Top 12 Traditional German Foods

Traditional German Foods offers a wide variety of hearty and flavorful dishes, often characterized by meat, potatoes, and bread. Here are some classic German foods

Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen is a favorite cookie made with honey; in the German term lebbe means “very sweet.” Perhaps it originates from a type of honey that has quite solid crystallization. Bakers found that the fermentation process of this type of cake and being stored for several weeks in a cool place would greatly improve the quality of the cake.

Monks in Franconia in the early 13th century invented this cake. Lebkuchen is made in a variety of flavors from spicy to sweet and comes in a variety of shapes, perhaps the most popular being round. The ingredients are usually honey, added with spices such as anise, cardamom, and pepper.

Commercially, it is ubiquitous at many German fairs and Christmas festivals. They are found on bakery shelves or sold as souvenirs to tourists at Oktoberfest and are engraved with adorable shapes and messages.

Bratwurst

Bratwurst is a famous sausage made from pork. Recipes for making German sausages vary from region to region. In Germany, there are more than 40 different types of bratwurst.

Is a traditional German food, but the way sausages are served is not the same, Depending on the region, or even locally, the serving style is different, but there is a common point that they are considered a simple snack.

Serve on or in an accompanying loaf of white bread made from wheat flour and served with mustard. It is so popular that every pub serves it, often accompanied by sauerkraut or potato salad.

Bratwurst is so popular that in the United States, many ethnic German-Americans living in the Upper Midwest, or Wisconsin know about bratwurst.

Wiener Schnitzel

Wiener schnitzel is a type of schnitzel, a traditional German food, made from thinly sliced, breaded, pan-fried veal cutlets. One of the famous specialties of traditional German foods.

In Germany, the term Schnitzel means not only a fried, breaded dish, but people consider it a cutlet in general.

The name Wiener Schnitzel since 1831, is mentioned in a famous Southern German cookbook by Katharina Prato, where it is referred to as eingebröselte Kalbsschnitzchen, meaning “breaded veal cutlet”. Restaurants in Germany mainly serve a slice of lemon and fries, parsley, and avocado with it.

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is a type of cabbage that after being harvested, goes through a process of pre-processing and chopping, then is fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Sauerkraut can be used for a long time and has a special flavor thanks to the formation of fermentation bacteria in the leaves of Cabbage.

This type of fermented food has a long history in traditional German food, but it is said to not be of German origin but is derived from the German word “Sauerkraut”. Historians say that in China when the Great Wall was being built, this dish was included in the diet of construction workers.

Germans often cook sour cabbage, and serve it hot, with smoked sausage or Kassler, and potatoes. Central European culinary culture, in recipes there are similarities with German, this national dish includes grilled pork and sauerkraut.

Sauerbraten 

Sauerbraten is a well-seasoned grilled meat dish, it is considered a national dish, a traditional German food. Made from many different types of meat then marinated for 10 days with mixed spices before grilling such as wine or vinegar, water, and herbs.

Unlike other types of grilled meat, when grilled, the meat will usually be tougher, but German grilled meat is softer thanks to the long marinating process, which will soften the meat. Served in sauerbraten sauces and accompaniments that vary according to regional variations where people live.

Some people believe that sauerbraten was invented around the 9th century AD by Charlemagne, and it spread and grew to the point of being found in restaurants. Sauerbraten is on the menu in the Rhineland.

Knödel 

Knödel or Klöße is a traditional German food, it is made from potatoes or flour, then boiled, and served as a side dish. There are many variations of this type of dumpling as a dessert, even as meatballs in soup.

There are many different recipes to make Knödel such as:

– Rohe Kartoffelknödel – is a type of dumpling made from potatoes, but not cooked, after the chefs shape it and then boil it.

– Gekochte Kartoffelknödel – These are dumplings made from potatoes that have been cooked by the chefs first, then shaped into dumplings, and then boiled.

– Halb-und-halb Kartoffelknödel: A type of dumpling with potatoes, half of which is pre-cooked by the chef, the other half is not.

