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Germany 2011: Zum Bauer, Zum Bauer..

8/12/2011 10:45:00 PM


Earlier this week, we took a short walk to a nearby farmer for lunch.  Kreuzhofbauer serves traditional German fare for lunch and dinner every day (Schnitzel, Frikadellen and so on), and every Wednesday they have a special Schlachtfestkarte, or a "Slaughter Menu".  When you walk past, it doesn't look like there's much there...


...however, there's a decent sized restaurant on the left, and a small farm shop on the right.  The farm shop sells thing like fresh fruit and vegetables, different milks and cheeses, and, of course, meat and smallgoods!

Being located in a nondescript residential area, I didn't think that there'd be many customers, and assumed that the patrons would all be locals.  However, the restaurant was full, and looking at the licence plates of the line of cars parked down the street, I could see that people came from loads of different cities to eat at the farm - Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Worms, Darmstadt and even Heidelberg!


You can either sit outside, under pretty yellow umbrellas, or inside, in the farmhouse.  We sat inside.  I should note, it was super-dark inside the restaurant, but our new compact camera (a Canon Powershot S95) seems to be doing really well in low light, without flash.  (We bought it at the start of this trip).  What do you guys think?

Beer - 0,5l - 1,80 €
When you order from the Schlachtfestkarte, you can get a free bowl of Metzelsuppe.  Metzelsuppe is very much an acquired taste - after the slaughter, they cook the various sausages (liver sausage, blood sausage etc.) in boiling water, and it is this water that forms the base of the soup.  They also slice open a few of the sausages to thicken the soup, and make some little noodle/dumplings to make it a little more substantial.

I actually loved it!  Although I must add that it was very rich, and I certainly couldn't eat it every day.  There are a few different farmers on the street, and the local residents all have their favourite farmer for Metzelsuppe.  The flavour of the soup also changes week to week depending on what the farmers have cooked.  When we tried it it was nice and spicy, but occasionally it can be bland.  Luck of the draw, I guess!

As for the meals, we all ordered Bratwurst or Wellfleisch.  Each came with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.
Ein paar Bratwürste mit Sauerkraut, Kartoffelpüree oder Brot - 6,00  
Bratwurst, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.  Simple, yet perfect.  The sausages were quite strongly spiced, and had a nice texture to them.  Why don't sausages taste like this in Melbourne?!

I ordered the Wellfleisch - different cuts of boiled pork.
Wellfleisch gemischt mit Sauerkraut, Kartoffelpüree oder Brot - 6,00   
The Wellfleisch comprised a few slices of boiled pork belly, and a piece of pork cheek.  I was advised to sprinkle salt and pepper on the side of the plate, and dip the meat into each before eating.  Fabulous.

Can you believe each massive plate of food only cost 6 euro?  You can also get a "seniors' portion" for 2 euro less.  Love it!

Another thing you can do at the farm is bring a big pot for them to fill with Metzelsuppe.  I've heard that some farms do this for free (it is, essentially, a waste product), but Kreuzhofbauer charges 1€ for each portion you want to take with you.  We took a pot home for dinner, (and also bought a loaf of Bauern Brot - Farmer's loaf) as we didn't want to have anything too filling after that massive lunch!

Farmer's bread - like a light rye

I was happy to have the soup as it was, chunks and all, but Sandra prefers a clear broth.  So, she strained out all the bits, and made Mehlruebeln (flour noodles) to go with.  Mehlruebln are just a mixture of flour, egg, salt and a bit of water...


... which you drop into boiling broth.

And here is the finished product!


And here's my chunky version. Yum yum, lecker lecker.

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6 comments

  1. This looks really home cooked!

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  2. Glad to see I'm not the only one who checks out German license plates when going somewhere, to see where everyone has come from!

    There are a few farmers round here with food, but I think they seem to go in for cake rather than heaps of meat. Not such a bad thing, though - the dominance of the pig in German food is a little bit annoying at times, particularly since I'm Jewish. What I wouldn't give for a good beef sausage!

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  3. @Michelle - Yup, it felt like we were sitting in someone's home!

    @Lauren - I think I'd be happy with cake farmers too! :) It must be really hard not eating pork here - do you find you cook a lot to avoid any nasty surprises? (Although I eat anything and everything now, I went through a 5-year period when I didn't eat any pork, so I can sympathise that it would be really tough!)

    I have had horse sausage here before, but I can appreciate that's not up everyone's alley! :)

    xox Sarah

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  4. Oh my - I would eat all that. Majorly envious.

    Yes I'm going to say that about every one of your Germany posts ;-P

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  5. @Sarah - apparently when I de-lurk I do it with a vengeance!

    As far as avoiding pork goes, I was here for the first time as an exchange student in 1998-99, and it's certainly got a lot easier since then. The biggest issue is not large slabs of meat, but things like vegetable soups and fried potatoes, which have no reason to contain anything piggy but frequently do. I'm also far enough north that there's a fair bit of fish around at things like markets and fairs, so I'm not stuck existing on chips and fried cheese at certain times of year.

    I do cook a fair bit (some great markets here for ingredient-gathering), but I work at a university with a half-decent mensa, so I go through phases when I eat my main meal there and stick with bread, salad and cheese in the evenings. Which in Germany isn't exactly suffering...

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  6. The photos look good. That Powershot is a great camera as my friends have it too and I'm always surprised how well they work in low light.

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