Opera with a side of sausage

Being an opera fan, I attended the Met HD performance of Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger” at the Paramount Theater recently. The setting of the opera was Nuremberg. It was sung in German, and I enjoyed hearing the language as well as the music. However, I must confess sitting for five and a half hours to hear the only melodic part of the opera (Walter’s “Prize Song”) was a bit much.

I talked briefly to the gentleman sitting next to me, who happens to enjoy reading my weekly column. As the ad on TV frequently says “I’ve heard that before.” Had we had more time to chat, I probably would have told him about some of the foods of Bavaria, including Nuremberg. Maybe next time, as the next opera concerns European royalty and is by Austrian composer Franz Lehar.

It’s amazing how food and music are closely related with various opera scenes centered on banquets and myriad foods.

After the Second World War, Nuremberg was known for other events besides food. It was the scene of the World War II war criminals’ trial, later depicted in a famous movie. I have been to Nuremberg and its surrounding countryside in Bavaria several times and enjoyed the food, the beer and the wonderful scenery.

Bavarian cuisine is based primarily on the dishes of its early farm population and its Czech and Austrian neighbors. However, by the 19th century, the more sophisticated cuisine of the ruling families — the Wittelsbach (Bavaria) and the neighboring Habsburgs (Austria) — was introduced to the more cosmopolitan Bavarians. A century later, recipes for several French dishes could be found in Bavarian cookbooks.

Bavarians, like most Germans, love to eat. They are the inventors of Schmankerl, also known as Brotzeit (“bread time”). It is a morning in-between-meal treat, consisting of anything that could be eaten with bread. Over the centuries Schmankerl was sort of a second breakfast featuring bread and wurst (sausage) or cheese.

In the old days, an employee in most business houses of Munich and Nuremberg would be sent to the local butcher shop for a take-out assortment of smoked meats and cheeses. Next was a stop at the bakery for fresh bread, then back to the office for the mid-morning snack. This custom of a mid-morning snack was a carry-over from the farming days, when farmers had an early breakfast and were hungry before the midday meal.

The most famous food of Bavaria is probably wurst (known to us as hot dogs) and generally called bratwurst. Munich has its weisswurst, which supposedly was invented in 1857. It is made primarily with veal.

Nuremberg is known for its tiny wurst, about the size of a little finger. Street vendors all over the main part of Nuremburg sell these wurst along with rolls and mustard. A street vendor told me that I should have at least 12 of these wurst in a roll. Did I really look that hungry? I agreed — and enjoyed every bite.

Bratwurst in Nuremberg has a more than 600-year history.

Only the very best pieces of pork, even meat used for hams, go into the Nuremberger Bratwurst. In Nuremberg, the large bratwurst are cooked over wood fires and served on platters with cabbage or sauerkraut, potato salad and, in season, asparagus. Today, the little ones are slowly baked in foil in the oven or over charcoal by the street vendors. Butchers in each village and town in Bavaria still use their old recipes to make bratwurst.

Veal is the meat of choice for most Bavarians, although today it has gotten rather expensive. At one time, veal was served at almost every meal, including breakfast. Almost every part of the calf is used, even the kidneys in the popular roast of veal loin filled with pieces of kidney. In Bavaria, as in other veal-loving regions of Germany and Austria, pork has become an acceptable substitute.

Cabbage is the favorite Bavarian vegetable. It is eaten fresh in salads, boiled, braised, steamed and pickled as sauerkraut. The latter is often served with potato pancakes.

Bavarians are dumpling eaters. Knodel (dumplings) and noodles are still traditional dishes in households and restaurants. The Bavarian dumplings are made with flour or bread crumbs or grated potatoes. They are cooked in salted water and served with lots of meat gravy. An easy substitute for knodel was and still is spatzle, which are also served with gravy.

Bread is a very important part of Bavarian food. The Kaiser roll, poppy seed roll, the crusty Raspeel and the Salzstange are all a part of everyday Bavarian foods. The Salzstange is a thin elongated roll that is heavily salted, studded with caraway seeds and baked hard almost to the consistency of a pretzel.

The strategic location of Bavaria, astride the trade routes from Italy north via the Alps, allowed the regional cooking and baking to include many exotic spices from the Middle and Far East. I believe that if it were not for cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg coming across the Alps, there would have been no Nuremberger Lebkuchen. Today, Lebkuchen, in the form of large cookies with a white sugar glaze, are sold year around in Nuremberg.

In the mid-1500s in Bavaria, a tax was passed decreeing that bratwurst could not cost more that 4½ Pfennige each and that four of them must weigh one pound. Walking near restaurants in Bavaria, one often can get a whiff of Bratwurst being grilled and the cabbage cooking.

My favorite is bratwurst with cabbage or sauerkraut. (I use light olive or vegetable oil for the shortening.)

I frequently serve spatzle with a beef stew or goulash. They are easy to make and offer an alternative to the usual starches.

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