German food

Schnitzel is all I know.

Carrots (obviously) and spaetzle, and the spaetzle is served with some seasoned meat, like sauerbraten, or German variations of goulash or beef stroganoff. My Mom used to make sauerbraten every few months. Goulash is Hungarian and Stoganoff is Russian, but my German-American Mom made both of them, too. She served them with wide egg noodles instead of spaetzle, though.

Hey, better food than offered in London.

ACH!!!

I love most German food, but I detest Sauerbraten.

I think Spaetzle and Sauerbraten. (I miss you, Mutti)

Germans and German-Americans will talk shit about each other's spaetzle like Black people talk shit about each other's potato salad and mac and cheese. A LOT of German food I don't like, but there's a few things I really like. Weird cuisine.

Goes great with beer.

German food? I like Hamburgers and Frankfurters but they're so unhealthy...

We always fix purple cabbage and apples with sauerbraten. Yum.

About the only German dish I know make (rarely) are bratwursts cooked in sauerkraut. Since I'm single, I haven't gone to the trouble to make sauerbraten in many years, although I still have my Mom's recipe. I'm not the Aldi's troll, but I've found some good imported German mustard and bratwurst at Aldi's.

Taylor Swift loves German food

Is German chocolate cake really German?

[quote]Its roots can be traced back to 1852 when American baker Samuel German developed a type of dark baking chocolate for the Baker's Chocolate Company. The brand name of the product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him.

R13, No, it has American origins.

I love good Sauerbraten but it takes many days to make it correctly and I don't have the patience. So I get it rarely when I go to a German restaurant. I like the spaetzle covered in the sour gravy and the red cabbage.

I knew this German lady that made her entire house out of gingerbread.

You should have seen how she reacted when me and my sister got lost in the woods and came upon her house.

I love currywurst - it's junk food but just the thought of it makes my mouth water. I also love stollen cake - there is no proper Christmas for me without it. And who could forget those yummy Bavarian white sausages that you cut in half and then suck out the delicious contents.

I think German food is much better than most people give it credit for. Sure, it's no French or Italian cuisine, but it's still light years ahead of the disgusting eastern European food.

I love those Berliners.

Maultaschen.

Gottbescheißerle (tricking God). Created by German monks for Good Friday where you are not supposed to eat meat. They are basically big sized ravioli with a filling of ground beef, and / or ground pork, spinach and herbs.

The best bread in the world. Nobody can compete with German bakers.

Germany has its own Mac 'n Cheese called Käsespätzle.

Went to Germany and nothing but sausage, pork and sauerkraut, beer, so disappointed.... I really missed chicken and green leafy vegetables. There's no variety of color in their menu.

R20, forget the bread, I’ll take the baker.

Traditonal German food is quite rustic (so called peasant food) and therefore rather rich (in fat) and carbs. Lots of stews eaten with bread on the side.

Vegan cook Attila Hildmann is quite popular in Germany. Released three or four cooking books and guides for a healthier lifestyle.

The best cakes and pastries.

It’s not true that German cuisine is unhealthy. Why would anyone travel to Germany and only eat Sauerbraten and sausages?

Doesn't look any worse than this Mexican slop.

Germans are known for their delicious lox and bagels

Germans are only good for their delicious pink cocks..

I was on a river cruise and we stopped at restaurants that didn't have the best menu. In fact, the plate in R26 is devoid of color except yellow. A more colorful diet is filled with vegetables, fruits and I didn't see much of that in Germany. It could have been the cruise company picked bad restaurants, I don't know. I didn't see much color in their menu. I hardly saw salads like the plate below.

What a sophisticated group!

R30, that is the stupidest comment I’ve ever read. What color do you think white asparagus and potatoes are?

It’s is a common German spring dish. You don’t think that asparagus and potatoes are healthy?

I am very aware of how color in food is good for your health because it's part of my work in the health field (specialize in diabetes).. Granted, German people are a lot healthier than Americans who have problems with diabetes. Btw, I never saw white asparagus before.

German food is nasty

[quote]I am very aware of how color in food is good for your health because it's part of my work in the health field (specialize in diabetes)..

Then you should get your eyes checked.

[quote]In fact, the plate in [R26] is devoid of color except yellow.

