lende is German for haunch or loin. the "schen" is the diminutive plural so we have three small young pork loins.

Reibekuchen (slightly different spelling) are fried potato pancakes.

Speckmantel would be a sprinkling of fried bacon lardons.

Sounds lovely, but of the typical German "heart-attack-on-a-plate" variety.

I'm not too fond of Lidl potato salad. The potatoes have a slightly raw feel to them. Best to make your own.

Boiled floury potatoes. Mashed dry and allowed to cool.
Fried speck (bacon lardons) and fried onions allowed to cool.
Mayonnaise (light is fine), chopped hard-boiled eggs and finely-chopped pickled gherkins, a couple of raw finely-chopped spring onions, a teaspoon of mustard, salt and pepper.

Basically. all mixed together in a bowl and allowed to chill in the fridge

The quantities and proportions are entirely to one's own liking. It is not a precise science. I generally put in a little of the pickle vinegar that the gherkins come in, just to sharpen it up a bit and to add a bit of the dill flavour.