| Gut Geschmekt German Eating I’m asking myself why I’m putting German recipes in this book,
since it’s about growing up – the only reasons I can think of are (a) growing up
in Scotland we were still playing Gerries and British while I imagine American children
were in the cowboys and indians or cops and robbers phases; or (b) in the Beverages
section I mentioned serving our punch out of the German castles on the Rhine punch bowl,
so here it is –
or (c) perhaps another reason is that if it hadn’t been
for two Wars with Germany, two women wouldn’t have found their husbands, and perhaps
the (d) fourth reason is because this book is for my children and grandchildren and
I’d like to remember that their father, or their grandfather depending on which
generation they are, is 100% German on both sides – I’m the one that broke this
pure descendancy and brought in the Scots, the Welsh, the Belgians and who knows what else
as our ancestors swaggered through Europe since the dawn of time.
So, here we go, beginning with breakfast --
Charlotte's Bauern Fruhstuck
John loved this in Germany. Now you see them all over the
place as "Skillet Breakfasts":
Fry up breakfast sausage
Fry potatoes and onions and other vegetables you like - like peppers, mushrooms,
etc.
Scramble eggs
Serve sausage on a bed of the potato mix, cover with
scrambled eggs, top with cheese if you like.
Have lots of good fresh rolls on the side, preferable German
brotchen, with lots of butter and jam. Great breakfast!
Oma's Lutjenburg Rumtopf
This is a memory from our Navy days in
Germany. We lived above the shoe store and my landlady's daughter became my best friend
there and her family of Oma, Opa (grandma and grandpa) and Tantes and Oncles (guess!)
became ours, too.
Every Wiehnachten (Christmas) Oma would
uncork the Rumtopf (rumpot) which she had made in a crock in the autumn and stored in her
dark cellar. This was a potent concoction of all sorts of fruits (all I know is that plums
were a prime ingredient) which had been happily fermenting for this wonderful Christmas
season.
John Bleh really, really, liked this!
John, Johnny, Baby Tina and me in Lutjenburg, Germany, January,
1970.
Charlotte's Lion House Cookbook
Chateaubriand
John and I learned to love Chateaubriand when
we lived in Germany and eating out in a nice restaurant, called the Bismarkturm, wasn't
too expensive for his Navy paycheck. The German restaurant would serve this with a ton of
vegetables. I liked it served with horseradish sauce.
5 lb tenderloin of beef, center cut (I buy
London broil and call it Chateaubriand!)
Optional garlic
3 strips bacon
Salt
Trim excess fat from meat. Place meat in a
shallow roasting pan. Rub with cut garlic and salt. Top with half strips of bacon. Rub
with salt. Bake in a 450 oven for 45 or 60 minutes until meat is red to pink inside. Slit
meat with tip of paring knife to check doneness, or use a meat thermometer.
Remove meat to a warm platter and slice on
the diagonal in about 1/2" thick slices.
This is really good served with another ton
of grilled mushrooms and steamed, buttered vegetables. |
