September 8th
2006
Foodbloggers are a helpful and supportive bunch of people. If somebody raises a question or sets up a meme, we answer (if time permits). Same with Melissa's effort for an improved and more complete list than the initial BBC one. Meanwhile she compiled an enormous list of her own, much more detailed than the original, with food suggestions making every foodie swoon. I got tagged, got tagged and got tagged again, yet I tried to shirk. You ask why?
How on earth shall I - the most indecisive person in the universe - narrow down my favorite food delights to only five? I'm already having a really hard time to decide wether I want to buy the blue cornflowers or the marguerites, how am I supposed to make this decision about something as important as FOOD? So I thought about sub-categories, which might make it easier for me to pick the essential ones!
Such as typical Bavarian (or Austrian, Czech) delicacies: A juicy Apple Strudel with a large dollup of freshly whipped cream came to mind, then a golden-brown Wiener Schnitzel, smoked ham from Upper Palatinate ("Oberpfälzer Bauerngeräuchertes") cut in small stripes...
Or should I stick with our beloved Italian cuisine and a thin-crusted wood-fired oven pizza, topped with tomatoes, mozzarella di Bufala and fresh basil from Riva or a bottle of wonderful fragrant olive oil from Lago di Como?
Wouldn’t other countries feel betrayed, if I didn't mention their signature products such as an outstanding Jamón Ibérico de bellota, delicious Pastéis de Nata or scrumptious La Ratte potatoes, cooked and served with nothing but fresh farm butter and Maldon sea salt?
And what about the simple joys of popping fresh berries in my mouth, which is almost as good as my nostalgic memories of climbing my grandparents trees (which can be seen below, behind my mum and my aunt Claudia) and eating their fruits right in the tree tops, especially Kornapfel/Klarapfel for which I haven't found an English expression (anybody?).
Which brings me to yet another sub-category - Event-Food: How about the obligatory Dampfnudeln with lots of hot vanilla sauce in a cozy chalet after skiing, each spring's first roast chicken eaten with your fingers in one of Munich's countless beergardens, Nürnberger Bratwürsteln at the snowy Christmasmarket or the Käskrainer at Würschtl Toni after a long night of partying in Regensburg...
I need to stop here, now I’m more confused than before I started pondering my choices. Sorry Melissa, I think I messed it up!
Dear Nicky, I'm terribly sorry for imposing this kind of stress on you! I would love to include all your items, but unfortunately I can't risk being accused of playing favorites ;) How about I take a look through the list and pick out five of your items that haven't been mentioned already? Alternatively, you and Oliver can each have your own list, thereby doubling your allotment...
Really love your choices, though, even if they do number more than five :)
No, that's not messed up. I like the category idea - it works well. Wish I thought of it.
Excellent list. Thanks
You mentioned some of my own favorites! My sister introduced me to Dampfnudeln last winter and it was love at first sight. How delicious!!!
The b/w photo is fascinating, the style of their clothes is so typical for what I guess might be the 60s? And what is a Kornapple? How is it different from regular apples?
Dampfnudeln!!! I KNEW I forgot something... ;)
I had a similar reaction Nicky...I couldn't possibly narrow it down to 5, so i'm not even going to try...
I like this post! Like it a lot!! Thanks for writing the meme in such fun and original way :)
Enjoyed the post. And now that you mention it, where *does* one buy jamon iberico in Munich? a nice source for piquillo peppers would be useful as well...
Dampfnudeln -- Oh, that brings back wonderful memories! My mom makes wonderful dampfnudeln. She tops them with a dark cherry sauce and they are just divine. It has been a few years since I've had them.
My other favorite is her homemade Fastnachts. I am with you on using "categories." Mom's German food will always be one of my top five.
I was tagged too, by another blogger and I am also finding it very hard to pick just 5. I do like to compare the lists and see if i have had any of the 5, or just to see what people are truly passionate about.
I've been tagged twice as well, and haven't yet responded - mainly for the same reason that there are way too many things I can think of! I think I'll stick to my Estonian roots and write up the post later this week.
Re: Weißer Klarapfel - there is a huge tree outside my parents house, and it's one of my favourite apples, called VALGE KLAAR in Estonian (and I've literally just finished eating one 5 minutes ago). Sorry, don't know the English name either.
