sülze; gemüsesuppe [headcheese; vegetable soup]

It was a very German meal, for no particular reason. Thinking about it retroactively however, I could say there was the relationship between the date (the eve of an installation of a proto-fascist regime in Washington) and the historical memory which recalls the food culture of the nation which was the last one to pass over that line.

It was also real comfort food, a meal would be very familiar to most Germans: nothing fancy. I think it gave us both a little comfort, if only for the evening.

  • a section of Sülze [we ended up eating twice the amount shown, it was so good] from Schaller & Weber, served with a little sliced red onion from Norwich Meadows Farm; 4 Backyard Farms Maine ‘cocktail tomatoes’ from Whole Foods; and some micro arugula from Windfall Farms, drizzled with good olive oil
  • slices of a ‘corn rye’ boule (‘unbromated wheat flour’, rye flour, caraway, rolled in cornmeal, and all grains local) from Hot Bread Kitchen, along with some wonderful, rich Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter (with12 grams of total fat per tablespoon [virtually all other brands of butter available in this country have only 11, and it does make a major difference])

The second course was built around leftovers, specifically a mix of leftover cooked vegetables which might normally have been tossed after they had served their first grand purpose in flavoring the meal for which they had first been assembled. I hadn’t tossed them, knowing they could flourish again.

  • a combination of chicken and beef broth reconstituted from jars of Better Than Bullion, a very small amount of the juices which remained from the squid we had enjoyed on Wednesday, and the finely-chopped cooked vegetables I had retrieved from the braising liquid that had remained from Sunday’s goat shoulder, all heated together then served in low bowls, garnished with fresh chopped parsley from Eataly
  • there was more of the bread, to ensure that all of the soup could be appreciated