There are three colors on the plate: White, yellow, and green (the garnish). Colors alone don't make a meal or snack healthy so to judge an actual meal based on its colors is just bullshit.

All non-Mediterranean European food is nasty.

There is a difference between judging a meal based on its health benefits and judging it based on its visual appeal.

Cucumber salads and beets are everywhere in German menus, silly monocolor people. Germans also eat a lot of bananas, more per capita than anywhere in the Western world.

Eat, eat, eat!

The sauce in the picture for R26 makes it unhealthy, looks like hollandaise sauce. When I was in Germany there was lots of game, rabbit, venison, duck. Most of the vegetables looked like they came out of a can. The chocolates were wonderful.

In Germany there is a saying "Das Auge isst mit" = You eat with your eyes first, meaning that a visually pleasing meal tastes better.

Really? Why did I just eat potatoes, sausage, bread and beer everyday of my vacation there. Yuck.

The nice part of Germany is that it's very green and pretty, people recycle, are not wasteful and they're progressive, the air is cleaner. But I still don't like the food.

I was disgusted and intrigued enough when I heard about German Sauerkraut Cake to try it, but it's actually incredibly yum and moreish. No one ever guesses it's sauerkraut inside but there is a tang hard to describe a little like a herb liquor, some say coconut. I always use best quality Dutch cocoa when I make this.

If you travel to Germany's Oktoberfest and drink gallons of beer and eat truckloads of sausages, you will never experience "German" food. German food is different depending on the region you're visiting.

German food can be as sophisticated as any other cuisine, it just depends on where you eat and what you eat.

Who the hell makes a sauerkraut cake? My grandmother used to make the most delicious sauerkraut soup, served with homemade bread right out of the oven.

[quote]I was on a river cruise and we stopped at restaurants that didn't have the best menu.

How is that different from, say, driving through the US (by car or by bus) and only stopping at truck stops? Does that make US quisine, as a whole, disgusting, unhealthy, and shit?

What's next, does a local McDonalds decide whether the country's local quisine is good or bad?

I'm guessing some of the idiots on here are the type of tourist who pretty much only stays in the touristy areas and eats at the kinds of restaurants geared towards tourists.

It's like going to NYC and saying New York has awful food when all you've eaten is shitty food from Times Square tourist traps.

German food ain't light but if cooked correctly it can be very delicious. And, Germans do eat things other than meat. As mentioned above cucumber salads, pickled vegetables, kraut, beets are all a big part of traditional German diets.

Americans always whine about the lack of leafy salads as proof that other cultures have inferior diets but salads are a relatively recent thing and the use of salad greens very much depend on the local culture and climate. And, salad is rather an effete food. Delicious and nutritious but not very practical as fuel for anyone involved in heavy labor.

Well, not every country can have food that's as sophisticated as ours, nest-ce pas?

Damn, it seems most of you got your notion of German food from Hogan's Heroes or a Weinerschnitzel fast food stand.

German food is not monolithic. The food in Friesland is not the same as in Bavaria. Germans eat a lot of fish. They eat vegetables, but are more likely to eat vegetables in season. Anyone who has ever been to a German town square on market day, know the wonderful produce available. It is a big deal when asparagus and chanterelles are in season. The German tomatoes are wonderful, but to be honest, the only place in Europe that I have seen the hard, pale, tomatoes that we have in the USA is in Austria.

A lot of German cuisine is bread based. Abendbrot, literally evening bread, is a common light supper of an open faced sandwich with pickles. German street food/fast food is often a variation on a pizza or open faced grilled cheese sandwich. Note that while Germans love their bread, they are far more likely to use one slice than an American.

Germans are also far better at portion control. Most German hotels will have large breakfast buffets with soft boiled eggs, sliced meats, cheeses, breads and roles, muesli, fruits, etc. You never see a German loading his plate the way am American does when it is all-you-can-eat.

Germany gave us two world wars, Hitler, and Trump. Why wouldn't their food suck?

R47, I don't remember ever eating a meal at my grandmother's house without getting a side salad with any meal that was served. Also, breakfast and "Abendbrot" were always served with fresh fruits and vegetables. Lunch used to be the only hot meal of the day, which allows for a heavier dish.

The last time I visited Germany, I was surprised to see a lot more American fast food restaurants and people are getting fatter. I wonder why....

It also should be noted that fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut are very good for the digestive system. Many dieticians recommend at least one serving a day.

