German Dinner with Granny
My favorite holiday tradition happens after Thanksgiving, before the December holidays start kicking into high-gear. It’s not held to a date on the calendar, rather the date depends on travel plans and social calendars of family and friends. This tradition is special, and it’s filled with laughter and love and food. But sadly, my favorite holiday tradition ends this year, but, I will hold it in my heart forever, and honor it here today.
My family always spent Thanksgiving with my husband’s grandmother, who would fly from her home in Iowa to our home in California for at least a week. We would spend our time together playing cards, drinking cocktails and listening to Frank Sinatra music. But my favorite part of her Thanksgiving vacation happened after the turkey and leftovers were packed away in the refrigerator. Once a year, our family would set a fine table and dine on an authentic, home-cooked German meal.
Our grandmother — who everyone called Granny — was born and raised in Berlin and was blessed with a think German accent, even after 45 years living in the United States. During her trips to California, my husband and I would calendar one evening to gather together friends to honor her German heritage and traditions.
Food was the anchor of the tradition, and preparation was equally delightful. Granny would spend all day in the kitchen preparing our feast, and I would set the table with her best dishes and fine silver she brought over from Germany. We’d invite friends from around the Bay Area to share in the meal, and we would dine together over stories, laughter and togetherness. The menu was always the same: Sauerbraten, red cabbage, applesauce, asparagus and German potato salad. For many of our friends, this was the first time they had enjoyed a traditional German meal, which was lovely, fun and (oh yes!) delicious.
Sadly, Granny died in September of this year. I miss her, and I miss our special tradition. Today is three days after Thanksgiving, usually the time we would be eating together. I should be washing linens and eating left-over Sauerbraten right now. Instead, I am looking at photos and remembering how much I cherished that once-a-year event.
Granny handled the Lion’s share of the cooking, but I always contributed the German potato salad… which is actually a recipe from my grandmother. Granny is not here to eat my German potato salad, so in her honor, I will share my family’s potato salad recipe with you:
- Boil 18 small potatoes (any type works, we always use Russet) with the skins on, drain and cool
- Fry 4-6 slices of bacon in a skillet, remove bacon from heat; cool bacon and crumble
- Skim-off part of the bacon fat, add 1 cup chopped white or red onion to skillet, cook until onion is clear
- Mix in a sauce of half-cup white vinegar, one-cup water, one-half cup sugar, one teaspoon salt and one-half teaspoon pepper; add to the skillet with the crumbled bacon (Note: You need to test and try the sauce, I happen to like a lot of sauce with an extra dash of vinegar)
- Peel and cube potatoes, add potatoes and to the bacon-onion mixture
- Serve hot, potatoes should be soft
Keep in mind, I think this is the correct version of the recipe. Like any good family recipe, it was passed down from generation to generation verbally, it was never written on paper. I asked my mom to write it down for me, and the recipe card arrived with lots of questions marks and approximates. This recipe takes a little trial and error. Regardless, please enjoy and think of our Granny when you feast on this traditional German dish.
Prost!
– LTV Mom
This post was inspired by participation with the Yahoo! Mother Board, where 80 amazing women share thoughts on a single topic each month. While Yahoo! is my client, these thoughts are mine and I did not receive compensation for writing this post.
Just trying to squeeze in some television between mothering, working and crashing.
