Ostfriesen Genealogical Society of America, Genealogical Society for
Ostfriesen, Germany
OGSA
1670 So Robert St, #333 West St Paul, MN 55118
OSTFRIESEN
RECIPES - ENJOY!
Try this
Rotkohl for a special event.
Treat your family to Rotkohl!
2 lb. red cabbage
1 apple
1 T. butter
1 bay leaf (or more to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Juniper berries - found in gourmet stores
1 c. water
1 T. flour or corn start to slightly thicken
1/2 c. cider vinegar or more to taste
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 or more cloves, to taste
Wash and fine shred cabbage, thinly
sliced apple. Melt butter in pan and add cabbage and apple, mix thoroughly.
Season with salt, pepper, bay leaf and berries. Cook in one cup of water (more
if needed) over low heat until done, about ten minutes.
When liquid has evaporated, sprinkle
with flour or corn starch, add red wine and to taste, add cloves.
Makes six servings.
Grünkohl
Grünkohl (Kale) is grown in every
garden and is eaten in almost every home in Ostfriesland. It is very good! (From the late
Gertrud Schiefner, Wittmund)
1 kg (kilogram)
(2.2 lbs.) Grünkohl (Kale)
500 grams (1-1/4
lb) Kassler Nacken vom Schwein (neck bones from pork)
500 grams (1-1/4
lb) frischen (uncured) Schweinbauch (pork belly or bacon)
4 geräucherte
Würste (smoked sausages)
1 Zwiebel,
(onion - diced)
salt, a
pinch of sugar, pepper
Grünkohl can
first be eaten when it has gone through a frost. The kale, removed from the
stalk, is washed thoroughly, cooked (in water)drained and then coarsely chopped.
Then cook thoroughly with the
ingredients listed above and season to taste. Serve with potatoes (boiled).
This is a winter
food and it freezes well. The last of the "Grünkohl" is traditionally eaten on
"Gründonnerstag" (Maundy Thursday). After that, it's time to plant new kale and
wait for the first frost to prepare it again for the winter.
Grünkohl
(Another version)
his is the recipe
for green kale (also called Grünkohl) just as "Oma" prepared it.
Ingredients:
2,5 kg (about 5
lbs.) fresh green kale (best if it has gone through the first frost)
1 kg (about 2
lbs.) strips of bacon not too fat with a little pork in it (durchwachsener
Speck)
some salted and
smoked pork chops (we call it Kassler)
some sausages
made of minced bacon and pork and oat grits (Hafergrütze)
some sausages
made of minced bacon and pork, fresh, dried or smoked
6 tablespoons
of oat grits (chopped oats)
3 onions
salt and pepper
to taste
about
3/4 liters of water (about 4 cups)
Strip the kale
off the stems and wash it carefully.
Boil the kale for
a short time to avoid a bitter taste.
Drain off the
water, pressing the kale to drain as much water as possible. Cut the kale
leaves into small pieces. Put the kale, chopped onions, the bacon, salt,
pepper, water into a pot and simmer for 1/2 hour.
Then put the
sausages and the pork chops into the pot and simmer for another 1/2 hour. If it
would be too fat for you, you can cook the bacon separately and pour the fat
away and only eat the bacon with the kale.
Then pour the oat
grits around the edge of the pot. This binds the liquid. Simmer for an
additional half hour, checking regularly. When the grits are soft, the meal is
ready to serve.
Good to eat with
this kale dish are white, baking potatoes, boiled or skinned and baked. Also, it
is a treat to have an ice-cold Schnapps, at least one, after the meal. Bon
appetit!
HOLIDAY RECIPES
Lebkuchen (Spice Bars)
2 cups honey
5 ½ cups flour
¾ cup grated unblanched almonds
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. powdered cloves
¾ cup mixed candied fruits (orange, lemon and citron peel)
½ tsp. baking powder
Egg White Icing (see recipe below)
Heat honey until thin; do not boil. Mix in all other ingredients except icing.
Turn onto floured board and knead until smooth, adding a little flour if
necessary. Roll with a floured rolling pin to ½" thickness. Grease and flour a
baking sheet and lay rolled dough on it. Bake in pre-heated 350 degrees oven
about 20 minutes. Spread with icing while hot; cool before cutting into
rectangles.
Egg White Icing
2 egg whites 1¼ cups confectioner's sugar, shifted
1 Tbl.
lemon juice
Whip egg whites until they stand in stiff peaks. Add sugar and lemon and juice
and continue beating until thick and glossy. Spread on cake or cookies with a
spatula.
1/4 oz yeast (dried), active 1 pkg
3/4 c water, warm 1/2 c sugar,
granulated
3 lg eggs & 1 egg yolk 1/2 c butter,
soft 3 1/2 c
flour 1 T lemon peel,
grated
1 c almonds (blanched), chopped
1/2 c citron (candied lemon peel), cut into small pieces
1/2 c orange (candied orange peel), cut into small pieces
1/2 c raisins
Dissolve the yeast in the water and proof it. Add the sugar, eggs, egg yolk,
butter and half of the flour. Beat for 10 minutes. Blend in the remaining flour,
nuts, fruits and peel. Let rise about 1 1/2 hours, until doubled. Punch down,
cover and refrigerate overnight.
Knead the dough. Roll into one or two rectangles, butter it, and fold over the
edges to make a rolled loaf. Place on a greased cookie sheet with the folded
edges down. Spread with a combination of 1 egg white and about 1 T water. Let
rise until doubled in size (45 to 60 minutes). Bake 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees
F. until golden brown. Makes 1 large or 2 small loaves. Time: hand-on time:
30 minutes; rising times: 1 1/2 hours + overnight + 1 hour; baking time: 30-35
minutes.
Neujahrskuchen
For New Year´s
Eve we bake a special sort of cookies called "Neujahrskuchen"
or "Neejahrskoken",
a sort of very thin cookie rolled into a tube shape.
"Neujahrskuchen" Recipe
Ingredients:
500 gs (5 cups)
flour
200 gs butter
200 gs (2 cups)
sugar or originally white rock candy (Kandis or Kluntjes)
1 egg
O.5 liters (2
cups) water
1 tablespoon
ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon
ground aniseed
In a small
saucepan, melt the candies or sugar in hot water and set it aside to cool.
Melt the butter and allow it to cool. In a mixing bowl, add the egg to the
butter and beat lightly. Add the melted candies or sugar and all the spices and
flour to the butter mixture and beat lightly.
Store the dough
overnight in a cool place and bake the next day. A special "Neujahrskucheneisen"
Neejohrskokeniesder", a sort of
waffle iron, which makes very thin "waffles", is needed to bake these cookies.
Today there are electrical "irons", but earlier they used a sort of scissor like
tool with two long handles and two flat round surfaces on the ends. The iron was
filled with dough and put into the fireplace.
Today, using an
electrical iron place a little dough between the two halves of the iron,
pressing it until it stops steaming. Remove the cookie very quickly and roll
up. It will harden very rapidly. Store the cookies in a covered container.
These cookies are typically eaten
around the turn of the year at Christmas and New Years and are especially good
with Glühwein—spiced wine.