I remember a German cake (torte?) that was several thin layers, each with the most amazing raspberry jam filling in between each one. Soooo good. The host purchased this in NYC, he said in the old German section. I have no idea where that would be. This was decades ago. I wish I knew the name of that dessert. Anybody know?

Apparently psychopaths enjoy spicy food and black coffee. They enjoy the space between consuming and waiting for the after effects... Like pulling the legs off a spider, but with themselves.

Many Germans have a fondness for black coffee and spicy food. The hotter the better.

German fast food.

R55, while Nordsee is a popular fast food restaurant, it doesn't quite look like that in real life ; )

But, yes, one of the most popular fast food restaurants is a fish restaurant.

Okay, in a thread full of stupid comments, r54's takes the Kuchen, no contest -- he's got Germans confused with Jamaicans.

I can tell you, r53, that the old German section of Manhattan was centered on East 86th St., but it's long gone. You have a better chance of getting authentic German foods at your local Aldi (which is a German supermarket chain, but they try to source locally, so they have less imported German stuff in their US stores than you might expect).

Regarding Käsespätzle (or Käseknöpfle), when made correctly, they are incomparably tastier than US-style mac' n' cheese. My husband's mother in Vorarlberg (Austria bordering Switzerland) makes THE BEST Käseknöpfle, and the locals swear that you need to blend three different types of well-aged cheeses to make them properly. And then you need to add a mound of caramelized onions on top. And then you serve it with a German-style (i.e., oil not mayo) potato salad.

And you know what? Even if I can't eat again for a week afterwards, those Käseknöpfle are worth every single fucking calorie. Sooooo good.

German food can be as heavy or as light as you choose. You can eat nothing but schnitzel and potatoes, or a pan roasted trout (or chicken) and salad. I lived in Germany for several years and continue to visit frequently and have yet to see a menu in a decent restaurant without gemischtersalat on it.

Cabbages and potatoes, potatoes and cabbages, cabbages and potatoes -- that's all the German volk eat day after day after day after day ... .

My Audi was built by a buncha cabbage-and-potato eaters who are bored with their diet drudgery.

R57, Käsespätzle/Käseknöpfle taste better than mac 'n cheese because they have about $30.00 worth of cheese in them instead of a "cheese product". I do not understand why Gruyere and Emmenthaler are so expensive in the USA.

And kasespatzle with roasted onions? The ultimate comfort food. So good.

When I was in Berlin last year, the vegan lifestyle was all the rage. I was staying in a hipster area though- PBerg.

real german food can be delicious. And i'm italian, so go figure

I'm German-American, and we always had asparagus when it was in season, and also, salads of bitter greens, like endive and escarole in springtime, too. And all summer long, "wilted lettuce". Both salads were made with onions, sweetened vinegar, and bacon. We raised our own tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus and green beans. In the summer, the green beans would be cooked with onions and bits of ham. My Mom made sauerkraut in the basement: the smell is awful while it ferments! The pepper were used to make stuffed peppers (not my favorite dish, unfortunately).

yes, R64. All the germans i've known were very ecologically conscious and healthy, so in season vegetables were always on their tables, as side dishes for meats, fish etc.

My grandmother loves german food. But her house always smells and she farts alot. I hate going over there.

They eat nothing but pork. That's why they're so thin.

Reading threads like this reminds me of how provincial most DLers are.

Which is good--we should be just like everyone else, only gay, not some exotic species of cosmopolites.

As others have noted, German cuisine is regional and far from monolithic and chefs in bigger cities have modernized it and made it healthier/trendier/lighter.

And that Germany was ground zero for a lot of the initial health conscious movements of the 20th century so there's still an undercurrent of that that sits is opposition to the wursts and beer culture.

I actually crave German and Eastern European food. I'm not sure why, because I didn't really grow up eating it, except for sauerkraut and sausages sometimes. I do have German blood on both sides of my family, so maybe it's in my DNA. I think it is all comfort food.

When I went to German, all the Germans were eating Italian.

I love German potato salad. Warm, with bacon.

Linzertorte is my favorite dessert, but I guess that's Austrian, right?

The bread is exceptional indeed. Also I ate the most amazing cream filled donuts in Munich.

This thread, man.

It's like saying the only food you can find in NYC is hot dogs and pretzels.

