Das Cookbook: German Cooking . . . California Style

by Hans Röckenwagner, Jenn Garbee (Primary Contributor), Wolfgang Gussmack (Primary Contributor)

A collection of Rockenwagner's inventive German cooking with a California flair, featuring recipes from his popular California restaurants and bakeries. This cookbook is “filled with fantastic versions of the chef’s singular California-European cooking” that made his beloved restaurants and cafes so famous (LA Weekly).

One of Eater National ’s Most Anticipated Cookbooks of 2014
One of Tasting Table ’s Best Upcoming Cookbooks
One of CNN Underscored 's Best Cookbooks for Traveling the World From Your Kitchen This modern German-Californian cookbook from longtime Los Angeles chef and restaurateur Hans Röckenwagner features sections on bread-making (yes, pretzel bread!), holiday treats, and bar snacks, along with the most popular recipes from his several Los Angeles restaurants, including 3 Square Cafe on famed Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Cafe Röckenwagner in Brentwood. From fresh, light salads inspired by the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, where Röckenwagner shops weekly, to such hearty German classics as spätzle and schnitzel, to the breads and baked goods for which he is renowned, Das Cookbook shares all of Röckenwagner’s best recipes, all created, tested, and perfected for the home cook.

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Germany

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2014

Reviews

[Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} · Rating 5 out of 5]

YUM. So many delicious looking food. I might even try to go to some of his restaurants in the LA area, but I don't know how budget friendly they are. haha

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous (and gorgeously photographed) cookbook from LA's master of modern German cooking with a lighter California feel. This is not oom-pa-pa German cooking, it's modern classics, and it reminds you why German cooking is at the root of the best traditional American cooking. It has strudel and schnitzel, but also California salads, his mother-in-law's Korean flank steak, and hybrid dishes like avocado fries. The holiday cookies are fantastic, as are the breads. Full disclosure: I'm the publisher!

[Daisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though in the single-page introduction, our chef mentions three times how long he's been cooking, I was not put off. I want to own this book. Turning pages, more than once did I shout out and show my (Austrian) husband what an interesting take Rockenwagner has on some of his own family favorites. for instance: Bacon Rosemary Guglehupf, toasted and served with chived creme fraiche.
Can't wait to try these recipes. It's indeed well-suited to southern California climate and comfort-foody for a homesick central European.

[Left Coast Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many of my happiest memories involve sitting at a breakfast table and licking crumbs of some perfect flour/butter/salt concoction off my fingers. My favorite hotel in the whole entire world is the Hotel Collegium Leoninum in Bonn, Germany, not least because of their high-quality breakfasts, which can be eaten outdoors in a quiet courtyard.



I also like the fact that the hotel doubles as an old-folks home. Actually, it triples: A hotel, an old-folks home and a seminary for budding priests, ensuring that the crowd at breakfast is an interesting mix. More than once I've been cornered in an elevator by an elderly widow who, seeing a new face, would tell me all about her wonderful late husband, the renowned Dr. X, and all the groundbreaking new ideas he came up with. This seems to be an old-folks home specializing in cheerful rich widows.

So of course, my expectations were high for this book. While my life is notably deficient in cheerful rich widows at present, I do have a nice back deck surrounded by redwoods in which to enjoy breakfast, a faithful dog to sit at my feet and the ability to brew nice coffee. The only thing missing are the world-class breads, croissants and Laugenbroetchen that make or break the meal. Das Cookbook seemed like the answer to my prayers, particularly since Herr Röckenwagner has left the restaurant business behind and become a full-time bakery owner.

Schäm dich, Hans. Shame on you. Although my own baking career (I worked as a part-time pot scrubber in high school at a bakery and made some of the dough) did not reach the lofty heights of your Los Angeles restaurants, even I know that the flakiness, chewiness, fluffiness and springiness of baked beads are due almost entirely to the structure of the proteins in flour; the whole point of kneading dough is to get those long protein molecules lined up in a single direction. Scientists call this 'anisotropy' and I call it the difference between a dreamy breakfast abroad and some microwaved crap-shack like Starbucks.

Listen, Hans: Your typical bread recipes begin like

4 cups flour
2 tablespoons butter

Let's stop right there. Hans. What kind of flour, Hans? This stuff matters. And the butter: Salted? Unsalted? It makes a difference, mein Herr. Also, your photos evoked nothing in particular except a high-priced L.A. marketing firm; with a name like Das Cookbook, your readers are perhaps hoping to be transported into a small fantasy of a Biergarten somewhere? Think about it.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a bit iffy on this book. For reasons.

Strike One: Not the author's fault but the used copy I bought looks to have the author's signature AND PHONE NUMBER inscribed to a specific person in it. Kinda unfortunate and a bit creepy tbh.
Strike Two: Not in metric? Look, I get it. I'm an American. I don't tend to use metric in my day to day life but for baking I ABSOLUTELY do. Please tell me in grams how much one cup of flour is because one cup can change from day to day but the amount in grams is far less likely to do so. Bummer.
Strike Three: I didn't find much I was interested in trying to make, even as a born and raised SoCal kid with some Bohemian roots (ok, not German, but there's some small amounts of overlap in certain foods).

Anyway, I think someone else might get your phone number in this book because it feels like bad luck to keep it. Sorry not sorry.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Stars

I love unique cookbooks and this is definitely one. Interesting recipes with slightly above novice cooking level experience needed. I found NUMEROUS recipes I will be trying.

One criticism is, due to the difficulty level of some of the recipes, I wish the author would have included photo images of what the dish should look like at certain steps. He did with the pretzels and didn't carry through.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything in this cookbook looks delicious. I have plans to make the shrimp grilled cheese with an unopened shrimp ring in the fridge. I had two recipes earmarked for holiday cooking that didn't hTappen: Linzertorte Bars, hazelnut flour is next to impossible to find in my area. I'll have to find an online source. Hans Rockenwagner describes his beginning career as a baker and how his business took off. I love to dream about having a bakery! The multigrain scones also sound wonderful.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this cookbook and the concept of German cooking in California so much. There's some great riffs on traditional Austrian cooking. Like the dumpling made out of old bread or pretzels. So kuhl.

[Diane Zwang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A birthday present.
Summer corn and sweet pepper soup - excellent. make again. everybody loved.
Lamb burgers with jalapeno raisin chutney - I liked but the chef thought too much work for the dish.
Multigrain Scones - Healthy, hearty take on a scone. Plan ahead ingredients need overnight prep.