Customer Reviews

Black Forest Cuisine

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is the German-Cookbook I am looking for - for Years. Not even find this kind of Book in Germany. It has all the Recipes my Mother and Grandmother used to cook. The only (great) Difference: It is more "modern", with all the Spices you can buy today. In the Fifties and Sixties my Mother had only Pepper, Salt, Bayleaves and Maggi in her Kitchen. Never heard of Garlic, Basil, Rosmaryn etc. . I will cook ALL the Recipes in this Book. The Desserts and Cakes are wonderful, too. The Recipes are EASY to follow and the Photos are gorgeous. Because I lived only 50 miles away from the Black Forest, the Book is double special. I only wished THIS Book came out earlier !!!!! THANK YOU Walter Staib.

Please notice that most of the positive reviews talk about the great pictures, stories, and how appetizing the recipes LOOK. Those people obviously did not make the recipes. The spaetzle recipe comes out like soup, the maultaschen dough recipe was clearly missing some sort of liquid, and the german potato salad is really disappointing as well- I was not impressed with the seasoning. I was so excited when I got this book, I read it from cover to cover. I will say I learned a lot about the black forest, it's just unfortunate that the recipes were obviously not proofed. Please do yourself a favor and only get this book for coffee table decoration.

Neat that this renown chef famous due to 18th Century American cuisine completes dream to produce Black Forest cookbook.

This is fine effort of such, with wonderful prose by McGlinn and exceptional color photography by Deering.

Where Staib grew up in Black Forest into cusine family there was a blending of French, Italian and German cusine. He experienced it from different levels of the home table, cafe, gasthaus, and finer restaurants as diner and chef. The recipie collection is thus organized uniquely around these levels, flowing from appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, side dishes and desserts.

Fine collection with wide range of dishes, from home table comfort food to elaborate technique/ingredient recipes which will test the home gourmet. Of course there are those that would quickly come to mind, the Black Forest Cake (here very welcome step-by-step photos and descriptions of technique, which also accompany other recipes as well) and Spaetzle, and Cabbage Rolls. Also enjoy all the game dishes, particularly the Pheasant a la Souvarov; Vension Medallions with Cognac Cream Sauce.

Other recipes which caught my eye and graced the table: Stuffed Veal Breast Grandmother Style; Bee Sting Cake; Vols-au-Vent with Veal Ragout in the Queen's Style; Black Forest Home Fries; Poached Salmon with Tomatoes and Dill Cream Sauce; Smoked Trout and Asparagus Salad; Smoked Salmon Frittata.

Added nice feature is menu for special Black Forest celebrations such as Carnival, Asparagus Festival, Christmas and Saint Sylvester Night (NYears). Recipes from the collection are utilized here, as well as some new specific celebrative ones, e.g. Christmas Goose with Herbed Stuffing and Wassail and Stolen.

Exceptionally well done and fun to explore at various levels of this unique, and blended cuisine. Might also want to check out "Rockenwagner" and "New German Cookbook" for other excellent cookbooks in this cuisine vector.

I have been doing allot of german cooking lately and this book seemed be a new book that would be interesting. The book is beautifully designed, has great photography, great background info, plus personal anecdotes about his life, german culture and cuisine. This book has been helpful to show through pictures many of the recipes that I have attempted through steps with actual photographs; many books describe steps without them. I am a visual person so this is helpful and I am a beginning cook; so it makes it even easier. The directions I find are also superior; many cookbooks ingredients are less specific and not as clear. In particular, I have had a problem in the past with finding ingredients and he tells you specifically what to get and because he is living in america, the english is american based and not a UK english to german translation. Clear, informative, concise information; with tips to help you with preparation. Again, this helps me as I am learning and he actually tells you specific important details to help you successfully make a meal. Many questions I had that were not answered in other books; were actually answered in this one. The background info is very good with the history of: his family, his cooking experiences, germany, and culture. The book is broken down into different types of cooking: the home table, cafe bites, gasthaus (guest house) comfort food, fashionable hotel dining, and black forest celebrations. This is helpful as it can steer you in a direction based upon what or when you are serving a meal. So far I have made the: braised red cabbage, sauerbraten, dumplings, beef stroganoff and skewered pork with spicy cream sauce; all of which have turned out well.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in this type of cooking; it is intelligently and clearly written. The background information is superior which will help you in your cooking success and help you understand the influences behind this type of cuisine; with examples of culture, history, geography and personal anecdotes. The design and photography are beautiful and laid out in a logical way. The step by step information and photos help make preparation easier and increase you chances of success. I recommend this book! You will learn allot about german food and the black forrest region. Buy it and make some delicious and satisfying german food!

