A type of gingerbread that is typical for the city of Aachen.
Apfelkuchen
Throughout Germany
German pastry consisting of sliced apples
Bratkartoffeln
Throughout Germany
Fried potato slices, often with diced bacon or onions
Bratwurst
Throughout Germany
Sausage that is usually composed of veal, pork or beef. It is a traditional German sausage. Not to be confused with curry wurst.
Currywurst
Berlin, Rhine-Ruhr
This large-format, fried or grilled wiener is cut into thick slices and seasoned with spicy ketchup and generous amounts of curry powder, usually served with french fries — a popular snack originating in early 1950s Berlin. Both Bockwurst-style (i.e. intended to be boiled) and Bratwurst-style (i.e. intended to be grilled or fried) sausages are used, depending on region, and the use of one or the other is a matter for much debate among Currywurst gourmets. Currywurst remains one of the most popular fast foods in Germany, especially in Berlin and the Rhine-Ruhr area, but the Döner kebab is gaining rapidly in popularity.
Sandwich made with various fish (pickled or fried) and onions, common in Northern Germany, particularly along the coast
Hendl
Austro-Bavarian
Whole grilled chicken marinated with pepper and other spices this dish is known as Brathühnchen, Brathähnchen, and in eastern Germany, also as Broiler.
Potato salad, which comes in many varieties, for example in a cream or mayonnaise dressing (northern Germany) or even in meat broth (south Germany), is often served as a side dish to Bratwurst or boiled sausages).
Boiled or steamed potatoes before peeling (young potatoes may be eaten unpeeled), served with Quark and linseed oil, butter, or as a side dish with herring).
These hand-made noodles are very popular and are an important ingredient of several dishes, such as Linsen mit Spätzle or Käsespätzle.
Stollen
Dresden
A bread-like cake with dried citrus peel, dried fruit, nuts, and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon; it is usually eaten during the Christmas season as Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. The best-known Stollen is from Dresden and is sold at the Striezelmarkt Christmas market, which derives its name from the cake.
Weihnachtsgans
Throughout Germany
A roasted goose is a popular dish on Christmas Day.[1]
Noodle filled with various ingredients, such as meat, spinach, onions, spices: Maultaschen are either served with broth or cut into slices and fried with eggs.
Brenntar
Main course
It is made of roasted flour called Musmehl, usually spelt flour or oat flour. It is usually cooked like a porridge with water and milk with various ingredients.
Sauerbraten
Main course
A vinegar-marinated roast traditionally made of horse meat, although nowadays the majority is made of beef.
Cookies made by pressing dough into intricate molds. Commonly used for dunking into a drink, as they are quite hard.
Zwiebelkuchen
Main course
An onion cake, a seasonal dish served around October, usually eaten while still warm and accompanied by slightly fermented red or white grape juice called Süser or (more commonly in other regions) Federweißer.
Flammkuchen
Main course
A pizza-like dish with thin crust and onion, bacon and crème fraîche topping.
A fruit-based Schnapps produced mainly in Germany and the Alsace region of France.
Kirschwasser
Beverage
A clear, colorless fruit brandy traditionally made from double distillation of morello cherries, a dark-colored cultivar of the sour cherry.
Bavaria[]
See also: Bavaria
Name
Image
Type
Description
Bierwurst
Coldcuts
A German cooked, smoked Brühwurst sausage originally from Bavaria, with a garlicky flavor and dark red color. It is seasoned with black peppercorns, paprika, and mustard seeds for flavor.
Lt.:'White sausages'; a speciality from Munich, traditionally eaten for second breakfast. Always accompanied by sweet mustard, pretzels, and wheat beer. Traditionally not served after 12 noon because in earlier days, before fridges, the sausages had to be consumed before 12 noon so that they didn't decay. But, nowadays, people also eat it for dinner or lunch.
Weizenbier
Beverage
A beer, usually top-fermented, which is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley. The two main varieties are Weissbier and Witbier; the minor types include Lambic, Berliner Weisse and Gose.
