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With 1.6 million copies sold, the “Bavarian Cookbook” is Bavaria's best-selling book after the Bible.
It has been on the market since 1933, currently in its 56th edition.
The Bavarian cuisine, which dishes belong to it and how they can be prepared, is heavily contested and defended folklore.
Every newcomer finds out at the latest when he or she witnesses a discussion about how to properly eat a white sausage.
Guardians of tradition like to claim that you should only close them, i.e. suck the sausage meat out of the pig's intestine and suck it.
The Bavarian only develops the same Taliban mentality when it comes to whether or not “Loferl” (knitted cuffs) are allowed with traditional costumes.
Anyone who sets out to publish a book like the recently published cookbook “The young Bavarian cuisine - from tradition and new influences” (Edition Port Culinaire, 29.90 euros) should be well prepared and be able to defend their thesis.
The food photographer and publisher Thomas Ruhl knew that too.
As a native of Westphalia, he brought an expert committee on board for this book, including Dr.
Simon Reitmeier from the Bavarian State Competence Center for Nutrition, the physics professor and molecular kitchen expert Thomas A. Vilgis and the restaurant critic Jürgen Dollase.
They contribute essays that are well worth reading on the historical, cultural and very practical aspects of Bavarian kitchen culture.
It is explained, for example, why the “resche” rind of the roast pork cracks from the physical-molecular level (the network of collagen and elastin boiled into gelatine expands until the water can evaporate and the proteins and hyaluronic acid in the rind tan).
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Or that the term “Bavarian” today includes three long-established tribes south of the demarcation line of the Main (also known as “Weißwurstäquator”): Franconia, Swabia and Old Bavaria.
The two million Sudeten Germans who were accepted after the war are the fourth, “zuroaster” tribe.
Interesting and a good argument for the Bavarian as a cultural suction sponge, that strictly speaking the dumplings come from Bohemia and were assimilated, that the “Franzos” brought the “Böfflamott” with them, as well as the Camembert, without which there would be no “Obatzda”.
The fact that the peppers for this and the potatoes for the dumplings come from the New World is almost irrelevant.
Regional specialties as a delicacy
Beyond the academic base, this cookbook is also an appetizing journey to a highly eclectic selection of chefs and kitchen styles.
Ambitious traditional inns with whole animal processing like the "Unterwirt" in Türkenfeld, which Josef Hartl is now in the fifth generation of the family to run after ten years of wandering, as well as the Nova Regio pioneer Felix Schneider in the Nuremberg "Sosein" with his Japanese maturity - and cooking techniques based on avant-garde cuisine.
Hartls Matjes from Ammersee-Renke with apple and mustard salad, capers and potato fritters is a good example of how a regional specialty can turn into a delicacy.
Sauerbratenburger from Michael Seitz from the "Fränk'ness" in Nuremberg
Source: Thomas Ruhl
At Alexander Huber, whose family has been running the "Huberwirt" in Pleiskirchen since 1612, the whitefish comes from the Chiemsee.
It is pickled and served with black bread cream, cucumber, iced cabbage and a dressing made from the pimple stock.
The "Huberwirt" has been getting its lamb from the nearby Polting estate for 50 years, whose owner Franz Riederer von Paar supplied star chefs Otto Koch and Eckart Witzigmann as early as the 1970s and who has made his Poltinger lamb a quality brand that is on the cards of the Bavarian Top gastronomy is particularly emphasized.
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The culinary journey to Michelin-starred restaurants such as Andreas Hillejan's “Marktrestaurant” in Mittenwald or the TV chef Alexander Herrmann's restaurant, all of which have distinguished themselves in their own way with a contemporary regionality, also dives into the network of breeders, fish farmers and vegetable farmers which supports the boom in the new Bavarian cuisine.
The current reason for the book is a turnaround in the Bavarian gastronomy, in which not everything was always the best.
Poltinger lamb, back and spare rib from Alexander Huber from the "Huberwirt" in Pleiskirchen
Source: Thomas Ruhl
After almost half of the traditional inns disappeared in the 1980s, the convenience cuisine often served in the remaining establishments, made of instant gravy and coleslaw, has done little to save the honor of regional culinary art.
As long as the whole thing was served with a dirndl and a beautiful view, the quality of the food didn't matter.
The grandmother, who took off the strudel dough in the back room, only existed in the romantic ideas of the guests, while tourists with undemanding culinary delights could not distinguish an industrial frozen strudel from a real one.
The reinterpretation of an all too narrow image of Bavaria
It didn't look any better at the other end of the scale.
With Christian Jürgens, there has only been a three-star chef at Tegernsee since 2013, and with Jan Hartwig there has been another one in the state capital since 2017 - after more than twenty years.
Apart from Munich, the Bavarians were said to have no sense of fine cuisine for a long time, even the Tegernsee was still considered a culinary diaspora in the 1990s.
The protagonists of the book show that a culinary renewal has spread through the entire state.
In the meantime, the region around Nuremberg has advanced to become a foodie destination and restaurants such as the “Marktrestaurant” or the “Huberwirt”, with their tireless efforts for regional producers, generate a radiance that attracts a new audience.
Alplachs from Andreas Hillejan from the "Marktrestaurant" in Mittenwald
Source: Thomas Ruhl
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The fact that the State Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, as a sponsor of the book, is trying to reinterpret an image of Bavaria that is too narrow, can be seen on the third page of the book.
In addition to an essay by the board of directors of the Adalbert Raps Foundation on the heterosis effect, which describes the increased performance of people of mixed origins in genetics, the book shows a photograph from the late 19th century, on which two Bavarian women and three Africans and an Asian woman in lederhosen, jacket and dirndl are shown.
When asked, the picture turns out to be a photomontage, which is intended to illustrate the fact that Bavaria has always been a melting pot beyond the kitchen, which drew its strength from the assimilation of various influences.
The identity was always fluid, only change was constant.
As a result, Bavarian cuisine has become richer over the centuries and is now experiencing a new heyday, as reading this cookbook shows.
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG.
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