Traditional German food is really heavy and starchy, yes. Nobody eats it these days. Much of the German street food these days is Turkish.

Another vote against Sauerbraten. My German grandparents always ate their heavy meal at midday and evening was for open-faced sandwiches, etc. My mother always baked on Saturday mornings. I remember it very fondly.

German macaroni and cheese served with a side of potato salad? This is why people get the idea that German food is so heavy. Because sometimes it is.

I AM GERMAN!!

HALLO AUS BAYERN, IHR HOMOS!!

I do love German Chocolate Cake. Yum!

Bayern ain't sheiss.

r78 Not German.

R80: Oops! Yep - Just checked - It is American. Nevermind :)

My grandmother was German and I hated her food--tough cheap cuts of meat braised in beer, lots of potatoes--although I do like spaetzle. Her name was Meta, one of the ugliest names ever.

R53 R57 The name of the area of Manhattan was Yorkville, and it hasn't been German since Hitler days. The other area you might be thinking of was Washington Heights, which had a large transplanted German-Jewish population, who maintained bakeries and delis into the 1990s. You're only going to get roti and chimichiurri there now.....

R83, are you insane? Yorkville most certainly was German until the early 1980s, when all of the German cafes closed. After that, there was still the marzipan store, Schaller &Weber, and Heidelberg Restaurant. The last two are still there.

Pennsylvania "Dutch" food is essentially German.

R84 No I'm not insane. I was in that area in the late 1980s, and never heard a German word spoken. Even A couple of leftover German businesses does not a German neighborhood make. Or do you think the LES is still Jewish?

German food sucks.

It gives me the runs. Nasty.

r86, you don't read. If you are not insane, you certainly are stupid. I wrote EARLY 1980s. Your experience in the LATE 1980s is irrelevant. As to your initial argument, the 1970s and early 80s is long past the days of Hitler. In the early 1980s Kleine Konditorei, Geiger's, etc were still there. Nearly every newsstand still had German language papers, and yes, German was spoken. I know. I was one of the ones speaking it.

Yes, r68, Germans are a bit "fruits of the forest". Very much into the outdoors, hiking, collecting wild mushrooms and berries. No coincidence that the Scouting movement originated there. So they have a lot of healthy (as in stuff you buy in a health store) in their regular cafes, etc.

In most coffee shops in Germany you can request soy or almond milk with your coffee. Not so Paris.

Like everyone else in Europe, Germans ate fresh fruit and vegetables that were in season. And preserved when not in season. Ergo, sauerkraut and pickled vegetables. Dried and preserved fruits.

What people think of as heavy German food is just a small part of their everyday cuisine. Stop being snobs.

[uote] What people think of as heavy German food is just a small part of their everyday cuisine. Stop being snobs.

Exactly.

Also, a lot of what we in the US see as German food has been Americanized.

This is good stuff.

R93 that looks like shit!!!! Gross.

Are there any German restaurants in the US? I see restaurants that specialize in these counties foods: Mexican, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, India, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino. This is on the West Coast. Rarely do I see Russian restaurants, German or English restaurants. Is it the food? Or is it because the German and English foods have incorporated into the American diet? Or people just don't like German and English food.

Schitt on a Schingel

FTR, the link at r93 to what is called "Verenika" appears to show a recipe for a type of varenniki, an Eastern European type of dumpling. Not German.

There are many German restaurants on the West Coast, particularly in southern California & including an entire German shopping center in Huntington Beach, Old World. Jagerhaus in Anaheim. There's a couple in the Valley too.

R95 It's definitely a bit of a neglected cuisine type here in the States. The thing is, German restaurants were like Starbucks a hundred or so years ago - one on every corner, opened by people who had immigrated directly from Germany.

As those folks have died off, there haven't been many new places opening, so there's a Catch 22 of, one, few German restaurants to visit, and two, the ones that are still open tend to be very old and worn looking. Old, dirty, dark wood everywhere, the smell of old man and 60 years of sauerkraut boiling.....just not the most appetizing places to go. And as I mentioned at R92, they've also been Americanized. My other half, who grew up in Baden-Wuerttenburg, always chuckles when he sees things like chicken wings on a German restaurant menu.

