Although I grew up in Northeastern PA, and typically the southeastern part of the state is considered Pennsylvania Dutch country, I ate a lot of sauerkraut and brats as a kid. My maternal grandparents were German and my grandfather was a butcher, so the food at their house was pretty meat intensive. Vegetables were an afterthought and often pickled.
My Dad had a garden so we ate a lot of vegetables at home, but when we were at my grandparents’ house meat held the center stage, often in the form of prepared meats like bologna (not the stuff in today’s markets, this was homemade and WONDERFUL), sausages, hot dogs, brats etc.
My grandfather made his own sauerkraut, root and birch beer, hot dogs, sausages, liverwurst and pickled eggs. My grandmother made spice cakes and dutch babies. It was simple, hearty food and I loved all of it, except for the stinky limburger cheese my grandfather loved.
My grandparents died when I was pretty young and my father did a lot of the cooking in our house, so many of these foods became just a sweet memory. I have posted my mother’s German pancakes and my grandmother’s Dutch baby here and hope to add some more German recipes as time goes on. I have my Mom’s recipe box that has a few things in it, but she had turned over most of the cooking to my Dad by the time my siblings were born. My younger siblings don’t remember any of these wonderful foods that came out of my Mom’s and Grandmother’s kitchens. As a matter of fact, my grandparents had died by the time my youngest siblings were born.
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Ingredients
- 3 cups diced peeled potatoes
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 3 slices bacon
- 1/4 c white wine vinegar
- 2 T water
- 2 T sugar
- sprig of fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper from the mill to taste
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes in salted water until soft – about 10 minutes
- Drain and put in a bowl – sprinkle with the vinegar, stir and set aside
- Fry the bacon until crisp – break into small pieces
- Add the onion to the bacon grease and cook until translucent
- Add water, sugar, salt and pepper to pan and stir until sugar is dissolved
- Add potatoes, bacon and parsley
When I grew up, I never ate German-style food. Even though my mother’s parents were from Germany, she learned to cook from my father’s mother, whose people were from eastern Europe and Russia. Lots of oven cooking… The potatoes look delicious! {:-D
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Could we come live with your for a few months, Ms. RMW? I would like to eat your German cooking, the potatoes seem to be a real treat. My Grandfather (Dad’s side) was ALL German, his mother ALL English. Mom’s father was Manx (Isle of Man) and her mother was a mystery, about half English and the other half German royalty (we think). She died of the flu when Mom was six.
Anyway, both Grandma and Mom learned to cook German food pretty good. For Thanksgiving Grandma would make a scalloped oyster dish in a deep cooker lined with soda crackers. It was sooo good but the recipe is lost (in her head). I’ve asked the cousins, nine of us, and no one has her recipe.
We had lots of sauerkraut but no brat as it had to be boughten. Mom grew a horrendous garden and Dad planted and tended a huge potato patch. Living on a farm meant eggs and butchered meat, pork and beef. Also a fried chicken every Sunday for noon dinner.
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Wow, think I was a teenager the last time I had German potato salad. I loved it then and will just have to try it again. Thanks for the reminder and recipe.
Happy New Year.
My hubby loves German potato salad — I’m passing this on to him! Happy New Year!
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I love a dutch baby, and I bet I would have loved the homemade bologna, as I even love the crummy kind we buy now.
Hope you recapture the recipes!
And happy new year to you….
=)
A bit of Pennsylvania Dutch in me too and that looks wonderful to me. Plus my husband made sauerkraut out of turnips. Have you ever heard of that? Happy New Year to you!!
I have some German roots, but am definitely not a sauerkraut fan! I tend to enjoy the Southern foods of my husband’s family… and actually did a post on some of that today!
Happy New Year!
That is very close to the recipe that I have from our years in Germany. Delicious on a cold winter evening.
Looks divine! Potatoes, bacon and onions together…what could be better? 🙂
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A few years ago we had a German style dinner party and that’s when we first encountered German potato salad. It was delicious and so different from the creamy ones that I had eaten! 😀
Wow, lecker! Looks like the real deal to me! …and I am German! 😉
…but what are dutch babies???
Greetings from Brazil!
In the year that I lived in Berlin, their potato salad became one of my favorite dishes. We had it without the bacon, but ate it with sausages. What are Dutch babies?
Looks all very yummy ! The potato salad looks quite different to what I ate in my childhood and made myself later. I just cut the potatos in slices, add cucumber, oil and vinegar and a deluted meat cube. There are so many varieties ! It also depends from what region you stem in Germany.