Across the Fence: Authentic German Cuisine

When I first came to Washington State, I was surprised about the enthusiastic welcome Germans get over here. I realized quickly that it had to do a lot with American military being deployed to my mother country. And, as ever so often, the way to a (wo)man’s heart is through their stomach. Yet, not everybody knows how to relive these culinary experiences for lack of recipe sources. This can be helped now with a brand-new, beautifully made cookbook – an excellent gift for anybody with a craving for German cuisine.

“Easy German Cookbook” by hugely popular blogger and author Karen Lodder (https://germangirlinamerica.com/) features 80 typical German recipes from all over the nation, sorted by ingredients but also by the size and type of meal. Therefore, you find a section each about breakfast, appetizers and sides, or desserts as well as sections about pork, beef, or seafood. What’s especially attractive for Americans is that Karen uses U.S. measures and has quite a few kitchen hacks where the typical German ingredient is not at hand.

As a native German, I was absolutely happy to find that Karen Lodder’s recipes are sometimes absolutely identical to the way I myself cook. Yet, there are also recipes I’ve never made before and that I’m absolutely keen to try. Such as “Westfälisches Krüstchen”, a delicious-sounding Schnitzel-variant. Or “Fränkisches Zwiebelfleisch”, a one-pot beef dish that sounds similar to a regional dish from the Swabian region I hail from. Mouthwatering photos illustrate this easy-to-follow guide to the German cuisine, and I must say that I was drooling quite a bit when I read through the copy I got for myself.

Each recipe tells you the number of servings, the prepping time and the cooking time. And the short introductive texts that explain each dish or tell you a little about the author’s connections to it make the book a very enjoyable reading experience. Add a little culinary geography and Karen’s personal story – she was born to German parents shortly after they immigrated to the U.S. – and it feels as if you were having a kitchen chat with a good friend.

So, if you know of anybody with a hankering for authentic German dishes and want to surprise them by either serving them one or enabling them to reproduce the authentic, why not gift yourself or them with the “Easy German Cookbook” by Karen Lodder? It will be available as of November 30 – just in time to place it under the Christmas tree …