He says that in general, the German restaurants here are not much at all like the ones at home - they'd be considered the equivalent of an Applebee's at best. Most towns there have nicer restaurants and even the rathskellar in any town, kind of a community space with simple home cooking, is usually much better.

I could give you some suggestions of decent places we've checked out, but my other half said this place is closest to what you'd actually find in Germany. It's in Palm Springs and although it's technically defined as Austrian, it had several German specials and has wiener schnitzel, etc. But it had big windows, was bright inside, very nice mix of people and not just the oldsters, etc.

They all sit around the Black Forest eating some old weird dumplings with gravy on 'em.

Everyone else in Europe snickers at the German diet.

My mom was a trained master chef from Austria. My dad was a master baker from Germany. They opened a bakery that was the absolute best bakery ever.

My mom was unparalleled as a chef. She could do the fancy french stuff, but did mostly German food. It was delicious. I learned how to cook from her and it has totally enriched my life.

German food is fantastic. People forget that what we think of today as haute cuisine (French, northern Italian) was a different thing 40 or 50 years ago. Jacques Pepin and Julia Child cookbooks are filled with exactly the same recipes we laughingly disparage in German cuisine: tongue salads, tripe with wine, stuffed breast of veal...., Germans find delicious ways of cooking what they have on hand.

Baking is beyond excellent. German baking is sublime. From marzipan animals to beautiful tortes to strudels, pastries, breads, soft pretzels, ..... Just heavenly. Holidays are filled with whimsical baking: gingerbread houses at Christmas, spun sugar candy at Easter, chocolate animals in brightly colored packaging at Oktoberfest.

DL is missing something excellent if they don't investigate German cuisine at more than a "mean girls" level of cursory dismissal.

No one wants to eat that german shit. It all smells awful and gives you wicked gas afterward. Yuck.

No wonder that place is nice, r99. It's Austrian (as evidenced by the Wiener Schnitzel --nomen est omen).

We justly consider our cuisine to be more sophisticated than that of our northern neighbors. And btw, that picture of the Gans mit Rotkraut ("Crispy Roasted Half Duck") about halfway down the page is making my mouth water.

We went to a high-end German place in Berlin that was AMAZING - Paris-Moskau, housed in an old train station (link below). Formal dining, which Americans aren't really accustomed to. But astonishing food.

You haven't lived until you've had Wolfgang Puck's weinerschnitzel at Spago. I know he's Austrian, but it's fabulous.

R104, I wouldn't go near a german train station if it offered the best food in the universe!

Funny - they just had an episode about German food on this season's Top Chef.

When will the Nazi Soup Chef show up??

German food is popular in Australia - there are bier taverns that served schnitzel, roast pork belly and knuckle, sausages, roast chicken and heaps of salads, cabbage dishes, pretzel rolls and potatoes. It's quite fresh tasty and popular with the paleo crowd.

But people really go for the beer.

I was surprised that Germany ha so many green hills filled grapes for making beer and wine that they sell ONLY to themselves.

R95, Milwaukee and Chicago still have a bunch of German restaurants. The ones I've been to in Milwaukee seemed mostly Bavarian. But Wisconsin still has a strong German-American identity (Beer and brats, baby!) and you can find German food all over.

Here's Milwaukee's Kegel's Inn.

Handkäse mit musik. Hessisch men eat it even though they know it will result in gas and diarrhoea.

There's lots of nice things to eat here though! In fact I think I'll make Nurnbergers, knödel and rotkohl for dinner - thanks 😊

Re one of the pics in R103's link

They even have fucking Stiegl Bier over there. 😂

Does anybody over the pond know Austrian Stiegl beer?

Or any other Austrian (!) beer, for that matter.

It's total fucking shit!

I see Herr Bratwurst hasn’t commented yet. Y? I love that guy.

Kaiserschmarn! Best dessert ever.

The Student Prince restaurant in Springfield MA is the only reason to go that city; unfortunately the German places in Boston are all gone, like the Wursthaus in Harvard Square, Cambridge, and even Zum Zum, which was a small fast-food chain. An old lady I know still makes Viennese specialities that she learned in the 1950s from an elderly refugee woman she "babysat" for : Rindsgulasch, a Viennese goulash which gets its distinctive flavor from caraway; Aprillenknoedel, a delicious apricot dumpling where the pitted apricot in season has a sugar inserted in the pithole, and then boiled, topped with strawberry sauce and dusted with sugar; hazelnut torte; Linzertorte; risk e bisi; and Austrian crepes, which are called Palatschinken. All wonderful.

