Spring promises new hope and brings a beautiful change as we embark on something new.

Spring promises new hope and brings a beautiful change as we embark on something new.

Let’s cultivate well-travelled children and adults by the end of this year by visiting a foreign country through our taste buds. For the next few months, I will be sharing ideas to explore culinary arts and various culture experiences by celebrating and finding interesting facts from countries around the world. This week we are celebrating Germany or as the German’s call it, Deutsland.

Loving The Family

A friend of mine saw this idea on social media where you once a week eat something from a different country, but she changed it up a bit. Here is the idea: a cultural evening at your house with the family. You pick a country and make it exciting with different foods from that country.

It could be as simple or fancy as you want it. Have a look at the flag, discuss interesting facts about the country or what the country is famous for. The children have fun and the adults get schooled. Yes, many parents have learnt a few things from all the home-schooling.

Take out the world map and point to Germany.

Fact-Finding

A third of Germany is covered in woodlands and forests. They are known for the autobahn, estimated 1 500 sausage varieties, lots of beer and bread and the famous Oktoberfest. Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volkswagen are all well-known car manufacturers associated with German engineering.

• We have Germans to thank for gummy bears and Faber-Castell pencils.
• Currency: Euro
• Language: Mostly German
• Capital: Berlin

Cuisine

Traditional German food is quite heavy and rich. There will be meat at every midday and evening meal, often also at breakfast.

Breakfast commonly consists of bread, toast or bread rolls with butter or margarine, cold cuts, cheeses, jam or more commonly called marmelade, honey and eggs.

Common drinks

It is very common to eat hearty toppings at breakfast, including deli meats like ham, salted meats, salami and meat-based spreads, such as leberwurst (liver sausage), teewurst or mettwurst and cheeses, such as Gouda, frischkäse (cream cheese), Brie, harzer, Bergkäse and more. Most bakeries tend to sell belegte brötchen (sandwiches from bread rolls), especially in the morning, for people on the go.

Let’s look at popular German dishes:

Schnitzel (breaded cutlet), sauerbraten (roast beef stew), schweinshaxe (pork knuckle), rinderroulade (beef roll), bratwurst (grilled sausage), kartoffelpuffer (potato pancake), kartoffelkloesse (potato dumplings), sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), spätzle (egg noodles), currywurst (sausage with curry sauce), brezeln (pretzel), lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies), apfelkuchen (apple cake) and stollen (fruit bread).

Pro Tip

Let’s work like the Germans. They are known as a nation of hard workers and famous engineers.

Digital

Quiz the children (but some parents might also need some quizzing). Go to your app store and check out free apps on flags and capitals.

Have You Read It Yet?

When last have you or the children read Hansel and Gretel, the German fairy tale?

 

Check It Out

Germany is dotted with many castles of varying shapes, sizes and functions – from romantic fantasy palaces to imposing military forts and picturesque manor houses. YouTube also has many interesting documentaries about the German castles.

German Remedy

Boiled milk mixed with honey is soothing for a sore throat, according to most Germans. They believe the hydration is good for your body and milk with honey mixed in should also help settle upset stomachs.

Local Is Lekker

If cooking and baking is not your thing or you just need a day off, enjoy traditional German food from a local German deli, bakery or restaurant. You can even find flavourful German food at some weekend markets.

Community Star

Shout out to all learners and students doing their best.

Food For Thought

A popular German saying is “Übung macht den Meister”, meaning practice makes perfect, or if you translate literally it means practice makes the master. This age-old advice still motivates us, especially if we don’t get things right straight away. We can certainly learn something new at any age.

 

Black Forest Gateaux

Popular in the ’80s, this cake was always the one to be served at a party. It became so popular globally that it has put Germany’s Black Forest on the map. A Black Forest cake is chock full of cherries, chocolate, liquor and whipped cream. The official German name is Schwarzwälderkirschtorte, which is rather a long-winded way of saying a cake soaked in Kirsch cherry brandy before being baked. Just be careful, to much Kirsch might take your breath away. This is a family recipe that has been passed down from my mother.

For decoration, soak some fresh cherries with the stem on in a bottle of Kirsch for a week.

Cake:

60g cake flour

dash of salt

250g castor sugar

150g butter

60g cocoa powder

6 eggs

5ml vanilla

Syrup:

180g sugar

4 tbsp Kirsch (white cherry brandy)

125 ml water

Cherry filling:

3 tbsp Kirsch (white cherry brandy)

75g icing sugar

24 black cherries (canned or bottled black cherries)

2.5ml Maizena

½ cup of the syrup from the canned or bottled cherries

Chocolate ganache:

125ml fresh cream

400g dark chocolate (milk chocolate optional)

5ml melted butter

Pinch of salt

Decorating:

750ml cream whipped for in-between layers and on top

Dark chocolate curls from small slab of dark chocolate

Cherries soaked in Kirsch

Method:

Set oven to 180°C.

Grease three cake or tart pans and sprinkle bottom and sides with flour.

Melt 150g butter in the microwave for three minutes and spoon off the top white foam and set aside.

Beat eggs, vanilla and sugar to light and creamy.

Sift flour, salt and cocoa powder, and add dry ingredients gradually with egg mixture.

Add clear butter and fold lightly in, divide between the three baking pans.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Let cool for five minutes before removing from pans.

Melt the sugar of the syrup in water and boil on medium for five minutes, let cool, add the four tablespoons of Kirsch and mix.

Place cakes on plates and prick with a fork.

Sprinkle a bit of Kirsch on the cakes.

Spoon the syrup on the cakes so that it can be absorbed, cool in fridge overnight.

To make chocolate curls, melt a dark chocolate slab and spread on granite. Let it cool down completely and scrape with sharp knife.

Filling:

Drain cherries and keep ½ cup of the syrup of the cherries.

Stone cherries and cut cherries in half. Keep a few whole cherries for decoration on top of the cake if you can’t get fresh cherries.

Add ½ cup syrup with ½ tablespoon Maizena and three tablespoons of Kirsch and icing sugar. Boil on medium while stirring until clear.

While hot, spread over two of the cake layers and arrange the halved cherries on top.

Cool completely in the fridge again before covering with the whipped cream.

Spread the cream on top of the two layers and place the two layers on top of each other.

Place the third layer on top.

Ganache:

On a double boiler (low heat in the microwave also works well), melt the chocolate in the cream, add salt and butter and mix well. Let cool a bit and then pour over cake and set aside to cool.

Decorate top with whipped cream and sprinkle chocolate curls on top. Add the stemmed Kirsch-soaked cherries on top.

You don’t have to add the Kirsch/fresh cherries on top.

 

Stream the Cook & Culture show with Annelette every Tuesday live from the Caxton Radio studio at Emperors Palace between noon and 1pm, at www.boksburgadvertiser.co.za or www.benonicitytimes.co.za Cook & Culture is compiled by Annelette Bezuidenhout, a media specialist at Caxton local media. Stay in Contact Instagram: cook.culture Facebook: Cook&Culture Stream Caxton Radio: Tuesdays, noon to 1pm via boksburgadvertiser.co.za or benonicitytimes.co.za Email: cook&culture@caxton.co.za