October 3 In Berlin

Dear friends, I have returned, I shall start at the present and then add some of the rest of the stuff going back to Vietnam ( a sort of retro Blog).
So without further ado lets get this ball rolling.(again)

A Long Berlin Weekend and a hairy pig to boot.

We had decided quite a few weeks ago that we would spend the 25^th Anniversary of theTag Der Deutsche Einheit in Berlin. I was working in Berlin when that momentous event took place so I thought what better way to spend this long weekend than in the reunified capital of Germany.

I picked Linda up from work and had quite an uneventful run to Berlin (well uneventful if you discount a mysterious heavy vibration that occurredat the front end of the car after about 30 minutes, but I couldn’t find anything wrong and we continued without any reoccurrence of the cars strange behaviour.

We travelled South and in the area just around Wittstock I saw a lot of Cranes ( Grus grus not the building site sort) in the fields. I pointed this out to Linda (she just does not have the eyes for these things) a little further on the sky became quite full with them as they gathered for the pending migration, and as I said it was otherwise uneventful.

We arrived at my daughters; she had been able to get a resident parking permit for me for the weekend, thus saving the horrendous parking fees. She had got lots of meze stuff in so we ate, chatted, drank wine and went to bed.

Janice had announced that on the Friday we could go to the Markthalle Neun in Kreuzberg, it is one of the few remaining original market halls in Berlin, the rest having succumbed to Allied Bombs or developers hammers. She told us that the streets around were also full with a food festival, so without further ado it was off we went

.

The market hall is situated on the opposite bank of the spree in what was originally Kieze which was where the original workers lived in tenement housing and small workshop area. A lot have been turned into very desirable shicki micki developments (alas) thus some areas have now lost their original attraction, though they have attracted a lot of diversified restaurants, cafes and bars.

We arrived at the venue and decided to have a look round the streets as it was still quite early there was not too much business going on so we decided to start outside and wander a bit (we had, had breakfast but there is always space for a second one).

There was a Pie Stall selling the normal as well as the abnormal pies (Currywurst pie), sausage, flower and mushrooms stalls and many others to boot. We then decided to pop into the newly renovated market hall, just in time to see some of the workshops, the first was the fish fileting the next was sausage making, they have done it very well and if in the area well worth a visit. I had a Portuguese egg custard with a nice cup of coffee. We next went outside and wandered through the streets again stopping off to visit the cheese workshop and sample a few artisanal cheeses, goats, sheep and raw cow’s milk, quite wonderful. They even had a stall selling Swiss Raclette.  It all looked so inviting.

We strolled a little further and happened upon a fish stall, not any old fish stall this one was grilling fish over charcoal, well I just couldn’t pass this one by, so I ordered a nice piece of Wels (catfish) in a roll, well worth the €5,- I can tell you. The rest of the team had also been tasting and sampling at various stalls. Janice went for veggie samosas and various other none meat grub (she has left the straight and narrow and is now becoming veggified, poor lass).

Because Berlin is truly becoming a cosmopolitan hub in Europe, most of the stalls had their displays signed posted up in English. Everything from pulled pork, Moroccan food, seafood, burgers, Indian, 

You name it there was something for everyone.

We next walked to Waschauer Allee U-bahn caught a train and hopped off at Mörkernenbrücke , the reason being was that we had planned to visit the Martin Gropius Bau  Museum, this was one of the first buildings to be renovated, it was in the west but almost touched the wall. I visited it often when studying at the HdK (I was a guest reader for 4 semesters), it is a very impressive building and an excellent job was done in renovating such a fantastic piece of architecture. At the moment they are presenting the Vikings and well worth a visit. We only wanted to see what the queues were like as we would be visiting the next day.

We then walked via Potsdammer Platz to the Brandenburg  via the Holocaust memorial and along Wilhelmstrasse passing the New British Embassy, a lot has changed in 25 years, I remember coming across this area when it was but wasteland and rubble and it contained the Polish/Russian market, but that is long, long gone, now it is the area containing the most sought after properties in Berlin.

The area between the Brandenburg gate and the Victory Column on the 17er Juni Strasse was full with food and drink stalls we did do a bit of sampling, I had my Currywurst and pommes fix ,real Berliner Currywurst none of your curried bratwurst that passes under the cloak of Currywurst in a lot of the rest of Germany a travesty I say, they should be hung drawn and quartered and turned into sausages.

We then headed back towards home and stopped off to have a bit of Sushi at a place just around the corner from Janice’s apartment. I have visited here before but it was a first for Linda, she was most impressed, the quality and the prices are really good.

We then headed back to Janice’s joint and drank a few bottles of wine looked at photos of their trip to Sri Lanka and our France/Ireland trip.

Next morning after breakfast (Linda went and got the fresh rolls) we had booked a table in a Sri Lankan restaurant near to Boxhagenerplatz, which was very handy as there is a very good street market around the square and we needed some stuff for home as the fridge was bare back in Stodo.

I love Boxhagenerplatz, this is another workers quarter in Friedrichshain it has still retained its wonderful original character while expanding into the modern Berlin, street cafes, bars and ethnic restaurants of every hue.

The stall holders come in from the villages and small towns in Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin, most are Oko farmers and small holders, you are able to get top notch quality produce, this has of course its price and they will be a couple of € more expensive than in the discounters, but if you want quality and taste, then it is well worth it.