Mention the Black Forest (in terma of food) and immediately Black Forest Ham and Black Forest Cake comes to mind. The ham you'll have to get from the Black Forest, but the cake recipie is given here. So are the recipies for Black Forest Beef Roulades (a thin steam rolled around a filling), Black Forest Cracker Bread (thin and crispy), Black Forest Home Fries (with meat, bacon, garlic, egg and whatever else you might like), and Black Forest Ravioli (meat stuffed).

Of course these dishes are just the start of the recipies contained in the book.

This is definitely a high end cookbook, with foods that would be quite at home in quite upscale restaurants. Indeed the author is chief chef and the proprietor of Philadelphia's historic City Tavern restaurant. Preparing such 'fancy' foods often requires a good bit of preparation, but try some of these recipies, you'll find it worthwhile.

It is one of the best cookbooks that I have used in a long time. I had just returned to my home in France from the Black Forest in September and couldn't find a single book on the "cuisine" of the Black Forest region in France. It was an excellent experience and the food was incredible and in a normal restaurant better than French. The average French cooking is going downhill, you have to really search for a good restaurant. This book is simple and uses ingredients that are mostly on hand. I have used the book almost everyday since I received it. And the photos are appetizing...the dishes come out looking the same.

This is a fascinating cookbook. Chef Walter Staib grew up in Germany, learned his cooking techniques there, and then became the honcho at Philadelphia's City Tavern (where you can eat recipes or drink beer crafted by Thomas Jefferson and George Washington!). As Staib notes (Page 15): "In 1994, when I took over the historic City Tavern in Philadelphia, I discovered that life in eighteenth-century America paralleled traditional Black Forest culture in more ways than I could have imagined." And (same page), "When I was growing up in the Black Forest, we were, in many ways, still practicing the traditional cookery our ancestors transplanted to America two hundred years earlier."

So, an interesting backdrop to this work (and I have just ordered Chef Staib's cookbook on City Tavern, which I am looking forward to a great deal, given my enjoyment of the cuisine there!).

But the bottom line, as always, is the recipes themselves. And these seem pretty straightforward and doable for those of us who enjoy trying out new dishes but are not gourmet chefs.

Examples: Chicken noodle soup (pages 114-115). Boy, does this make things simple! Butter, onions, celery, carrots, chicken stock, thyme, chicken (already cooked), egg noodles, pepper, and parsley. The instructions are to the point. I aim to make this for my family in the near future.

I have found some nice recipes for potato-leek soup in other cookbooks. This volume has a nice recipe for that tasty dish, too.

Salad? The recipe for creamy cucumber salad gets my juices going: cucumber, salt (which I normally do not use, given how much salt we end up consuming each day), sour cream, red onion, cider vinegar, paprika, chili powder (yes!), pepper, and chives (for garnish). Seems easy to make and looks delicious. Another dish that I want to try out!

And then some main dishes, such as poached salmon with tomatoes & dill cream sauce, pork medallions with lager & chanterelles, beef stroganov (with a very simple recipe for one of my favorite dishes), beef burgundy (one of my specialties for dinner parties, with a few wrinkles that I don't normally use). As a side dish? Riesling sauerkraut. Sounds yummy from the recipe.

Anyhow, if interested in German cuisine, this looks like a winner.

Being from the Black Forest myself, but rasied in America I often dreamed of my family's cooking back home, where food is more rustic, but ever so flavorful. I gave this book to my husband and he enjoyed finding our own family recipes in the book and the many towns we've travel to and have family in. I can't even describe my German mother's response, she was so excited, it brought her home. I've never read a book before that has brought me back home more than this one.

I completely agree with rodboomboom's review. The layout, photography, recipes, directions and the personnal touch given by MR.Staib makes this one of the best cookbooks I've ever read especially regarding German cooking. Reading cookbooks is a hobby of mine and I especially like collecting cookbooks that are based on regional cooking that incorparate culture, as opposed to just food types. Mr. Staib has set a new high stand for regional cookbooks.

One thing puzzles me, why did he leave out the Ziebelkuchen(Onion tart) recipe?

It is an interesting read,most of the recipes are'nt too complex but to be honest,I take a recipe I read and kinda play with it so it's not an exact replica of what is written.The recipes do show influences from other countries,and I really like the way the little stories are written.This book is definately a favorite.

BLACK FOREST CUISINE: THE CLASSIC BLENDING OF EUROPEAN FLAVORS offers something different to cookbook fans: a focus on German regional traditions and customs, pairing full-page color photos with recipes. From Apple-Walnut Cakes to Meatballs in Caper Sauce, these are appealing, different dishes which blend especially well with the author's own familiarity of German regional cuisine. Any cookbook collection strong in modern European innovations will welcome this.