For bette or wurst
I AM not really into Hun food. I don't think they really have a cuisine, what they have is a lot of good produce and 1,500 types of sausage which they eat for break- fast, lunch and dinner in one way or another. Great platters of mixed sliced sausage and cheese for breakfast; lunch tends to be their main meal with enormous casseroles incorporating more sausage and knuckles of pork Or veal; then in the evening more cold cuts with salads, soups, dumplings and potato dishes followed by some rich tart or pudding.
There, are also quite a lot of smoked and cooked hams and cured loin of pork. The Westphalian ham is the German equivalent to Italian Parma ham and though very good in its way is soundly trumped for deliciousness by the Italian. The same goes for the salami family.
Enormous amounts of butter are pro- duced every year, and it is apparently available throughout Britain, though I have never knowingly seen it. Perhaps it is disguised as Sainsbury's or Waitrose. Then there are a lot of rather soapy cheeses to be eaten with all those soured breads, as well as the fake camembert and brie which compare with our filthy Lymeswold.
I have been down to the German Food Centre, 44-46 Knightsbridge, London SW1, which is bursting with all this pro- duce as well as masses of cakes and chocolates. There are wonderful things for Easter if you are in search of eggs, bunnies or chickens in sweet form.
Cabbage is another great favourite whether it be `sauer' or 'fresh'. Here is a receipt for:— Stuffed cabbage leaves
8 large cabbage leaves 3 oz long grain rice 2 onions, finely chopped 1 tablespoon cooking oil 5 oz German liver sausage 1 oz raisins 1 oz almonds, chopped 7 oz German Quark (cream cheese) 1/2 teaspoon mixed herbs a good pinch of caraway seeds salt and pepper For the sauce:
3/4 pint tomato juice
3 tablespoons sour cream Blanch the cabbage leaves by plunging them into boiling salted water for five minutes, then drain them. Cook the rice in six fluid oz of boiling salted water for 12 minutes until tender, drain. Fry the onions in the oil until lightly browned, mix into the rice and stir in the chopped liver sausage, Quark, raisins and almonds. Add sufficient tomato juice to give a thick but soft consistency. Season with the herbs, caraway seeds, salt and freshly ground pep- per. Divide the mixture into eight portions, place each portion on a cabbage leaf and make them into little parcels. You may need the help of a cocktail stick. Put the parcels into a shallow ovenproof dish, pour over the rest of the tomato juice and the sour cream. Cover and bake in a preheated oven at Gas 4, F150, C180, for 45 to 50 minutes.
I obtained the following receipt from Hilda Podiebrad, an old friend who came over from Berlin after the war. It is an assembly cake, no cooking, and she has made it for years as a treat for children or even on a mammoth scale for wedding cakes when the children had grown up. The essential ingredient is the coconut butter.
Kalte Torte or Cold dog
2 medium eggs 10 tablespoons caster sugar 2 tablespoons icing sugar 6 tablespoons real cocoa powder 1/2 lb of coconut butter (Palmin or Cofetta) 1/2 lb packet of petit beurre biscuits
Line a loaf tin 91/4 x 51/4 x 23/4 (approx) with greaseproof paper. Beat the eggs until
creamy, add both the sugars and the cocoa, mix well and smoothly, using a hand electric mixer if available. Melt the coco- nut butter in a small saucepan but do not allow to boil. Slowly add to the mixture, beating the while. You can add a few drops Of rum, coffee or vanilla to taste. Pour a thin layer of this confection into the base of the loaf tin, then cover with a layer of the petit beurre biscuits; continue these layers, finishing with a chocolate one. Chill in the refrigerator until needed. Turn out and serve in thin slices. Very rich.
You can purchase the Cofetta at the German Food Centre, and they swear it is the same thing as Palmin, doing the same job, .otherwise I dare say Selfridges stocks it as well for their German season.
Jennifer Paterson
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