[Sca-cooks] Speissbraten

[ysabeau]

You have no idea what memories you brought back. I've eaten at the 
restaurant that claims to have been serving food in Idar-Oberstein 
since the 1400s (give or take) many times. The spiessbraten is a 
specialty of the region. It is divine...and mind you I come from 
Texas so I know my barbecue. It is also commonly served at outdoor 
markets from booths. Spiessbraten with bratkartolffen, a bit of 
salat, a glass of cristalweissen, and I was a happy camper. 

A few notes:
The grill doesn't really ~swing~ throught the flames. It is round 
and kind of rotates from the chains above. The actual grill is 
located in a semi-open room to the side of the restaurant (it is 
built into a cliff) so you can watch the cooks grill when walking 
down the street. The grill is about 4 to 5 feet across (if memory 
serves - the middle was reachable with tongs). They turn the grill 
slowly so that the meat goes on raw on one side, comes around, 
gets flipped then spins back the other direction. There are 
several variations of this and I saw a grill that was based on the 
same idea at Academy one time. The Academy grill was held up from 
the bottom center, but it was still round and rotated over the 
coals. I just wish I'd had the money to buy it at the time because 
I haven't seen it since. The flames come from a very shallow 
fire...maybe 10 inches deep total...not a pit. It is definitely 
more of a grill than a smoke type of thing.  

As for the seasoning...the modern versions include a reddish spice 
that I am tempted to call paprika. I never found out exactly what 
it was but when I asked I was told it wasn't paprika. They could 
have either not understood my bad German or just wanted to keep 
their secret.

Ysabeau...
who is now craving speissbraten...~sigh~...and french fries with 
curry ketchup


---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net>
<SNIP>
>The recipe I keep seeing over and over online is this one, 
although I 
>believe that you can vary it quite a bit, like different meats.
>
>AUGUST GEORG'S SPIESSBRATEN
>
>1 Shallot or small onion cut  into small pieces
>Freshly ground black pepper
>1 pinch Mace
>1 large Steak (just over 1 lb), at least 1 1/4 inches
>
>((Note: Per Horst Scharfenberg, this recipe originated in the 
town of 
>Idar-Oberstein in the 19 th century, when gemstone prospectors 
returning 
>from South America created their own version of gaucho-grilled 
steaks. 
>The dish was then further refined by Scharfenberg's mentor August 
Goerg. 
>K.B.)) Per person: thick, trimmed Mix together the shallot or 
onion with 
>the pepper and mace. Insert a few shallot pieces into the steak 
using 
>the point of a small knife 
<http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/951/#> . 
>Coat the steak with the shallot mixture, pressing it in so it 
will 
>adhere. Remove the loose shallot pieces and grill the steak (over 
a fire 
>of oak logs, says August Goerg, from which the bark has been 
removed).* 
>Take the steaks off the grill while they are still pink inside. 
Sprinkle 
>them with salt. *Note: A special grill is used, suspended with 3 
chains 
>from an iron tripod and constantly swinging through the flames. 
From: 
>THE CUISINES OF GERMANY by Horst Scharfenberg, Simon & 
Schuster/Poseidon 
>Press, New York. 1989 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 8/92
>
>See also: Schwenkbraten, fresh pork slices marinated in beer and 
onions 
>and grilled the same: 
>http://www.jambra.net/6911/recipes.htm
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwenker
>
>Yours in service,
>Selene Colfox
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks
>
 

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