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A Little German Cookbook

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A Little German Cookbook (Canada, UK)
by Gertrud Philipine Matthes
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: April 1995
ISBN: 0811810135

One observation I made from more than a year of living in Germany is that it is almost impossible to get a bad meal in that country.

Granted, the food is not light, not flashy, not nouvelle. It is almost universally hearty, making ample use of meats, root vegetables, and creamy sauces. But it is good, satisfying, flavorful food.

A Little German Cookbook is one of about 40 books in a series of little cookbooks from Chronicle Books that aims to showcase the world’s cuisines. Perhaps the greatest problem with the series is that in the space of only 30 recipes or so, it can only provide a taste of a country’s or region’s cuisine. That may be adequate for A Little Welsh Cookbook, A Little Dutch Cookbook, or — heaven help us — A Little Florida Cookbook.

But I think the approach sells Germany short (not to mention France, Italy, Japan, China, Mexico, and any other country with an enormous cooking heritage and repertoire). You may not want the 1,000-page, exhaustive, definitive German cookbook either, but short of that, you would want a book that well represents German cooking. It boils down to editing.

Within the constraints of 30 recipes, Gertrud Philipine Matthes has done a reasonable job of selecting ones that reflect German cuisine. Cabbage, pork, dumplings, potatoes, and apples are well represented in such dishes as Sauerkraut, Sauerbraten, cabbage rolls, liver dumpling soup, an apple cake, potato pancakes, and a few holiday dishes. I’m guessing the author’s roots are in northern Germany, given a slight preponderance of fish dishes.

Another issue with this book specifically, is that the dishes have been simplified, perhaps more than they should be. For instance, I have never made Spätzle, the ubiquitous German noodle, partly because I understood the technique for making them is challenging. The recipe in A Little German Cookbook makes it sound as easy as scraping strips of dough into boiling water.

If you would be satisfied with a morsel of German cooking, this may be the book for you. But I’m looking for something a little heartier…. 

A Little German Cookbook (Canada, UK)

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