Helles
Beverage
A German beer style that is usually drunk in Bavaria, Germany. It has a yellow, gold color, and has 4.5-6% alcohol.
A protected geographical indication for beer since 1998, which is brewed within the city limits of Munich by the breweries Augustiner Bräu, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Hofbräu and Löwenbräu, which are members of the Münchner Brauereien.
A type of sausage baked in a mould and cut into slices. When eaten as a main course, it is sliced and served with an egg (must be sunny side up style), and mashed potatoes. For a quick lunch, it is usually eaten in a bread-roll with mustard, a bit like a hotdog. Some people eat the Leberkäse with hot mustard, others with sweet mustard.
A cake that consists of seven thin cake layers with chocolate buttercream in between.
Topfenstrudel
Cake
Similar to Apfelstrudel, but filled with topfen instead, and served with vanilla sauce.
Dampfnudel
Main course
A sort of white bread or steam noodle made of yeast dough, steamed in a pan and then served with various toppings, e.g. sugar, cinnamon, poppy seeds, jam, butter, and vanilla sauce.
Sweet dumplings made of yeast dough, filled with jam, poppy seed paste, or curd, and baked in a large pan so that they stick together. The traditional Buchtel is filled with plum jam. Buchteln are topped with vanilla sauce, powdered sugar, or eaten plain and warm.
Obatzda
Side dish
a Bavarian cheese delicacy that is prepared by mixing two thirds aged soft cheese, usually Camembert (Romadur or similar cheeses may be used as well), and one third butter.
Limburger
Cheese
A cheese that originated during the 19th century in the historical Duchy of Limburg, which is now divided between Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. The cheese is especially known for its strong smell caused by the bacterium Brevibacterium linens.
Tafelspitz
Side dish
A boiled veal or beef in broth, served with a mix of minced apples and horseradish. It is a classic dish of the Viennese cuisine and popular throughout Austria and the neighboring German state of Bavaria.
Berlin[]
See also: Berlin
Name
Image
Type‡
Description
Akvavit
Beverage
A distilled spirit that is principally produced in Scandinavia, where it has been produced since the 15th century. Akvavit is distilled from grain and potatoes, and is flavoured with a variety of herbs. Akvavit is also popular in Germany and the American Midwest.
A either white or brown sauce that is eaten with potatoes.
Berliner Weisse
Beer
A cloudy, sour beer of around 3% alcohol by volume. It is a regional variation on the white beer style from Northern Germany, dating back to at least the 16th century.
Buletten
Main course or snack
A kind of meatball in Berlin.
Currywurst
Snack
A hot pork sausage served either with curry ketchup or a tomato paste with curry powder.
Raw ground pork or mett that is spiced with salt and pepper, garlic and caraway.
Berliner Pfannkuchen
Pastry
Sweet dough dumplings, fried in fat or oil, filled with jam and glazed with confectioner's sugar. Also known simply as "Berliner" or, in the eastern part of Germany, including Berlin itself, "Pfannkuchen" and in Bavaria, they are called "Krapfen".
Bremen and Lower Saxony[]
See also: Lower Saxon cuisine, Bremen, and Lower Saxony
A digestive made with 56 herbs and spices at a strength of 35% alcohol by volume (61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). It is the flagship product of Mast-Jägermeister SE, headquartered in Wolfenbüttel, south of Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.
A type of spirit popular in Germany, which contains extracts and distillates of root ginger. The fresh ginger it contains is said to be beneficial to the stomach.
A dish with a variety of meats usually eaten as second breakfast.
Spargel
Side dish
White asparagus that is eaten as a delicacy, commonly with potatoes and Sauce hollandaise.
Speck
Snack
An English word meaning "fat", attested since the early 17th century. This word also exists in German with the same meaning, but it normally refers to pork fat with or without some meat in it.
The broth, which arises in the production of brewing and cooking sausage. At the traditional slaughterhouse, the meat and liver were also cooked in the same cauldron before the sausages, which produced a strong broth, especially when later sausages burst, which formed the basis.
