Nice info on pretzels....I had no idea!

Versunkener Apfelkuchen (sunk applecake)
by my Swabian Gran

100 g butter
150 g sugar
2 eggs (separated; the whites beaten till stiff)
250 g flour
1/2 envelope baking powder
1/8 l milk
approx. 5-6 apples (peel, core, and cut and slice)
white wine (optional - add a few drops to the apples to prevent browning while you make the batter)
sugar (about 1-2 tsp)

method:
Beat butter till fluffy. Add sugar and eggs. Make alternate additions of flour with baking powder and milk. Fold in the stiff egg whites. Spread evenly into a springform pan and distribute apples on top. Bake at 200°C/400°F for 60 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sugar while still hot.

Serve with whipped cream when cooled.

Kohlrouladen (cabbage rolls)
according to my mom

You need:
Cabbage (really any white or green cabbage you like as long as the leaves are big and round; typical is the big white one, a savoy is what my Mom likes better)
minced meat (Mom uses pork)
Seasonings

She says you need to blanch the cabbage leaves in salt water. If the cabbage is very tight, stick it into boiling salt water entirely. The leaves apparently loosen with cooking, so that you can peel them off one by one, continuing to cook for the next layer. The middle part with the small leaves can be used in other dishes. However you separated your cabbage leaves, rinse them in cold water when they come out of the hot. Cut out the stems.

Then my Mom takes about 3 leaves, depending on size and thickness, and layers them on top of each other. Take care that the hole where the stem was is in different places, so that the next leave shuts it. (I suppose you could just cut the stem flat instead of taking it out entirely, but Mom cuts them out...)

Season the meat with salt, pepper and whatever else you like. My (Mom says the easiest way is to take Bratwurst and just take it out of the skin.) The flavor should be simple. Some majoram might be nice. As this is a simple food, keep the seasonings simple. Nothing too distinct.

Then fold the cabbage over the meat on one side, then the two adjoining sides. Roll until the last side is closed, too. Keep in place with a piece of string.

Now she frys them from at least two sides until slightly browned (using vegetable oil or butter). (She said someone she used to know made huge batches of them and browned them in the oven from two sides, but she couldn't give any details about temperature and time as she had never tried that herself).

When the rolls are browned a little, add some water. Simmer until meat is done. Depending on how big they are it should take about 30-40 minutes. (I think hers might be about 4-5 cm in diameter and she estimated 30 minutes).

Like most things in Germany Kohlrouladen are served with boiled potatoes. You can use the cooking liquid as a thin sauce or thicken it with starch or cold butter + flour, or use it as a base for a white sauce.

Schwäbischer Käsekuchen (Swabian Cheesecake)
My grandmother's recipe

crust:

250 g flour
125 g sugar
125 g butter
1 egg

filling:
6 eggs (separated; beat the whites till stiff)
500 g quark/curd
1/4 l milk
1/4 l whipped cream
250 g sugar
3 TBSP flour

method:
Mix ingredients for crust and line a cheesecake tin with it (32 cm diameter; or springform). Beat yolks and sugar frothy. Add quark/curd and keep mixing. Mix with flour and milk. Fold in cream. Last fold in stiff egg whites. Bake slowly at 180°C (350°F) c. 1 hour (usually you'll have to add more time)

When the surface turns brown, cut with a sharp knife near the edge (parallel to the bottom, then cake doesn't tear).
After baking take out of pan and turn upside down to cool.

Marie, I will be looking forward to your lentil recipe. I have posted my family's a few time before too. I wonder if it is very different.
Here it is:

Schwäbische Linsen (Swabian lentils)

though I have a sneaking suspicion the particular sausage might be my Dad's change to the recipe after he moved to Westphalia.

500 g brown lentils
3 onions (chopped)
3-4 Mettenden (a smoked pork sausage - looks like salami but is very soft)
1 piece streaky bacon (full length and thickness (with skin
9, about 2 inches wide) - cut into 2 inch cubes
100 g fat (white) bacon (diced)
1 onion (chopped)
3 tbsp flour
salt pepper

method:
Put lentils, 3 onions, streaky bacon, and sausages into a 6-7 liter pressure cooker. Add water until pot is 2/3 full. Cook under pressure for 30 min. until lentils are soft. After de-steaming remove bacon and sausages. Pour everything else through a sieve and keep the juices/broth. Slice the sausages.
Fry fatty bacon in the pot until fat is all cooked out. Shortly fry onion in the bacon fat. Then add flour to make a roux. As liquid for the roux add some fo the broth from before. But lentils, sausages and lentils back. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve with spaetzle.

So far goes tradition. I have changed to this variation:
At the beginning I add a chopped "soup bunch" (1 carrot, 1 leek, a slice of celeriac). That adds more texture and lifts the flavor without altering it too much. Instead of the sheer bacon I have occasionally used vegetable oil to fry the onion and start the roux.
Because the broth is much thicker with the added vegetables I can usually add all of it back - nothing of the good thing gets poured out that way.

The southern German spätzle are awesome with this, but sometimes I am too lazy (especially when just heating up leftovers) and eat it pure

This freezes really well.

Last edited by SusanneH (Mon 03 Mar 08 12:14pm)