I happened across a small stall, selling pork products, not any pork products, but those of the Hungarian Woolly Porker, crossed with the Wild Boar, he also sold farmed game (no interest in that), but the Mangalica to give its correct name was of great interest, we chatted about its characteristics, he explained that it was originally bred for its Ruckenfett (back lard) but had almost become extinct (the only other European woolly pig was the Lincolnshire curly coat, which is now extinct). The breeder now has crossed his with wild boar (the original breed had also been crossed with wild boar, so this was a double cross so as to speak). I decided to buy some to give it a go, not cheap at about €20,- kilo but the 500g I bought was affordable, I also bought some smoked Mangalica ham. We then plodded down the street to the Sri Lankan restaurant  for a really nice lunch, I had a very tasty Mutton and potato curry washed down with a couple of Cobra beers. I don’t know what the rest ate as if I am not eating it, it is of no great interest to me!

After lunch we headed to Martin Gropius Bau and the exhibition, of course the rest had a moan, now that I am a pensioner I got in for half price, not bad this pensioner lark.

The exhibition is well worth a visit, the main hall is filled with the remains of a long boat that was discovered and saved from Roskilde in Denmark, they have given the feeling of size and shape of it by adding steel ribbing and a massive square sail. The surrounding rooms are filled with artefacts, treasures and information about the lives and times of the Vikings, all very interesting.

After that it was case of hopping on the U-bahn  across the street and heading back to Friedrichshain. Janice had decided to make a squash and carrot soup for supper, and very nice it turned out as well. We then watched a very nice film called Boxhagener strasse (well worth a look if you get the chance)drank a few glasses of wine and it was not too late for bed.

Next day breakfast, packed the car and off we went to have lunch with my dear old friends Sigrid and Wille up in Lubars, he was BBQing entrecote and we ate and chatted about old times, it was time to head for home, unfortunately it was at a time that all the rest of the tourists and visitors to Berlin were also leaving, so after many detours dictated by our Sat Nav and the diversions it was after 21:00 when we left home. Just time for some beans of toast (thank goodness for part baked baguettes and vacuum packed Naan bread ). The Mangalica goulash into the fridge, that was to be tomorrows diner, the smoked ham was for breakfast. 

Gebratene Frischling Schulter-Slow roast shoulder of Young Wild Boar

Gebratener Frischling Schulter – Roast shoulder of young boar

I used half a shoulder about 1.125kg

Game spices (see my recipe)

1 bunch of root vegetables (carrots, celeriac, leek and parsley root)  diced

1 onion halved and each half studded with a bay leaf held in place with a couple of cloves

3 cloves of garlic

1 pint of game stock (made from game bones and trimmings)

200ml of red wine

Put the shoulder in a Ziploc bag or vacuum pouch with the dry game spices and allow to dry marinade overnight in the fridge.

Next day

Peel the pear, add it together with red wine to cover to a small saucepan together with a stick of cinnamon, a couple of cloves, a good scraping of nutmeg, 2 crushed cardamom pods,  1 star aniseed and a twist of orange peel, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer until the pear is soft, turn off the heat and allow to stand covered.

 Scrape the game spices off the meat (scrape it into the roasting dish) salt and pepper all over, place on a bed of roughly chopped root veg  pour over the wine and stock, salt and pepper the meat, cover and put in the oven set at 180°C, after 30mins reduce the heat to 150°C and slow roast for 2 hrs.

Roast Brussel sprouts.

Clean the sprouts (remove any dirty shriveled outside leaves), cut crosses in the stem end if you are that way inclined. Blanch in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water. Remove and stop the cooking process by placing in iced water. Remove from iced water and dry on a clean kitchen towel. Set aside until 30 mins before end of the roast cooking time.

Heat oil in a roasting dish, add a diced onion and some smoked speck, when the onions are translucent, add the sprouts shake the tin to get them all coated in oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Put into the oven along with the roast.

Red wine sauce

This sauce is only thickened by reduction and the addition of cold butter at the end.

Remove the roast from the roasting dish, set on a tray and cover to rest.

Pour the remnants from the roasting dish through a sieve into a sauce pan, squeezing all of the root veg etc to get maximum flavour out of them. Bring to the boil and reduce to about half, adding cold butter at the end (monère) so that the sauce has a nice shine.

We served it with red cabbage and potato dumplings.

Red cabbage see the hairy bikers recipe.

Potato dumplings half and half. (50% cooked-50% raw)

1kg of floury potatoes (peeled weight)

2 teaspoons of salt

100 ml milk

80g (approx., this depends on the amount of water you can squeeze out of the grated potatoes)

3 egg yolks (L)

Salt and pepper to taste

The day prior cook 400g of floury potatoes in salted water, pour off water, cover and allow to dry overnight.

Next day grate (or use a cooking machine with a grating attachment) the remaining peeled raw potatoes into water. When all are grated remove from the water pressing in the hands to remove as much of the starch as possible, repeat the process in a change of clean water.

Place the potato mass onto a clean Tea Towel, wring this together (I knot the corners of the towel together and place a wooden spoon through the loops that are formed, then twist until as much liquid and starch is removed as possible).

Place the resulting mass into a bowl and add the boiling milk stir cover and allow to cool.

Next pass the cooked potatoes from the previous day through a ricer, add the flour and eggs and mix well.

Add this to the raw potato mixture (it is here that you will find out if you need to add anymore flour). Salt and pepper to taste.

Form into smooth balls (I make mine about the size of billiard balls)

Carefully lower into boiling salted water, immediately lower the heat so that the water is just moving and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

So that is about it, other than carve the frischlng, pour your already opened bottle of good wine, we had a very nice Spanish Crianza 2009.

Bon Appetite