East Prussia[]
See also: East Prussia
East Prussia, as Germany's easternmost province, was very often influenced by the cuisines of its surrounding neighbours: Russia and Lithuania to the northeast, and Poland to the south. The Russian borscht was adapted to the East Prussian palate, and Polish sausages were frequently found on the dinner table.
East Prussia's gastronomy also made extensive use of the abundant products from its dark, remote forests. Honey was often incorporated into recipes, and Kopskiekelwein, a fruit wine made from wild currants, was the favourite regional tipple alongside beer.
The East Prussian name for fried bacon or pork belly as well as for a simple dish of diced pancetta or pork belly and onions.
Tilsiter cheese
Cheese
A light yellow semi-hard smear-ripened cheese, created in the mid-19th century by Prussian-Swiss settlers, the Westphal family, from the Emmental valley.
Fränkische Bratwurst is composed of beef, pork or veal and is traditionally served with sauerkraut or potato salad or simply in a breadroll. They vary greatly in size and seasoning from region to region but are often considerably thinner than the equivalents elsewhere in Germany. The best-known sausages are from Nuremberg (Nürnberg) and are recognisable by their small size and clearly visible herb seasoning. They are traditionally served as three sausages in a roll ("Drei in 'a Weckla") or six sausages on sauerkraut ("Sechs auf Kraut").
Drei im Weggla
Sandwich
A sandwich that has three items in a roll, typically three sausages or sausage pieces.
A type of Austrian scalded cold cut that is moist, light colored, fine textured and made from a well-spiced mixture of beef, pork and bacon fat. In Austria, it is the most popular type of cold cut.
Large klöße made from a dough consisting of raw or a combination of raw and cooked potatoes. The exact recipe is a matter of regional differences and personal belief. The best friend of pot-roasted meats or mushroom ragout.
A typical dish of the cuisine of Franconia and Upper Palatinate that consists of Bratwurst and sliced onion cooked in vinegar and usually eaten with Bavarian pretzels.
An entire pork (or, in some cases, Lamb) shoulder roasted in a fairly cool oven over long period so that the meat is extremely tender with a crunchy crust. Seasoning is usually simple using salt, pepper and caraway and traditionally it is served in a dark sauce, made from the roast stock, meat broth, and often dark beer and Lebkuchen spices. Accompanied by a side salad, dumplings and red cabbage or less commonly sauerkraut.
Stadtwurst
Snack
A type of sausage consisting of pork in a casing that may be white or red. Stadtwurst is a regional variety in Franconia and Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz) and usually unknown and not available in other parts of Germany.
A spicy wedding soup with bread dumplings, liver dumplings and finely sliced pancakes.
Lebkuchen
Pastry/Cookie
German kind of gingerbread of which the most famous originates in Nuremberg and is traditionally only available at Christmas, although tourist demand means that Lebkuchen are available in some form practically all year round.
A boiled sausage with a fine or coarse pork filling that comes in a compact shape with a length of about 10 cm (4 in) and a diameter of about 4 cm. It was invented in Regensburg in the second half of the 19th century and only sausages that are produced in the inner city ring may be called "Regensburger".
The small, thin bratwurst from Franconia's largest city, Nuremberg, was first documented in 1567; it is 7 to 9 cm (2.8 to 3.5 in) long, and weighs between 20 and 25 g.
Green Sauce
Dip
A bright sauce made from an abundant amount of seven fresh minced herbs namely borage, sorrel, cress, chervil, chives, parsley, and burnet. Served with boiled potatoes and hardboiled eggs. Called "Grüne Soße" in German or "Griee Sooß" in the Hessian dialect.
A smoked sausage made from pure pork, which is eaten hot and usually accompanied by bread and mustard. Not to be confused with the Americanhot dog "Frankfurter".
Milt that is fresh or preserved with salt as food and is used for flavoring sauces or used in whole fish dishes.
