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Kitchen & Home Homepage - Amazon

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands -- and then eat just one of the pieces.” Judith Viorst

"This stuff tastes awful; I could have made a fortune selling it in my health-food store." Woody Allen

"I went to a restaurant that serves 'breakfast at any time'. So I ordered French toast during the Renaissance." Steven Wright, comedian

"I don't like to eat snails. I prefer fast food." Roger von Oech, from ‘A Kick in the Seat of the Pants’

"Food for thought is no substitute for the real thing." Walt Kelly, cartoonist

"One morning, as I went to the freezer door, I asked my wife, 'What should I take out for dinner?' Without a moment's hesitation, she replied, 'Me.'" Anonymous

Did you know: The word 'cake' comes from the Old Norse 'kaka'. Not exactly the sort of word you would expect the Vikings to contribute to the English language. And what does Kaka mean in German... politely said, manure

In 1976 the popular food colouring, Red Dye No. 2, was banned by the FDA because studies had shown it might cause cancer. Red M&Ms disappeared for 11 years because of the ban

Olives are not edible green, or ripe, and must be treated with lye and/or cured in brine or dry salt before being edible. They contain about 20% oil

Almost every species of livestock has been milked, including horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, camels, buffaloes, reindeer, and yaks. The only exception is the pig, although nutritionally its milk is close to that of human beings.

There are about 30 species of mint and almost 500 varieties, including peppermint, spearmint, apple mint, orange mint, Spanish mint, pineapple mint, ginger mint, mackerel mint, lamb mint, horsemint, lemon mint, pennyroyal, water mint, chocolate mint, etc

Did you know?
A fool is a mixture of mashed fruit and whipped cream. The curious name is thought to be derived from the French verb 'fouler', meaning to mash. Acidic fruits are most commonly associated with fools, such as gooseberries, rhubarb and damsons, however a Norfolk fool contains no fruit at all and resembles custard.

Did you know?
The cantaloupe melon is said to derive its name from Cantalou, a former Papal garden located in Cantalupo, a town near Rome, where the variety was first developed. There are varieties of melon used for cooking, best known being the Chekiang or pickling melon.


British Food & Drink is Top

and always has been. Other countries have, it appears, concentrated on the clichés in an attempt to make their own food appear better, Germany is no exception. German documentaries, especially those on sub-standard commercial television, appear to concentrate on the clichés and sensationalism rather than the facts. Fish and Chips, the great British breakfast, Marmite and sub-standard sausages etc are apparently all the Brits eat. The fact that the best and award winning sausages are made in Britain is always ignored - one butcher in Durrington in West Sussex has been winning numerous awards for years and the National Sausage Week in the UK was a great success in October 2007. One documentary, that is regularly repeated on German TV, shows an isolated Scottish fish and chip shop that deep fries Mars bars. In this film they repeatedly try to portray Brits as wierd in general. The facts speak for themselves, with exceptional cooks, exceptional college training, exceptional restaurants, silver-service waiters and regional cooking that cannot be beaten. British food and the standard of service is better than in Germany, without any doubt. At last a German newspaper has found out what it's all about, but they were still tempted to grab the over-used clichés for the millionth time and throw them in anyway. Maybe there will be professional German report on British food in the future, who knows? Die britische Küche soll plötzlich lecker sein. Click here to take a culinary trip through Britain. If British food is all bad, then all Germans wear leather shorts, get blind drunk in October, eat nothing but Sauerkraut and Curry Wurst and of course they all come from Bayern... oder? German food search...

On the Alster, not far from the former British Consulate-General
 
"A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry." Ecclesiastes 8:15
 
"To make a perfect salad, there should be a spendthrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, a wise man for salt, and a madcap to stir the ingredients up, and mix them well together." - Spanish Proverb
 
"And then to breakfast with what appetite you have." - "What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?" - Shakespeare

The restaurant quarter near Landungsbrueken

Kitchen & Home Homepage - Amazon

The BBC weights and measures
converter - click here

Restaurant quarter near U3 and S-Bahn train station Landungsbrueken and the harbour sightseeing boats - mainly Portuguese and Spanish restaurants, with interesting wine and souvenir shops. 5 minutes from Hamburgs famous St. Michealis church and near the English and Scandinavian churches - Photo: HEP

Strandperle - see and be seen or let's see how badly we can park our cars on the main road above the cafe
Summer in Hamburg's historic quarter

