The New German Cookbook: More Than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes – Flavorful Regional Dishes from Bavaria and Moselle for American Cooks

by Jean Anderson, Hedy Wurz

Contemporary German cooking couples hearty regional traditions with the subtle, light, and more sophisticated tastes of the modern palate. Jean Anderson and Hedy Würz lead readers from the back roads of Bavaria to the vineyards on the Moselle, from a quaint subterranean tavern in Lübeck to the three-star restaurants of Munich, opening kitchen doors and kettle lids to reveal modern Germany's gastronomic triumphs. With explanations of ingredients, clear instructions, and evocative introductions to the recipes, the cooking of today's Germany is illuminated for American cooks. All the traditional dishes are here, many in their original robust versions and others cleverly lightened by German's new generation of chefs and home cooks. Potato salad, barely glossed with dressing, then greened with fresh chevil; sauerkraut teamed with cod; and pumpernickel reduced to crumbs and folded into an airy Bavarian cream are just a few of the creative new German dishes that nevertheless bow to tradition. A chapter on wine and beer by Lamart Elmore, former executive director of the German Wine Information Bureau, completes the picture of Germany's total gastronomic experience. Germany today is a land of contradictions, a land where meandering rivers run alongside autobahns, where castles and cuckoo clocks coexist easily with high tech, high fashion, and haute cuisine. German food reflects this rich tapestry, and in The New German Cookbook , Jean Anderson and Hedy Würz import and interpret the traditional and the subtle, flavorful, and sophisticated dishes of modern Germany for American cooks.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food

416 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 1993

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do have to admit that I am both enamoured of and also more than a trifle frustrated with Jean Anderson’s 1993 The New German Cookbook: More than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes. Because while on the one hand, I do realise what Jean Anderson is trying to accomplish with The New German Cookbook: More than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes (and I also think mostly rather succeeding), namely demonstrating that German cooking is more and also has considerably more to offer than sausages, sauerkraut, pork roasts and dumplings (and that I really do very much appreciate the detailed included bibliographic and also find in particular the oh so very many many recipes in the soup, salad and vegetable chapters delightfully appealing and a welcome change from the standard attitude that all German cooking is by nature and necessity heavy and fattening food), on the other hand and conversely, Jean Anderson unfortunately still (and especially in her introductory musings for The New German Cookbook: More than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes) obviously cannot refrain from often being quite annoyingly generalising and stereotyping with regard to what us Germans are supposed to enjoy eating and drinking (and yes, I actually am not really a fan of beer even though I keep getting told the opposite, that that I of course should simply love beer just because I happen to be German).

And frankly, I am therefore getting rather sick and tired of constantly reading and hearing that ALL Germans must (for example) adore the taste of sauerkraut and sausages (as I for one do know many Germans who in fact do not enjoy the taste of either, and it is certainly majorly frustrating to still so often come across these kinds of in my opinion majorly silly stereotypes, since especially with food, what one likes to eat or what one does not like to eat is generally rather personal, and although I actually do like the taste of sauerkraut, I like it because I enjoy sour vegetables, and not because of my German background).

Combined with the fact that the Open Library copy of The New German Cookbook: More Than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes I read contains not even one photograph of the finished recipes, of the end products (something that I do find a total no-no for cookbooks) and that I also wish the recipes had been divided more regionally (since the provinces of Germany also often have different food traditions), while I do think that Jean Anderson has done a pretty good job describing German cooking and that there is more to German food than its stereotypical international reputation presents, for me, The New German Cookbook: More than 230 Contemporary and Traditional Recipes is still a bit disappointing and frustrating and thus only a three star perusal, and a book which indeed also still needs to diminish some of its own stereotypes.

[Marian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought all the venison, rabbit,beef, sausages,most vegetable recipes sounded tasty and interesting in this cookbook. However, the eel soup with prunes, kohlrabi, asparagus and apples was one of the most awful sounding recipes to imagine. I apologize if it is tasty to you folks from Hamburg? I am putting it right up on my top of gross sounding recipes along with escargot tamales ( from a different book) I think it's a toss- up which sounds nastier.

[Atlantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book a few months back and have been slowly trying the recipes in it. It is really a nice cookbook if you are interested in learing more about German cuisine. Particular favorites in my house are the "Goulash Soup" and "Poor Knights in Foamy Wine Sauce." I also liked the "Rhineland Sauerkraut Casserole" but had to eat that alone since I can't get my family to try Sauerkraut! :-) For Easter I made "Medaillons of Pork with Mushroom in Cognac-Cream Sauce" and it turned out okay but I need to work on the "Sauce part" as mine didn't turn out quite right...oh well.

[A.]

I was not impressed with this and would prefer a book written by a German