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Pennsylvania Dutch
Chicken Pot Pie

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Lancaster, Pennsylvania

One of the most unique recipes from the Pennsylvania Dutch area is the lucious
flat noodles in their Chicken Pot Pie.

Why flat noodles instead of a crust?

I am not sure any one knows, but it sure is good.

It is not thickened like the Pot Pie I grew up with. Instead of a flaky crust
it has large squarish home made noodles they call "Slippery Dumplings" .

In the special Pennsylvania Dutch dialect they call it
"Bot Boi"

My friend George Moser who was also a chef, that lived in Lancaster, shared many recipes with me,
and made some home made "Slippery Noodles" some regular , some made with Spinach
and some made with beets. So I made Bot Boi with them!

Another interesting ingredient that the Penn Dutch add to their "Bot Boi" is Saffron.

Many immigrants that settled their brought their own Saffron bulbs and planted them.

Go Here to Make Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken and Dumplings

One of the most heart and tummy warming dishes for cold nights is Chicken Pot Pie
and Chicken and Dumplings

Your heritage with dumplings is as much about comfort as it is about survival in hard times that our ancestors went through. The idea of a dumpling likely came from immigrants from the east as China has been making dumpling like dishes for many centuries. When trying to extend the meat in a dish to fill a hungry farm family, making a tasty dumpling was a natural choice.
	I remember the wife of Mt Angel Sausage Company that I worked for said that her Mom and Aunts from the old world were magicians and could produce magical meals from a bit of flour, eggs and little else. I have always loved that line..... Now Few of us are farmers and meat is not as scarce as it was in the old world Also we are more focused on reducing carbs, and tend to shy away from making this.

Go Here to make Chicken and Dumplings

Königsberg Klopse

Classic meatball dish from the city
of Königsberg,
that has a sour cream and caper gravy.

This dish originates from the city of Königsberg and is very popular there.
It is characterized by meatballs simmered in broth rather than fried.
The sauce is then flavored with cream or sour cream, lemon and capers.

A Dumpling ?

A Frikadeller?

A Meatball?

This is one of the most interesting recipes to me because it is not like any othere recipe.
it isn't meatballs with pasta, it is generalluy served with boiled potatoes, a much more German
designed dish with boiled potatoes.

Königsberg was a city in Prussia that was named the German word for
"Kings Mountain" in 1275 for a battle. It remained that city until 1945
When it became Russian territory and was renamed Kalingrad.
200 years ago a chef created a wonderful new dish called
Köningberg Klopse and it was a hit! Meatball like dishes are always a hit
and this special sauce was tangy as savory, with just a slight bit of natural sweetness
using expensive capers in it, so it was a dish that would be
at the expensive part of the menu these days.

When the ingredients became more affordable and the Prussian house servants moved into Western
Germany this dish traveled and went from a regional dish to popular all over Germany.

So I think you should try this, dish that is similar to a frikadeller recipe with anchovies
or substitute Worcestershire or Maggi and cook them like you would a dumpling,

Then make this delectable sauce and serve it with nice boiled new potatoes.

Go Here to Make
Köningsberg Klopse with
Step by Step Pictures

Birnenbrot or Schnitzbrot

This is a traditional holiday season bread from southern Germany.
Birnen means pear but Hutzeln is a local Swabian term for dried pears.
This unique bread is not a sweet cake bread but has a nice chew
to it with all kinds of good fruit, spice and nuts in it.

You can of course substitute apples for pears in this recipe.

I love this bread because it gets it's sweetness from the dried fruits.

This bread keeps well in the freezer also, and you can thaw it and have a treat when
you feel like a coffee break.

Go here to make
Birnenbrot or Schnitzbrot
with step by step pictures

German Borscht Suppe

When the mention of Borscht comes up one usually think beet soup. It doesn't get most folks overly excited to make it. Yes most recipes do have beets but that came later. However when your thinking a good Goulash to warm us up in the chilly fall evenings, also think Borscht. This is hearty, and as tasty as it gets. With a hearty beef stock (I like to use short ribs) and a variety of vegetables besides beets, herbs and even sweet spices, you get many layers of flavor. You can explore the hundreds of recipes there are for Borscht and even better come up with your own. I am sure the ancestors from a 1000 years ago would be proud that you are keeping the tradition and even evolving it.

from (www.freepik.com)

The soup is also made with cabbage and many other vegetables

Hogweed Photo Author
CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

However it started most likely in 13th century poor farming areas of Ukraine,
as a soup made by pickling the stems, leaves
and flowers (umbels) of a plant they called Borsch (we call it "Hogweed" today)
till you got a nice sour flavor. Then simmer them
in a soup stock of whatever was available.
This crearted a nice tangy flavor, which still describes the soup today
even though it has become diverse with meats, vegetbles, herbs and spice
topped with sour cream and often with a slice of black rye.

So this is not a typical vegetable Beef soup.
Borscht is a sweet, tangy soup with bright notes of spice
generally topped with sour cream.

Imagine this survival soup basically that our ancestors used their creativity
to make something to bring a satisfying meal to their family
has evolved over almost 20 centuries to a soup that
is served at weddings in Ukraine and popular around the world.
German's adopted, it because of our connection with Ukraine,
German's from Russia to name a few.

Go Here to make
German Borscht with Step by Step Pictures

German Apple Pie
Apfel Mürbteig

Nothing beats an apple pie for the fall, even Thanksgiving if you want an alternative
to Pumpkin Pie.

Our German heritage we think more about Kuchen.
But the short crust in the German kitchen is called
Mürbeteig.

Mürbe = Crumbly and Teig means flour

The interesting thing about this recipe
is the rule of thumb recipe that Einzi Johnson taught me

I love these that you can just whip out the ingredients and make it
off the top of your head.

However this only works with metric

but I do all my baking now metric, because it really is easy if you have
a scale.

This scale is only 12+ dollars and works fantastic!

Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale

Put the scale on and

1 part sugar like .................100 grams or 1/2 cup 2 parts cold butter...............200 grams or 2 tablespoons shy of 1 stick and 3 parts flour .................300 grams or 2 1/2 cups Then you add an egg or just an egg yolk if you want it more crumblier.

You can just put the bowl on the scale and 0 it out and measure
each item.

Go Here to Make
German Apple Pie
or
Apfel Mürbeteig in German
with Step by Step Pictures
1-2-3

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