One, is that during the summer at home, we generally BBQ several nights a week, and we had thought we would purchase a little BBQ here and continue the practice. However, we discovered that it is illegal to have a charcoal or gas grill on a balcony in Munich, which of course, makes a lot of sense. We are jealous, though, of those on the ground floor when the smell of their BBQ comes wafting up! So, we had seen little electric grills advertised, and decided that for 25 Euros it might be a good investment. However, sometimes you get what you pay for, and that has certainly been the case, but we have gotten a lot of laughs out of this investment! We realized that the wattage is about the same as a hair dryer - so that should give you an idea of its power! It actually will cook meat eventually, but it is never hot enough for grill marks. We've discovered that if the meat has a good amount of fat (as in sausage) it will actually brown a little. Or if we rub oil on otherwise healthful fish or chicken, it will almost brown!
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| Our Funny Grill - with oil-coated and marinated pork steaks. |
Ingredients have been another challenge. We brought some favorite recipes with us and the internet has a wealth of recipes, but finding the correct ingredients has been interesting. Things are just different, not better or worse, but when you are used to certain items, adapting to something else is certainly doable, but requires time and energy. Then, there is the language difference, too. If we were to live here permanently, there are stores that specialize in American foods, but we haven't found the need or desire to search them out.
Here are some of our observations:
Baking Products - Things you expect to find with baking ingredients, for example, sometimes aren't with flour and sugar, but in another aisle with dried fruits etc. Baking powder and soda come in packets like yeast, not the box or can we are used to, and soda is called "Natron". Corn starch comes in a box called "Feine Speisestärke" and is wonderful in "Marmorkuchen" or Marble Cake. It makes it wonderfully light and has a very soft crumb. Flours come in many different varieties, just as in the US. The difference is that the different amounts of hard and soft wheat which produces the gluten are listed by Type. A type 405 flour is Cake Flour, All Purpose is Type 505 and Bread Flour is Type 815. Whole Wheat is "Vollkorn", and isn't used as much as in the US. Roggen (Rye) flour is more available. Almost all bread and rolls at a bakery have at least some Rye flour in them. Brown sugar, "Brauner Zucker", is a much different consistency than in the US. It doesn't pack, is coarser, more like a decorative sugar, and when creaming with butter, doesn't liquify as well as C&H. Vanilla usually comes in a package with four small vials, called "Butter-Vanille aroma" and has a buttery taste.
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| Everything comes in small packages - both sugar and salt packages equal about one pound. |
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| Corn Starch, Whole Wheat Flour and Brown Sugar |
Eggs - Eggs are never refrigerated in a store, which is very different for us since in the US everyone is very concerned about salmonella, but obviously it is not a concern here. Eggs are priced individually (about 28cents each), but most often come in packages of six, or sometimes as a dozen. Hard-cooked eggs are also sold everywhere, not refrigerated, but are always colored - just like Easter!
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| Unrefrigerated fresh and hard-cooked colored eggs |
Chicken Broth - this has been the oddest ingredient for us. Chicken broth is basic in soups, risotto, etc., and is cheap and readily available at every grocery in the States. However, it is almost non-existent in Munich. We finally found chicken broth in a small jar with a good amount of chicken in it and supposedly concentrated, but doesn't taste like it. We also found beef broth that looks and tastes like chicken broth at a local butcher shop, so that is what we generally use.
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| Many ready-made soups and sauces come in plastic sausage-shaped packages. |
Cheese - Gouda, Emmantaler, Mozzerella, Gruyere, and ButterKäse are the standard cheeses and available in chunk, sliced and grated varieties. American-style yellow Cheddar cheese is unavailable anywhere (maybe not such a bad thing!), but considering the number of Brits in Munich it is surprising that good white cheddar can only occasionally be found in specialty cheese shops.
Dairy - Products are pretty much the same as in the States, but there are very few low-fat varieties. Milk only comes in a 1.5% and 3.5% fat content. Yogurt is very popular and there are lots of brands and flavors, but none are labeled low-fat. The stores also sell many more irradiated dairy products. The coffee cream in the picture below is not refrigerated before opening and is irradiated.
Butter is labeled "mildgesäuerte" which means mildly soured or acidic. This is the same butter that can be found in better stores in the US such as Whole Foods, and usually come from France costing around $10 a pound. Ours is about $1.80 a pound. It is also 82% fat versus around 80% for the US. This means about 2.5% less water. That doesn't seem like a big difference, but it makes for a silkier, softer texture. Less water also means that it cooks differently in baked goods. Unsalted (sweet) butter is much easier to find than salted.
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| Butter is only packaged in 250 grams (roughly 1/2 pound), milk only by the liter (about a quart), and cream comes in cute little plastic containers. |
Meat - Meat from the butcher or grocery store comes in seemingly endless varieties. There are, of course many many sausages (wursts), but smoked and dried products as well. As an example, Schwalder Shinken, Black Forrest Ham, comes in slices or blocks at very reasonable prices. Less than $5.50 a pound. The blocks are for cutting up and included in dishes for seasoning. The slices are great on a slice of fresh whole grain bread with cheese! The naming of cuts of meat also makes it somewhat difficult, as the Bavarians are well known for giving regional names to cuts of meat that quite often aren't in our German-English dictionary. Meat is always fresh, nicely cut and presented. Almost all ground meat if 50% each pork and beef, 100% beef is difficult to find. There is only one grade of ground meat - 30% fat. Germans don't seem to believe in low-fat,
low-calorie, low-salt anything! Just great flavor - according to Gary!
Mexican Food - We know we are not in Munich to eat Mexican food, but it is hard for people from the west coast to give it up completely, and it is actually in the grocery stores - but rather expensive and not particularly wonderful, but when one is desperate, it works! With some looking around, we found corn tortillas, that are a mixture of corn and flour, but work well for enchialladas. Enchilada sauce doesn't seem to exist, but a fair approximation can be made using local ingredients. Flour tortillas (8 for $4.50), refried beans, taco seasoning, and terrible bottled salsa are all readily available.
Hot Sauce - Red pepper flakes for pizza don't seem to be available. Hot peppers like jalapeños can be found with some looking. Germans don't like spicy foods, so even if something is labeled "scharfes", it usually isn't very spicy by our standards.
Chips - Germans seem to like chips for snacks as much as Americans, but they come in little packages and are expensive - $2.50 for a little bag. Plain potato chips are also hard to find. Pepper (more like our BBQ flavor) and cheese flavored chips are easily found. Tortilla chips are marginal and taste more like corn chips. Oddly, Pringles are quite popular here.
Packaged Mixes - Surprisingly to us, Germans really use a lot of packaged mixes. In some grocery stores the Knorr (primarily, but there are other brands, too) aisle is one whole aisle by itself - salad dressings, sauces, soups, Italian foods, and German dishes like sauerbraten, goulasch, and rindrouladen
Pfifferlingen - Before we end this post, we need to mention Pfifferlengen (chantrelle mushrooms). When we arrived in April it was Weiss Spargel (white asparagus) season, and now it is Pfifferlingen time. They are piled high at the vegetable stands and served as a specialty on restaurant menus. We had never cooked with chantrelles before, but are converts now. In restaurants we have had them in soup, sauces, and salads. At home, we have made a yummy risotto and a pasta dish. Some friends from Finland recently visited, and they have been gathering them wild at their summer home. The most recent gathering collected over 20 liters, which they will dry. Their very wet summer has made for a great mushroom season!
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| Pfifferlingen at the Viktualian Markt |
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| Tortiglioni with Pfifferlingen |
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