Top News & Features
BBC Food News
British Bubbly Takes the Fizz Out of France - Scotsman June 2004
Food and Drink News from Food Navigator.com - Breaking News on Food & Beverage Development - from an American perspective, (includes American spellings and terms, not English)
Photo by HEP - Taken February 2004
A new food safety technique coming out of the UK, that uses a virus, is set to win an exclusive worldwide licence. The move marks the first step towards the commercialisation of the technique that can 'explode' deadly food-poisoning bacteria - 23.12.2003
BBC Radio 4 - The Food Programme - Listen to the show
Livewire: Web Recipes Here to Stay Reuters - Sat, 6th September 2003
Only You Can Prevent Wildfires - Flash needed. BBQ relevant.
Healthy Barbecue Recipes - BBC BBQ Recipes or Barbecue Recipes (Searches)
All about Honey
Dangers + There is a difference between barbeque and grilling - Barbecue safety
Food Events + Holidays - Book Reviews - Daily Food News - History of Food
Europe Plans Food Name Fight - 26th July 2003

Top Healthy Eating - links updated Dec 2004

Freezing and Storing Correctly

Food Extra: Here are some of the things to watch out for to ensure you store and freeze food correctly:

  • Store food for the refrigerator quickly after purchase. Don't be tempted to go for lunch or coffee with fresh food in the boot/trunk of your car
  • The next step is to ensure the fridge is cold. It should be below 5°C, in the middle. A refrigerator thermometer is a helpful and inexpensive way to know your food is stored correctly and is safe to eat
  • Do not over-pack the fridge and if beer or wine is taking up a lot of space, try storing these items in buckets of cold water (or on the balcony - not by minus temps or they will explode) and only put them into the fridge shortly before they are due to be consumed. The cold air must be able to circulate for the fridge to be effective
  • Refrigerate fresh foods in their original containers and use by the date on the package
  • Leftovers should be stored quickly in sealed containers and eaten within 2-3 days
  • Store different cheeses separately in small sealed containers
  • Blue cheese should not be kept next to other cheeses - the mould causes new mould on other cheeses
  • Opened plastic packets of sliced meat should also be kept in sealed containers
  • Store cooked food high up in the fridge and raw meat on the lowest shelf
  • Food should be defrosted in the fridge and not out on the counter. For example, a frozen turkey can take a number of days to defrost depending on the weight
  • Opened tins should be cooked at high heat if consumed within two days. Do not eat food from open tins after two days - best to transfer contents after opening, if not consumed
  • Do not store fresh salad in plastic bags. Condensation forms and causes mould. Use kitchen paper to let the salad breath
  • Never leave anything open in the fridge or on plates unsealed
  • Bread lasts longer in a sealed container, in the fridge.

Link tip: www.safefoodonline.com

We take no responsibility for any of the information above or for any links. Please add your tips and recipes

Food for Children (including tips and advice) - selection
Food for Children (including tips and advice) - vegetarian and vegan (BBC)
Healthy Eating

Top German Cooking
Visit a tourism website covering this subject
More in column to the right - German Recipes

Top Recipes - don't feel left out, add your traditional recipe today
 
Link Tip - Meals.com - An interesting and useful concept, with meal planning and a what's in your fridge ideas planner using the search facility - based on American products and measurements
Vietnamese flavours + Iranian / Persian Recipes
Search for menu ideas
Meal Planner - BBC - Starter, main meal, sweet etc...
The BBC weights and measures converter - third dead link replaced March 2008
Monthly (in-season) Recipes (BBC)
Basic Recipes + Vegetarian Recipes
Your recipes are needed! Click here
Self-Raising Flour  

Self-Raising flour (known as all-purpose flour, with baking powder, in USA)

Are you one of those lucky people who have been running around the shops in Hamburg looking for self-raising flour? A question raised by many newcomers. As far as we know it is not available in Germany, unless imported by specialist shops. So to help you out here is what you need to do:

Use this homemade mix in any recipe calling for self-raising flour:

 

1/2 cup baking powder = Backpulver
1/4 cup baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) = Natriumbikarbonat
1/4 cup salt = 1/4 Tasse Salz
5 pounds flour = 5 Pfund Mehl. A German pound (500g) does exist, but is not a British pound, so you'll need to calculate a bit - weights and measures converter
- third dead link replaced March 2008

Plain white flour = Weizenmehl Typ 405

Add baking powder, baking soda and salt to flour. Using 2 large bowls, sift the mixture 3 to 4 times to evenly distribute ingredients. Store at room temperature

Yield: about 5 UK pounds

Tip: keep the flour in a dry place and well closed - moths lay eggs in most dry powders in cupboards

