Sunday 15 July 2012

Oxford Saturday Lunch

Lunch on Saturday was a German sausage fest organised by Ursula Heinzelmann, Ursula is a journalist based in Berlin and a Trustee of The Symposium.  She had managed to get various companies to sponsor all the food and drink for lunch and it was magnificent.  I lived in Germany for some nine years altogether and acquired a taste for all German foods and drinks - a dear friend still keeps me supplied with certain necessities on his annual visits to UK. 

We started with Maultaschensuppe from the Swabian area and this was absolutely delicious, a very gentle clear broth flecked with a little fresh parsley which had one large ravioli floating in it.  The ravioli was stuffed with meat and about two inches square - more like a pillow really, a German pillow anyway!  This was accompanied by a 2011 Silvaner Kabinett from Juliusspital in Wurzburg, there was also plenty of beer in case that was preferred - in this case Distel Spezial from the Distelhaeuser Brewery in Frankfurt.  The second course was an assortment of different sausages, the Pfaelzer Saumagen was a stomach stuffed with minced and chopped pork liberally spiced with pepper served in chunks, there was a Berliner Blutwurst and a Berliner Leberwurst - both steamed whole - and a Thuringer Bratwurst which had been grilled.  To accompany we had bowls of thinly sliced white radish which the Germans call Rettich and we call Mouli lightly dressed with vinegar, bowls of sauerkraut and bowls of potato salad.  There were baskets of different German breads and pretzels plus pots of Thuringer mustard and freshly grated horseradish - which was not as hot as I expected it to be.  The pudding was little poppyseed cakes made by spreading a sweet yeast dough with poppyseed paste and then rolling up like a Swiss roll and cutting into slices before baking.  The German word is Mohnschnecken and they looked exactly like snails with the creamy/brown and black whorls.  The pudding was accompanied by a 2002 Riesling Auslese Urziger Wurzgarten from Bernkastel on the Mosel. 

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