Melissa, Thanks for your patience with the girl who has to have "her extra sausage" - couldn't help but use a literal translation of a German phrase, basically describing somebody who doesn't play by the rules (and wants special treatment) ;) Your list is amazing and shows, that it is absolutely impossible to keep up with all the new foodblogs out there. Again, thanks for the time and effort you put into it :)
Nadia, Good question! We're very lucky to have a very generous friend from Spain, who brought the jamon as a whole straight from his home country. I asked him if he knew a reseller in Munich and he pointed me to Dallmayr, but wasn't exactly sure. If they don't sell it, they should at least know who does. Please let me know when you found some!
What a delicious list, Nicky. Jamon Iberico... yummmmm! And Apple Strudel...
Thanks for the list. There are so much i am yet to try. Sigh.
There are two ways to approach this. The first is to list your favourite food, the things that perhaps you might choose for your final meal as the condemned prisoner as they build the scaffold outside! Well the first thing I would like is good company before thinking about food, but the food I would choose for this list are the simple commonplace things that one never tires of, such as roast chicken, or bacon and eggs, a small cup of espresso coffee, or a simple Greek salad (xoriatiki). There is simply nothing more delicious than any of these, if they are made from the best ingredients and prepared with care. Much as I also love delicacies such as smoked salmon, or Parma ham, I think that the simpler foods are the very best of all.
The second way is to tell people about something you have discovered, that you believe should be more widely appreciated. A few years back I spent a holiday in Calabria. I loved the fiery gutsy peasant regional cuisine there, and tasted many things there not found often in other parts of Italy, let alone in outside. Among my favourite discoveries was nduja (pronounced "ndooya"), which looks like a salami, but is more like an extremely chilli hot meat paste, and is very delicious either spread very thin on bread, or used like harissa paste to flavour your cooking. It is usually an artisan made product not even widely available in Italy, and the only place I have found where I can buy it from my home in the UK (or indeed anywhere else in the world), is the rather wonderful Italian internet delicatessen Esperya. Providing you enjoy an occasional chilli hit, do try it, you will not regret it.
When I filled out the meme, I didn't even try to choose from my zillions of favourite things. I just wrote down the first 5 things that came to mind. As I read other peoples' entries, I find myself saying "Oh yah!! How could I have left that out?!" :-)
There are only three things on your extended list that I have tried (and love): apple strudel, viener schnitzel and fresh berries. Clearly I will have to investigate the other things!
-Elizabeth
Kaufhof apparently has some sort of cooperation going on with El Corte Inglés. So at least at Kauhof Marienplatz you might find jamón de bellota and pimientos de piquillo (en lata).
the day I left my first comment to this article, I went to my supermarket and voila: they had the exact same olive oil, only bottled differently. I'll have to agree, it is one of the most pleasant oils I've come across!
[...] Of course it was time to talk about dinner. I had bought some la ratte potatoes earlier in the week,intending them for salt potatoes, and there were some Brussels sprouts leftover from the velouté. We decided that it would be fun to roast them with some of Dines Farms astoundingly good boneless chicken thighs. [...]
Damn - I wish I'd thought of "messing up" my list of 5 like that!! ;-) I think you did a fantastic job & I love lots of the stuff on the list. Something about Jamon Iberico de Bellota just transports me to another world - the texture, the taste, the smell... aaarrrgh! And yes yes yes to dampfnudeln! For my list I tried to come up with the 5 things that gave me a eureka moment - like "oh, NOW I know what ham is supposed to taste like!" - but even narrowing that down to 5 was hard.
If you have the chance to eat the Pasteis de Nata, go for the real thing - Pastei de Belem , they are veeeeeery different in taste, quality and texture from the Pasteis de Nata you find in pastry shops ;)
LSantos, We already ate and loved them! They are a little greasier than the "regular" ones, but maybe that's what makes them so addictive ;)
completely with you... it's incredibly difficult. agreed as well with regards to the kaesekrainer, pasteis de nata and olive oil: i've never tried one from that far north, though... and we will be trying the maldon salt soon and see how it fares in our salt tasting!