Apfelwein
Beverage
A wine made of apples, somewhat comparable to Cider and French Cidre though dryer and more sour-tasting. Best enjoyed in traditional "Äbbelwoi-Lokalen". Served from a special jug (the "Bembel"), drunk with a special glass (the "Gerippte").
A German regional sour milk cheese and a culinary speciality of Frankfurt am Main, Offenbach am Main, Darmstadt, Langen, and other parts of southern Hesse. It gets its name from the traditional way of producing it: forming it with one's own hands.
Harzer
Cheese
A German sour milk cheese made from low fat curd cheese, which contains only about one percent fat and originates in the Harz mountain region south of Braunschweig.
A sour milk cheese, similar to the Harzer or hand cheese. It was invented in 1813 by a farmer's wife named Kaul in Groß-Gerau and sold at the weekly market in Mainz.
Hamburg[]
See also: Cuisine of Hamburg and Hamburg
Name
Image
Type
Description
Knackwurst
Snack
A sausage type of northern German origin from the mid-16th century. The manifold available varieties depend on the geographical region of their production.
A type of candy made out of foamed sugar with various coatings. The colors of the candy are often the same as the colors of Hamburg's flag (red and white), with a white central square and two red outer squares.
Labskaus
Main course or snack
A dish made from corned beef, herring, mashed potatoes, and beetroot, served with a fried egg and a pickled cucumber. See also under Bremen and Lower Saxony.
A pastry made from Phyllo dough, covered with sugar and powdered cinnamon that is usually eaten for breakfast. It literally means "Frenchman's roll" and is only rarely found outside of Hamburg, Germany.
Frikadelle
Main course or snack
A type of flat meatball composed of pork, beef and onions commonly eaten with pasta salad, potatoes or simply in a bread roll with mustard or other condiments.
Soup
A creamy lobster soup served with a small amount of whipped cream and garnished with dill.
Soup
A creamy shrimp soup served with a small amount of whipped cream and garnished with dill.
A traditional pastry that has been proven in German-speaking since the late Middle Ages and was eaten in north and northwest Germany before the beginning of the pre-Easter Lent, especially from Rose Monday to Ash Wednesday.
A jelly/jam-like dessert or summer dish made from berries especially currants that can be eaten pure, but is often accompanied by milk or vanilla sauce.
Rib roast, made from belly of pork including meat of the upper rib, stuffed with Boskoop apples, prunes, cinnamon, rum and zwieback, usually served with Klöße and red cabbage.
Tüffel un Plum
Main course
A potato stew made with smoked ham, prunes, potatoes and spiced with clove and bay leaves.
A dried sausage in the curry and the palate, the cheese is made from cereals, as well as the shrub, salt, garments, and croissants, of the marginal downy marrow, which is breeding - a lot of peasants are typical and bred.
A pork's stomach that serves as casing for a filling of pork, sausage meat and potatoes. Sometimes the filling also contains eggs and carrots. The dish is usually served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, bread or Bratkartoffeln.
A widespread meal with a bread roll, a sausage, and wine in the wine-growing regions of Pfalz, Rheinhessen, Hessische Bergstraße, and Rheingau, where the sausage is always enjoyed cold.
A dish with mashed potatoes with stewed apples and fried blood pudding (Cologne) that literally means, "Heaven/Sky and Earth". Potatoes are also called 'Erdäpfel', what means 'ground apples', so it is a meal prepared out of 'apples' which grow above and under the earth.
A dish that literally means, "Half Cockerel", but does not actually contain rooster at all. It is a cheese sandwich with a thick slice of extra matured Gouda cheese, onions and mustard on a Röggelchen. The name is based on a wordplay (Köln).
Muscheln Rheinischer Art
Main course
Mussels cooked in wine with vegetables and served with whole wheat bread and some butter.
A herb liqueur from Düsseldorf, Germany. It is a blood red colour and is flavoured with fruits, berries, herbs, and spices. Its alcohol content is 42% by volume.
Korn
Beverage
A German colourless distilled beverage produced from fermented cereal grain seed.