 
 
Summer Recipes - Monthly (in-season) Recipes (BBC)
Add your ideas via the Contact page
 
Spring Recipes - Monthly (in-season) Recipes (BBC)
Add your ideas via the Contact page
 
Winter Recipes - Monthly (in-season) Recipes (BBC)
Glühwein

1). 1 bottle of red wine
2). ¼ stick of cinammon
3). 3 thin cut lemon rinds
4). 2 orange slices
5). 2 cloves
6). 3 bay leaves

Translation (follow the number order)

1). 1 Flasche Rotwein
2). ¼ Stange Zimt
3). 3 dünn geschnittenen Zitronenschalen
4). 2 Orangenscheiben
5). 2 Nelken (take care! Nelke = carnation)
6). 3 Lorbeerblätter

7). Cinammon = Zimt
8). Piece of Ginger = Stück Ingwer
9). Spices = Gewürze >> continued >>

Glühwein is a mulled wine, made with a special mixture of spices - Glow wine is the direct translation for Glühwein, said phonetically glue-vine. The build up to Christmas in Germany is nothing without Glühwein. It plays a principal role in every Christmas Market and is simply Christmas as Germans know it. The basic recipe is simple and can be varied according to taste. If you like life fruity, try adding freshly pressed orange juice. Adding rum will blow your mind and sometimes other spices are added according to taste...
Heat up in a pot, with a lid on so the alchohol does not escape, but don't let it boil. Leave for 5 minutes and remove the cinammon. Depending on taste, ginger can be added
Tip: If you use a large tea filter, the ingredients can be easily removed. Wrapping the ingredients in muslin serves the same purpose
We've tried a few of the ready-made Glühwein packets, with dried ingredients, on sale at the Christmas markets in Hamburg (open from the last week in November), but we believe it is the freshly cut fruit and fresh spices that create the taste of Glühwein. We are going to try a mix of both soon - the packet mixed with the addition of fresh oranges and lemons. By the way, the packets vary a lot in price. Compare the weight to the price. The larger packets are generally cheaper per gram
GLOW THE LAZY WAY

In the supermarkets, Spar for example, we found some fruit tea teabags called Winterzeit (Wintertime) from Teekanne: www.teekanne.de

Place one bag in a mug of cold red wine. Place in the microwave and heat for circa 1 min 40 secs - vary according to wattage. Leave the bag in or out, depending on taste. Add sugar or sweetener to taste. The ultimate in laziness! Now tell your guests you spent hours preparing it... Don't hang a slice of lemon on the glass because it will take too long!

 
Autumn Recipes - Monthly (in-season) Recipes (BBC)
Bonfire night recipes
 
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
2 c. pumpkin seeds
1/4 c. lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
3/4 tbsp. salt

Dilute the salt with the lemon juice; then, mix in the pumpkin seeds. Keep mixing together until all seeds are very wet and soaked. Place seeds in a glass bowl and put in the microwave on very high temperature for 4 minutes. Take out and stir them very well and place back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Keep repeating for 2 minutes at a time, stirring in between until they are roasted (golden brown).

 
Pumpkin and Apple Soup
2 onions, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
500g/1lb 2oz pumpkin, skinned, seeded and cubed
2 baking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
570ml/1 pint vegetables stock
300ml/½ pint dry cider or apple juice
2 sprigs fresh sage
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and the garlic. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the pumpkin, chopped apples and sage.
2. Cook for another 2 minutes, season well and add the stock and the cider or apple juice. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the ingredients are tender. 3. Liquidise and serve piping hot with crusty bread -
More from the BBC

 

Impossible Pumpkin Pie

3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. Bisquick (baking mix)
2 tbsp. butter
1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
2 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pie plate, 9 x 1 1/4 or 10 x 1 1/2 inches. Beat all ingredients until smooth one minutes in blender on high or two minutes with hand beater. Pour into plate. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.

 
Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
3 eggs, slightly beaten
2 c. pumpkin

1/2 c. reg. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves

With mixer or blender, mix above ingredients. Pour into prepared pie crusts and bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes. Makes two pies.

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Top Food Guides
Mushrooms, Toadstools and Fungus (Pilze)
Please add your tips
5000 Euro fine for feeding pigeons in Hamburg - official!!!

