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A Taste of the Continent - 2 |
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A Virtual Trip to Bavaria (Bayern)
The German
brewing industry is under serious threat! 90% of German breweries are in
the hands of just a few huge conglomerates. These seem to be run by
accountants whose concerns run to speed of production and profit margins,
and there is no time for such things as craftsmanship, or beers with
character and flavour.
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Except, that is, in Bavaria, where
many small independent brewers survive and the natives are fiercely proud of
their local brew. Go to by train to Bamberg, and you won’t need to be told
that the locals call it ‘the capital of beer’. As you step down on to the
platform your nostrils will be assailed by the glorious aroma of malt from
the ten breweries around the city centre (and many others on the outskirts).
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Along with your beer in most Bavarian
bars you will be able to have suitable snacks – good rustic bread with
Wurst (sausage) or Käse (cheese). If you are in Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
the local speciality is a small and very tasty Bratwurst (grilled
sausage). You could copy this idea by getting some sausages from the local
Farmers’ Market (try Blockfield’s
lamb sausages, or Chanctonbury’s
game sausages!) and grilling them until they are fairly dark and
slightly crisp on the outside. Serve them with a nice glass of slightly
chilled Ropetackle Gold which is a great substitute for German light (Helles)
beer.
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However our favourite Bavarian snack
is the local speciality called Obatzda –
you may think it doesn’t sound like a German word but the name is Bavarian
dialect for Angebatzter. It translates as ‘mashed up stuff’ which is
a fair description! We found it in bars in most towns and cities, and the
natives also make it at home.
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It’s very easy to make and can be
prepared in advance for a social evening as it improves with a few hours for
all the ingredients to blend. It will then keep up to four days in the
refrigerator. You’ll find a recipe for the basic style, together with
several variations, plus one for the type used at the Oktoberfest in the
main section under Appetizers.
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If you really want to pretend you’re
in Munich (München) at the Oktoberfest the first thing is to get yourself a
one-litre tankard – you’ll need two 500ml bottles of Ropetackle Gold to fill
it. (Then look at our Oktoberfest recipe) Let’s get the terminology right:- A Krug is an earthenware or
stoneware beer mug with a handle. The litre version is called a Mass
Krug. A glass version of the Mass Krug is called a Seidel - this
is the one you see in most Munich beer gardens.
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Some people tend to call both the Mass
Krug and the Seidel "steins". In fact, a Stein, or Steinzeugkrug is
a stoneware beer mug with a hinged, thumb-tabbed pewter lid. It is widely
believed that the lid was introduced as a hygiene measure after bubonic
plague, or "black death", killed about a third of Europe's population in the
fourteenth century.
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To complete the
Oktoberfest experience, get a CD of German beer hall songs performed by a
brass band, play it at full volume, invite round more friends than your
house can comfortably hold, and sing loudly, while eating the appropriate
snacks and quaffing* huge amounts of Ropetackle Gold from enormous tankards!
Pros’t!
(Cheers!) |
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