Hot Dish Review

Without Omi to make schweinebraten, me and my Mom had to be creative when it came to food. Meal times are reversed in Germany. They eat the bigger, hot meal for lunch and have a simple supper of bread, meats, and cheeses in the evening.

Having stocked up on camembert, schinken, und brot for dinner, we spotted a stack of prepared meals in the cupboard. Everything from beef rouladen to goulash. My Mom called them “fertig Gerichte”, which translates to “finished meal”. They weren’t exactly diet food, ranging from 430 to 520 calories each. So, we decided to split them on the days we were not eating out with family or friends.

The first one we tried was the sauerbraten. It was served with red cabbage and spaetzle. Leftover red cabbage from the day before made the meal complete. Although our overall opinion of the prepared meal was pretty good, we agreed the red cabbage contained too much nutmeg.

Schlemmergulasch was next, beef and onions in gravy served with spaetzle, peas and carrots. I bought a head of frissee at the market…I had never seen a whole head of frissee before! I made a big salad to go with the goulash. Again, pretty good.

Omi had one entree with fish, but we chose the rinderroulade as our final lunch at home. Similar to the first meal, it was beef slices with spaetzle and red cabbage.

At that point, we were running low on provisions so we split a yogurt for dessert. In Germany, the yogurt flavors are similar to the gelato flavors, with tempting options like “nuss”. There are actual bits of hazelnut in it, making for an interesting textural combo with the smooth yogurt. Why don’t we have hazelnut yogurt here? Not to mention my very favorite snack, quark, a whipped dairy dessert in between yogurt and sour cream that I have been wanting to import to the U.S. for years! I always get maracuja, which I just found out is passion fruit. Love it.

So, there we were…..me and my Mom in Germany without my Oma to cook for us. At least we were staying at her house, which is awesome. It always smells so good, hard to explain….just smells like my childhood.

Left to our own devices, her brother-in-law Friedhelm took us to the grocery store to stock up for the week. We bought some fruit, cheese, bread, yogurt, chocolate, and bratwurst.

There were a couple of cans of rotkohl (red cabbage) in the cellar. We both like our brats well-browned, so Mom put them in a skillet, turning them several times, for about 15 minutes.

We ate the juicy brats with the red cabbage and leftover pasta salad my aunt Angela had brought the day we arrived. Hard to beat the real thing….delicious!

There is nothing German about funnel cake. However in Helen, the faux Bavarian village in the North Georgia mountains, the land of motorcycles and mullets, liverwurst and lederhosen, it is strangely appropriate.

Sprinkled with powdered sugar, topped with some gloppy fruit goo, whipped cream, ice cream, or all of the above, it is practically mandatory to eat one of these fried monstrosities in the carnivalesque atmosphere of Helen.

After years of avoiding this white trash temptation, I finally vowed to give in the next time I went tubing. And that was last weekend. B and I joined my Mom for lunch at Old Heidelberg, feasting on the best wurst with good kraut and over-spiced, over-cooked red cabbage, drank several Corona Lights, then braved the chilly waters of the Chattahoochee in the bright pink tubes.

We bailed early, getting out of the river across the street from my parents’ house, just in time for bison burgers! Chef Billy burns my Dad’s just the way he likes it but B and I prefer our burgers medium. They were perfect and juicy topped with double cheese and all the fixin’s.

Finally….time for funnel cake! Granny’s Famous Funnel Cakes is a Helen tradition, having stood in the center of town for many years. You can watch as the dough is literally piped into the vat of bubbling oil with a funnel. It is truly awe-inspiring (see photo).

B and I wanted to keep it simple, ordering our large funnel cake with powdered sugar and whipped cream. She got Georgia peach ice cream on the side.

Like a super-crispy doughnut, what’s not to love about this treat? A chick from Ooltewah and one from Ellijay, we know good white trash when we eat it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Last weekend I made the scenic drive to Helen to celebrate my Mom’s birthday. I love dining outdoors on beautiful sunny days. The Troll Tavern, located by the river, offers the best patio setting, but we wanted to try something different. Old Heidelberg, nestled in the back of the square on N. Main Street has a tiny balcony off their upstairs dining room with four picnic tables and umbrellas. Perfect!

We ordered two different glasses of riesling, both semi-sweet spaetlase style. As we perused the menu and discussed lunch options the sky grew increasingly dark. Ignoring the menacing clouds I decided on the grilled bratwurst with sauerkraut, served on a bun with potato chips. I requested the bun be left off and substituted red cabbage for the chips to create a small wurst platter.

Mom ordered the goulash, a stew made with beef, peppers, onions, and potatoes, in a tomato based broth. It says SPICY on the menu.

As soon as our server delivered our food the rain started! We dashed inside. My Mom said “that’s alright, we’re not made of paper”….awesome quote!

In the frenzy I forgot to photograph the food. I tasted my Mom’s goulash and thought it was too tomato-y, and definitely not spicy. She seemed to like it OK.

Our server came by to inform us that the gentlemen at the neighboring table, who had just paid and left, had paid for our lunch as well. Thanks fellas! I ordered another glass of riesling.

My bratwurst and sauerkraut were very tasty, however, their red cabbage was a tad too sweet, overly spiced with cloves.

Old Heidelberg offered a complete selection of German favorites, from schnitzels to schweinebraten. I had dinner here years ago with a German friend and thought the food was solid.

I am curious about one of their dessert selections, homemade “Kaiserschmarrn”. Mom wasn’t familiar with it, perhaps it’s a Bavarian specialty? Made with eggs, flour, sugar, milk, almonds, and raisins, and served with applesauce, she thought it might be a sort of bread pudding. That settles it…..I will be trying it on an upcoming visit.

But first, I must have a totally-not-German, totally-white-trash funnel cake!

8660 North Main Street, Helen GA 30545 706-878-3273