{"id":11645,"date":"2017-02-15T00:55:29","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T00:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=11645"},"modified":"2017-02-15T00:55:29","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T00:55:29","slug":"smoked-eel-with-chive-horseradish-creme-lachsschinken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=11645","title":{"rendered":"smoked eel with chive, horseradish cr\u00e8me; Lachsschinken"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Yes.<\/p>\n

A delicious winter picnic at home, with a very heavy German accent (the picnic, that is).<\/p>\n

Unusual for this site, the leading image (here the only one) is of the entire old birch table, rather than just one of the plates: I thought it this view would cover more ground, so to speak.<\/p>\n

The breads were nearly as important to the meal as the fish and the meat. The sturdy New York state sourdough combined the attributes of a traditional German bread with\u00a0varieties introduced more recently into a culture looking for even more diversity\u00a0in foods already\u00a0very wholesome.<\/p>\n

The pumpernickel however (on the upper right in the picture), with its “characteristic deep brown color, sweet, dark chocolate, coffee flavor, and earthy aroma” [a description found in\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>], and especially when it is in this intense, compact form, is totally German. Its addictive virtues (along with those of all\u00a0the other varieties of thin, heavy, moist\u00a0Vollkornbrot<\/em><\/a>), made it\u00a0one of the first things I fell in love with when I arrived in\u00a0Hannover in June, 1961; I ate it like candy. I think these pre-packaged treasures, of\u00a0any grain, are the only commercial breads – and the only sliced breads – I would ever expect to bring home.<\/p>\n