Martha '25; Olivia '25; Liang '25 | An Exploration of German Cuisine: Conventional and Contemporary

    Olivia, Liang, I decided to embark on a cultural exploration through cooking and sharing German recipes, both old and new. Continue reading to learn more about these German recipes and their history, both conventional and contemporary!

Martha - Currywurst

    While studying abroad in Berlin, I couldn’t walk more than two blocks without running into a currywurst stand. Over the course of my semester there, I grew incredibly fond of this street food treat, which is why I decided to attempt to recreate it now that I’m back in the USA. currywurst itself has a very intriguing Berlin-specific history behind it. The story goes that in post-World War II Berlin, when money was scarce and bartering goods became very common, Herta Heuwer acquired ketchup and curry powder from some British soldiers occupying Berlin. Not owning the ingredients to make a traditional curry-based dish, she mixed the curry powder and ketchup together and drizzled the mixture over traditional German bratwursts. And, thus, currywurst was born! Much like Berlin itself, currywurst is a fun mixture of different cultures. While a very simple and easy-to-make recipe, currywurst tends to be a crowd-pleaser! I highly recommend anyone try this simple dish if they want to have a little taste of Berlin right here in the USA.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Bratwursts
1 cup of Tomato Ketchup
1/4 teaspoon of Baking Soda (sounds weird but trust me)
4 – 5 teaspoons of Mild Curry Powder
2 teaspoons of Smoked Paprika
1 teaspoon of Onion Powder
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoons of Cayenne Pepper
Instructions:
Put 1 cup of tomato ketchup in a small saucepan and heat on medium low.
When ketchup is warmed through, add baking soda and stir continuously until foaming subsides.
Ketchup should look normal again.
Reduce heat to low.
Add remaining ingredients, through to water and stir until combined.
Let it simmer on the stow for 5 - 10 minutes to meld flavors.
Serve warm over sliced bratwurst with crusty bread or fries as a side.
Enjoy!

Olivia - Kartoffelpuffer

    Growing up I absolutely loved eating Kartoffelpuffer or potato pancakes. For the longest time I thought Kartoffelpuffer, a common German street food, and Latkes, perhaps one of the most well known traditional Jewish dishes, were the same. In fact, these two dishes are often mistaken for each other. When I showed up with my Kartoffelpuffer to the Mukbang, everyone thought I had made Latkes. And quite frankly, so did I. Upon further research, I learned that not only the cultural backgrounds and significance of these two dishes vary, but also the ingredients used to make them. The origin of Kartoffelpuffer is unclear, however variations of this simple dish consisting of potato, eggs, and flour, can be found across europe. Latkes on the other hand are thought to have been inspired by Italian ricotta cheese pancakes. In addition to the potatoes, eggs, and flour used to make Kartoffelpuffer, traditional Latkes also require baking powder and matzo meal. Overall learning about the differences between these two dishes has been so interesting. I have always known that there are many similarities between Jewish and German culture ranging from the languages spoken, namely Yiddish and German, to the foods we eat, however it is also so vital that we recognize and understand the differences that do exist between these two cultures. That being said, I don’t have a concrete recipe I follow for making Kartoffelpuffer so I tried my best to make one.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
2-3 Russet Potatoes, grated
½ cup of water
2 eggs
3 tbsp. neutral oil
½ cup of flour (ish)
Salt and pepper, to taste
½ an onion, grated (optional)
Instructions:
Grate your potatoes and onions. You can peel the potatoes first if you don’t like the skin but I usually leave it on.
Place the potatoes and onions in a bowl and add about ½ a cup of water and wash the potatoes and onions like you would rice.
Drain the water while squeezing the potato onion mixture to remove as much starch as possible.
Add the eggs and combine
Add flour 2 tbsp. at a time and mix until the mixture comes together and can be molded into cakes (just slightly thicker than oatmeal).
In a pan over medium/high heat add the neutral oil and let it warm up.
Carefully shape the mixture into pancakes and gently place them into the oil.
Cook the pancake until it is golden brown on the bottom and the sides start to crisp. Then flip and let the other side become golden brown on the other side.
Remove pancakes from the pan and set them aside.
Repeat steps 7-9 until you have used all of your mixture.
Once all of the pancakes are done, serve with a dipping sauce of your choice. Get creative! (popular choices are applesauce or sour cream)

Liang - Kosheri

    When I was studying abroad in Berlin, Dussman das Kulturkaufhaus was among my favorite places to be. Meanwhile, I was impressed by my host family’s collection of cookbooks – and how they facilitated a house kitchen’s transformation into a world kitchen. So, at the end of the trip, I bought a German cookbook from Dussman – as a souvenir, but also as the kind of rare reading material that is both written in German and accessible to me. I have tried various dishes in the book since I was back, and this time I randomly picked one whose ingredients can be conveniently bought from Food Lion. So here I am: cooking something with no knowledge whatsoever of its history, or about what it will look like. It turns out that this is an Egyptian dish, so I was apparently making a German version of an Egyptian dish. The final product? Kann man schon mal essen :)
By the way, it would certainly be very interesting to see how the recipe whitewashes cuisine from other continents, but that is certainly a more challenging task that one shall undertake later…

Recipe:
Ingredients:
For the main dish:
300g lentils
200g basmati rice
40g butter
50g Vermicelli
400ml water
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 white onions
For the sauce:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 red chilies
8 tomatoes
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
3 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cumin
20g cilantro

    Thank you for joining us on our cultural food exploration, and we encourage you to try these as well as other German recipes! Guten appetit!