Marillenschnaps
Beverage
A fruit brandy made from apricots. It is mostly produced in the Wachau region of Austria, but similar apricot brandies are produced elsewhere
A digestive bitter produced at Rheinberg, Germany by Underberg AG, made from aromatic herbs from 43 countries, which undergo inspections and are based on a secret Underberg family recipe whose members are personally responsible for the production of the drink.
A cake consisting of three layers: The bottom one is either a yeast dough (Hefeteig) or one made with baking soda (Rührteig), the middle layer is a cream made of quark, vanilla and some butter, egg, sugar and milk, and the top layer is mainly made from eggs (Eier), which are beaten with butter, sugar and "Vanillepudding"-powder (starchy substance normally used to cook a dessert similar to semolina pudding).
A vegetable dish consisting of peas, baby carrots, white asparagus and morels. It may also, but not necessarily, contain broccoli, cauliflower, green beans or corn, even small prawns.
Quarkkeulchen
Main course or dessert
A sweet main dish made from quark, mashed boiled potatoes, a little flour, an egg and some grated lemon peel. The ensuing dough is baked as small, less than palm-sized pancakes and eaten hot with sugar and cinnamon, or with fruit, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream etc.
Schälklöße
Soup
A soup that consists of filled pasta and various vegetables.
Stollen
Cake
German Christmas cake of which there are two important centers in Saxony: Dresden and the Ore Mountains.
A dish that consists of mashed potatoes with bouillon and cooked beef.
Note: The cuisine of the Saxon part of the Ore Mountains is more a relative of the cuisine of Franconia than a relative of the other parts of Saxony. The cuisine of Upper Lusatia also differs from central Saxony and is more related to the (former) cuisines of Lower Silesia and Northern Bohemia.
Saxony-Anhalt[]
See also: Saxony-Anhalt
Typical for very traditional dishes from Saxony-Anhalt is the combination of bitter or hearty meat dish with sweet. Sweet pancakes in Green bean soup for example are the cause of many jokes.
Name
Image
Type
Description
Baumkuchen
Cake
A cake typical for Christmas that is very difficult to prepare.
Cured pig snouts and trotters that are cooked in vinegar together with several spices. Traditionally served with sauerkraut, erbspüree, and hot mustard.
Silesia[]
See also: Province of Silesia
When Silesia was German, the influence of neighboring countries was clear in Silesian cooking; Polish carp and cheeses, Bohemian goulash, Austrian sausage and Pfefferkuchen (pepper cakes). Schnapps was very commonly drunk with beer in Silesia. There was an old saying that went "Silesia has two principal rivers, Schnapps and the river Oder".
A potato soup of the traditional German and Austrian cuisine that has the main ingredient of potatoes. If the consistency is relatively viscous, then it is called a potato stew.
A generic term for various types of cakes, which have in common that they contain poppy seeds or the seeds of blue or gray grapes, either in the dough or in the form of a pad or filling.
A sheet cake that consists of yeast dough and a layer of fruit or quark, which in turn is covered by a layer of sour cream, pudding, or porridge. The top layer is a made of cinnamon on the sour cream cake.
The name given to a salted (cured) and slightly smoked cut of pork similar to British gammon. It can be either hotly or coldly smoked.
Knieperkohl
Main course
A pickled cabbage dish similar to sauerkraut. It contains not only white cabbage but also collard greens (or leaves of red cabbage) and kale, as well as grape leaf and cherry leaf.
A meat dish consisting of beef, lard, onions, and spices, cooked in a pot; and served with boiled potatoes and salad in the summer, and pickled cucumbers and beetroot in the winter.
Rump steak
Main course
Roast beef served with various sides such as potato wedges and vegetables.
Pumpernickel
Bread
A hearty bread; it goes black because the sugar in the bread goes to caramel.
Barley groats cooked in sausage juices (Wurstbrühe), which are enriched with pieces of meat, offal, such as heart, kidney or liver and seasoned with spices and salt. The cooked ingredients are minced after the juices have been poured off and a crumbly cake is left which is held together with fat and which sets on cooling.