Top Tips
Acrylamide Advice: Don’t Burn Your Toast

Top Closed Shops
Shops close between 1pm and 4pm on Saturdays, until Monday in rural areas and some areas of Hamburg. From 2003: some shops started opening until 8pm on Saturdays, others until 6pm. Still no sign of Sunday opening or 24/7 opening in Germany as yet. On Xmas Eve or NY's Eve, shops start to close at 1pm

Sunday and all bank holidays are days to relax, to work in the garden, to wash the car, to mow the lawn, to catch up on jobs around the house, to go to the DIY store and if you if you run out of milk, you go to the 24/7, or the supermarket nearby. But, not in Germany, the shops are closed and all the rest is not allowed!

Milk and basic provisions are available at other times, but at extortionate prices. In Hamburg, the main train station has a small provisions shop at the back of a large open restaurant area in the main shopping hall. Dammtor and Altona train stations have similiar shops. Petrol/gas stations sell a few items, but beware of the prices! Milk normally costs 0,55 Euros in the supermarket, (not Spar, which is expensive), but can cost around 1,23 Euros in these places, or more - some bakeries are open as well and sometimes sell milk and a few basics

Outside the main train station (last confirmation 2003), there is usually a fruit and vegetable stand in the car park area on a Sunday. Some flea markets/boot sales/trunk sales have fruit and veg stands as well on a Sunday. The fish market, in the harbour, between 5am and 9:30am on Sunday, (Trains: S-Bahn stations, Reeperbahn and Koenigstrasse) is also a good place to get many items - see our Events Page. In the Advent weeks leading up to Xmas, many shops stay open until 6pm on Saturday. Shops on the Reeperbahn have special opening hours. They open and close later. Normal shops are rare in this area. Beware of a backstreet indian grocery shop in Seiler Strasse, (Reeperbahn) that sells some British products with sell-by dates from 1998, and that was in 2002!

Note, rural areas and some areas away from the main town areas still live in the ancient past: The streets are locked up from around 1pm on Saturday and the first sign of life is on Monday morning. The cafés and areas, where walking and cycling is popular, are full of life, but the shops are shut. Some shops even close for two hours at lunchtimes and close at 6pm in the week! Hamburg-Nienstedten is a good example of part-time opening

Please send us your contributions for this page and section


Top English-Speaking Lands

British Shopping Opens

www.british-shopping.de

Update: Sept 2012

Now Bergedorf. They appear to have moved away from Eppendorf

The image shows the shop in Eppendorf and will remain until we have a replacement image

Location

Traditional Australian Recipes Traditional New Zealand Recipes
Traditional Scottish Recipes Traditional Welsh Recipes
British Regional Cooking Irish Cooking
Add your land or region by sending an E-Mail English Recipes
Sandy's Foods has a large selection of British foods and many other items. See: www.sandys-food.de or visit them near to Holsten Strasse S-Bahn train station, next to English Books - Stresemannstr. 167-169, 22769 Hamburg-Altona - Tel. / Fax: 0049-40-2714571 Mon - Fri: 13.00 bis 19.00 hrs - Sa: 10.00 bis 14.00 hrs
British "Fish and Chips" Recipe
Please send us your contributions for this section and page

Top Drinks
Top tip: The Wine Portal from BBC Radio 4 - click here
The History of Cider The History of Wine
The History of Whisky English Bubbly is the best
Expresso Machine Guide in German - Translation Page
The famous Bols website with numerous links to top cocktail and cocktail accessory websites - we like the notice board that lights up the text you write on it in the Bols shop
For those who prefer a beer without a head... The beer on the right is how a German beer should be poured. It takes 7 minutes to pour a beer correctly, although it depends on where you go, as to whether these rules apply or not. Just in case any Brits are thinking that they are being short-changed, the glasses are taller to allow for the head - Click on glass. Many Germans consider it a sin to pour beer without a head and stand opened mouthed in British pubs, when given a beer the way the Brits pour it
Beer
Hamburg Beer
The Holsten and Astra breweries are in Hamburg. If you want a Shandy, (beer& lemonade/soda) ask for a Alsterwasser, (Al-stare-vasser) but only in Hamburg, as that is the local name for it
Top
Wines

Top tip: The Wine Portal from BBC Radio 4
click here

Wine
At the beginning of this century German Rieslings were the most expensive wines in the world, commanding higher prices than the top growths of Bordeaux. Today, in their incomparably light and elegant style, they offer value for money unmatched by any other wine-producing country. During the past decade, German producers have been paying more attention to quality of their wines, reducing yields but enhancing their reputations. The wine world has noticed, and the consumer is beginning to as well, meaning that there are more and better German wines in our shops all the time

Photo: unknown source


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