A wonderful Christmas tradition in my German family.

Always appeared the morning after Christmas. But not in the kitchen, dining room or (heaven forbid) under the tree.

R118 what the fuck is it? Looks good.

Best hams, sausages, around! Hunter schnitzel w/mushroom gravy and lemon, and a few capers.... is another dish I like (and make) w/scallopinni of veal. Hackepeter, a version of steak tartare is actually even better than the French version, usually leaves out the raw egg, or some add just the yolk, onion or shallot w/a bit of Maggi..... capers on the side....Pork version too, but not brave enough to try.....Some of the best coffee I've had in the world was in Germany. I have seen plenty of beans, mushrooms, berries, peas, and various other vegetables. Some of world's best chocolates avail there too.

....

Dumbkopf @ R121 sure has much worthy foods or recpes to share? Doesn't he?

WTF R122?

German food is heavy and filling, and some of the flavor combinations are unusual to the American palate, but it’s quite satisfying and you usually wind up really being won over by it and perhaps even eating a bit more than you should!

They have local ales they’re incredibly proud of and there are SERIOUS rivalries with even nearby towns’ ales, so it’s a seriously bad idea to compare them in a beer hall or restaurant, lol.

R116-We never ate that as a dessert...main dish on meatless Fridays.

"My German grandparents always ate their heavy meal at midday and evening was for open-faced sandwiches, etc. "

It's weird how many Americans have stuck to the heavy evening meal. I guess it made sense when most work was hard labor, industrial, blue collar and workers needed to be replenished right after work. But, obviously most people don't have really physical jobs anymore (though, obviously, some still do). Yet, a lot of people still eat a heavy dinner; and now many eat it even later.

R119 it's called "Krampus Scheiße"

[quote]My German grandparents always ate their heavy meal at midday and evening was for open-faced sandwiches, etc.

Mine too, R75. This cross between a meal and a snack was called Faspa, especially if on a Sunday.

Love German food. Except Grießklöße. That is stodge level 10 and too much for me. I also found asparagus season stupid. So much national fanfare for an expensive blah plate of vegetables.

My parents rediscovered that they were German in the 1970s. I suspect that they switched from German food to the traditional turkey holiday meal either during the Great War, or WWII. Well, they switched to sauerbraten in the 1970s and I miss it. I’m not going to make it for just me.

My brother in law demands prime rib, but they get an awful cut, so the food is really just awful on holidays. I’ve even bought it. It’s a crappy, over-praised cut of meat. I hate it when I have a whole collection of fat and bone at the end of the meal.

German food makes you FART!

R131 , that might well be true, but have you considered that a vast range of traditional , regional, ethnic or staid colonising poplutions also ate/eat foods which provoke volumes of gas? In some cultures it is considered a good thing.

R129-I love griessknodel. That's what we called it. Ours were smaller than the ones in your picture and always put in chicken soup.

Anyone have a good recipe for raspberry walnut torte?

No, r134, but I have a great recipe for Kaiserschmarren, which is served with Zwetschkenröster (plum compote).

It's one of the sweet main dishes that we traditionally eat on meatless Fridays (alternating with fruit-filled dumplings, "Scheiterhaufen" bread pudding and even occasionally an apple or sweet cheese strudel). These dishes are classically served as a second course, following a hearty soup.

R135, I never heard of those, but they sound delicious. Would you post recipes? Thanks!

Thank you in advance if anyone can offer traditional recipes or the names of dishes from mid-19th century kingdom of Hanover? My great grandparents separately emigrated to the US in about 1850 and met in NYC in Greenwich Village. There was a large population of émigrés from the Kingdom of Hanover (Königreich Hannover) in that part of the city. I am sad that my mother and aunts never learned Low German (Platduuts, as they called it) from my grandparents (my grandfather was also Hanoverian) and great grandparents, but the negative attitudes toward anyone with history in that part of Northern Europe during WWI and WWII made them eschew much of their cultural heritage. The only traditions my mother continued were related to Christmas but they were so wonderful it somewhat made up for the other discontinuities.

My grandmother was Irish but her neighbor was German and taught my grandmother to make head cheese. With a pig's head.