Name: 5 classic German foods you should give a try
Uploaded: 2024-10-24T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 7 min 30 s
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German cuisine is considered meat-heavy, but the cliché is only partly true.

We'll show you five typical specialties from Germany, from hearty to vegetarian to sweet.

Bet you wouldn't have guessed that one of them is actually a German invention.

Let's start with a classic, the Schweinshaxe.

This knuckle of pork probably corresponds to the image that many people have of German food, served with a side of Bavarian folk music, like here in Munich's Hofbräuhaus.

Wolfgang Reitmeier uses basic ingredients when preparing this typical Bavarian specialty, but he's very particular about the origin and quality of the meat.

And this is how the knuckles are prepared.

The front leg of the pork is seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper and a mixture of caraway seeds.

After resting for an hour, the meat goes into the oven, for 30 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius to begin with.

Then it's basted with dark beer and put back in.

After two hours, the pork knuckle is basted two more times with black beer and grilled at a high temperature until a perfect, slightly caramelized crust is formed.

The Schweinshaxe is traditionally served with a potato dumpling and gravy.

When boiled, the pork knuckle is known as Eisbein, a dish more popular in northern Germany, where it's usually eaten with sauerkraut and potatoes.

Either way, the pork knuckle is an absolute staple of German cuisine.

This vegetable is the headliner on many German menus in springtime – asparagus.

The season lasts about three months, and during this time,

Germans eat an average of around 1.4 kilograms of asparagus per person.

Asparagus has been grown in the region around Beelitz, south of Berlin, since the middle of the 19th century.

It has no resistance, and the soil warms up well, which gives the asparagus its unique aroma.

Around 10% is green asparagus, which grows above ground, and 90% is white and grows underground.

As soon as the tips begin to peek out of the soil, the white asparagus is harvested, mostly by hand.

Because of the complicated harvesting process, it was seen as a luxury in the past, which only the wealthy could afford.

That's why it was also known as the royal vegetable, or white gold.

In Germany, it's served with hollandaise sauce and potatoes.

Some have it with a schnitzel, but the absolute spring classic is a vegetarian dish.

Asparagus served with breadcrumbs browned in butter.

This is a specialty that is associated with Germany all over the world – the pretzel.

Especially in southern Germany, life without pretzels is unthinkable.

A distinction is made between the Bavarian and Swabian varieties.

The dough consists of wheat flour, water, yeast, and a mixture of salt, malt, and either margarine, butter or lard.

The dough is divided, rolled out, and then skillfully twisted into shape.

It's like this, then like this, and then like this.

That's what people are most fascinated with – the twisting.

After the pretzels have risen, they're coated with diluted baking soda.

This is what a Bavarian pretzel should look like.

The Swabian version differs mainly in its shape.

It's all about the so-called belly and the thin arms.

Regardless of your preferred shape, the pretzel is undeniably the flagship of German baking.

Could the same be said about our next German specialty?

You really have to like eating fish to find out.

The fish rolls are particularly popular in northern Germany in every possible variation.

You'll mainly find the beloved snack by the coast at little stands like this one in the port of Hamburg.

Always with fresh fish and usually topped with some onions.

The king, or should we say chancellor, of fish rolls is the one with Bismarck herring.

Herring fillets are marinated in vinegar and salt and mixed with mustard seeds, onions, bay leaves, and allspice.

The herring is then left to marinate in the spicy broth for a week.

It's named after the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who ruled at the end of the 19th century.

According to legend, a local merchant sent him a barrel of the pickled herring and got permission to name it after him.

Today, the Bismarck roll is the classic fish roll, a street food that is a must-try for any visitor to northern Germany.

The typically German spaghetti ice cream.

The noodle-shaped ice cream with strawberry sauce and white chocolate sprinkles was created here in Mannheim in southwest Germany.

Dario Fontanella, the son of Italian immigrants, came up with this unusual creation in his father's ice cream parlor.

It first appeared on the menu in 1969, inspired by a dessert he had eaten on vacation.

I asked him, can you tell me how you came up with this idea?

I took chestnut puree and crushed it with a potato masher.

For spaghetti ice cream a la Fontanella, you need milk, cream, thickener, egg yolk powder, and sugar, plus some vanilla extract and lemon.

The ice cream mixture is made at minus 8 degrees Celsius.

To make the red sauce, strawberries are pureed.

The vanilla ice cream spaghetti is placed on a portion of cream with a strawberry puree acting as the tomato sauce and white chocolate sprinkles as parmesan.

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5 classic German foods you should give a try

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