German food is rich, hearty, and delicious. Some of the dishes make for great comfort food. Each dish comes from a specific region having its speciality and traditional cuisine.
Here are a top 20 German foods you must try:
1. Sweet Bread
Sweet Bread, also known as Brot is an important dish in German cuisine. It is served as a side dish to soups and meats. The German bakeries produce more than 600 types of bread and 1000 types of savory and sweet rolls. White, dark brown, gray, and black bread is available whereas wheat, oats, barley, corn, millet, rye, and spelled are some of the bread types.
2. Goulash
Goulash is not invented by Germans but is well-loved by the people. They have adjusted the original recipe according to their taste. They make it with meat which is slow cooked in red wine sauce until juicy and tender. It can be consumed as it is, combined with spätzle, or consumed in its liquid form.
3. German Pancakes
German Pancakes are large sweet puff made with eggs, sugar, flour, and milk. They are seasoned with vanilla and milk. It is baked in a cast iron pan or in metal to give crusty edges and soft center. People have it for breakfast along with fruit toppings, butter, powdered sugar, and syrup.
4. Spätzle
Spätzle is commonly prepared in the south of Germany. It is kind of a dumpling or noodle made up with ingredients like flour, egg, and salt. It can be served as a main dish served with fried onions and Emmenthaler cheese. It is commonly accompanied by a meat dish which is rich in gravy.
5. Fischbrötchen
Fischbrötchen is a fish sandwich. It is a culinary tradition of the people of northern Germany because of the freshness of the fish. This dish uses Bismarck herring or salmon. The addition of onions, horseradish sauce, and pickles make it more refreshing.
6. Rote grütze
Rote grütze is a red fruit pudding from Schleswig-Holstein, North of Germany. It is made from red and black currants, strawberries, raspberries or cherries, which are cooked in their juice. It is thickened with corn flour or cornstarch, and served with vanilla sauce, ice cream or cream.
7. Currywurst
Currywurst is a fast food dish originating from Berlin. It consists of steamed, then fried sausages of pork. They are cut into slices and seasoned with a sauce based on tomato paste or spiced ketchup, topped with curry powder and other spices. It is served with French fries.
8. Sauerbraten
Sauerbraten is one of the best dishes from Germany. It is a pot roast which can be made with different meats like beef or lamb. They are usually served in the colder months of the year. The meat is marinated for ten days before the actual cooking takes places. The ingredients for marinating varies from place to place consisting of vinegar, spices, herbs, and white or red wine.
9. Brezel
Brezel is soft and white pretzels made from yeast and flour water sprinkled with salt and sometimes with different seeds. It is served as a snack or a side dish.
10. Käsespätzle
Käsespätzle is soft egg noodles which are Germany’s answer to pasta. The noodles are made from wheat flour and egg and topped with cheese (käsespätzle) like mac and cheese. They are topped with roasted onions too. They are often accompanied by German meat dishes which use sauce or gravy.
11. Stollen
Stollen is a perfect dish to satisfy your sugar cravings. It is eaten around Christmas time. It is a bread made of candied or dried fruit, nuts like cashews and almonds, spices like cardamom and cinnamon, and marzipan, and topped with powdered sugar.
12. Leberkäse
Leberkäse is also known as cream cheese. It is a pink meatloaf made of corned beef. It is made by grinding the meat and then baking it as a loaf until the crust turns brown. It is served on a bread roll and can be eaten with mustard.
13. Königsberger Klopse
KönigsbergerKlopse is named after the Prussian city of Königsberg (now known as Kaliningrad, Russia) where it was invented. This dish has meatballs in a creamy sauce made with lemon juice. The meatballs also contain eggs, pepper, onion, and other spices. This dish is traditionally served with boiled potatoes.
14. Maultaschen
Mauktaschen is a pasta dough dumpling filled with eggs, meat, onions, spices, and parsley. It is similar to the Italian ravioli as they are usually in square or rectangular in shape. They are also served in a soup.
15. Prinzregententorte
Prinzregententorte is a multi-layered cake interlaid with chocolate buttercream. It is covered in a chocolate glaze, and also has a filling of creams and jams. It is believed that it is named after Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria in the late nineteenth century.
16. Rouladen
Rouladen is a typical German dish involving wrapping of thinly sliced beef or pork around a filling of onions, pickles, mustard, and bacon. These are then simmered in broth. It is served with dumplings, mashed potatoes, gravy or cooked red cabbage. It is considered a common dish but now, it is eaten during festivals.
17. Eintopf
Eintopf is a traditional German stew which means ‘one pot.’ This refers to the way of cooking rather than a specific recipe. It contains ingredients like meat (chicken or fish), potatoes or pulses, vegetables, and broth.
18. Kartoffelpuffer
Kartoffelpuffer is a shallow fried pancake made from grated potatoes mixed with egg, onion, flour, and seasoning. You can have this served as a side dish to the main course, or with sweet like blueberries, sugar, cinnamon, and apple sauce.
19. Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte
SchwarzwälderKirschtorte or in simple terms- Black Forest Cake is named after SchwarzwalderKirschwasser, which is a liquor distilled from tart cherries. The cake has rich layers of chocolate cake with whipped cream and cherries. These are topped with more cream, cherries, and chocolate shavings.
20. Apple Strudel
Apple Strudel is a popular dessert pastry filled with apples flavored with cinnamon, raisins, sugar, and breadcrumbs. It became popular under the Habsburg empire in the 18th century. The pastry is made from an elastic dough which is kneaded until it is paper thin. The layers are buttered together before being wrapped around the filling and baked. It is topped with icing sugar.