Today, Knödel is widespread in Europe, and in America, the word “klub” is used to specifically refer to potato dumplings.

Schweinshaxe  

Schweinshaxe is a grilled pork leg dish. In traditional German food culture, this type is one of the typical dishes of German farmers. People only use the end of the leg just above the ankle and below the meaty ham portion.

Later in the recipes, chefs created ways to make these cheap and tough pieces of meat more palatable to diners, making them more special and more famous in Bavaria. With the name Schweinshaxn.

It usually takes quite a long time to make this dish. Chefs marinate the meat for a long time so that the meat absorbs the spices thoroughly. Sometimes using it for a large cut, it can take up to a week. Schweinshaxe is roasted at low temperatures, depending on the size, for two to three hours, by professional chefs.

Gaisburger Marsch

Gaisburger Marsch is a Swabian dish named after Gaisburg, a district of Stuttgart. This dish was very popular, and famous in the 19th century, It is said that many army officers had to march to Gaisburg to enjoy this favorite dish at the Bäckerschmide restaurant.

Gaisburger Marsch is beef stew, a traditional German dish. The beef is cut into cubes after being cooked in beef broth, served with cooked potatoes and Spätzle. Its broth is poured over.

The texture of tender beef is coated in a rich and luxurious broth, topped with delicious buttery caramelized onions, packing all the flavor into each bite.

Gebratenes Hähnchen

Gebratenes Hähnchen, in Bavaria or at festivals like Oktoberfest is a traditional German dish, Gebratenes Hähnchen is served during beer festivals, and people like to eat it with Brezen beer and/or Maß beer.

The most popular recipe is probably grilled, wash the chicken, dry it, dice the onion, and marinate it with spices, put it in a preheated oven at 180°C.

Commercially Gebratenes Hähnchen grows in restaurants, spreads widely on mobile rotary trucks parked, moved around such as large parking lots, or frequented customer locations such as supermarkets. 

Pretzels

A pretzel is a type of baked cookie made from dough, it is shaped like a knot, or twist. Popular toppings for this type of cake are salted, or other toppings such as cheese, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, and seeds and nuts.

Much is said about its origin, the invention of pretzels as a reward for children who participated in prayer lessons, by an Italian monk. Some other opinions say that pretzels were invented by bakers in Germany when they were held hostage by local officials where they lived.

In Franconia, pretzels are part of the bakers’ tradition. It is classified as a traditional German food, a snack of many German families. Special stalls or stalls in the city’s central streets, it is so popular that they are served as Butterbrezel or with slices of cold meat and cheese.

The Ultimate Pretzel Recipe Book

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is a cream, chocolate cake with cherry filling. A mouth-watering dish with rich German flavor. Usually, this cake is covered with many layers of chocolate sponge cake, by bakers.

In southwestern Germany, from the traditional costumes of women in the Black Forest. It is said that the name of the cake was inspired by them. In 1934, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte was first mentioned in writing, in high-end confectionery stores in German cities.

It was ranked 13th in a list ranking Germany’s most famous cakes. Its popularity is known in Singapore where a 500 kg (1,100 lb) cake was made, by bakers Jörg Mink and Julien Bompard on December 9, 2012. or in Germany’s Europa Park, on December 9, 2012. July 16, 2006, K&U Bakery made a cake measuring nearly 80 m2  (860 sq ft) and weighing 3,000 kg (6,600 lb).

Currywurst

Currywurst is a traditional German dish with sausage, along with sauce and mixed ingredients such as curry powder, meat sauce, paprika, and tomato sauce, in Germany it is the main meal of every family, in the daily diet.

At festivals or sports matches, it is served to the audience to eat with fries and enjoy the match more attractively. In Germany, they even held a big event about it in September 2019. Its popularity caused people to line up to wait for their turn to buy.

At restaurants in the capital Berlin, it is often served on paper or wooden plates. Annual commercial consumption is estimated at more than 800 million units sold.