Pfälzer Saumagen
Saumagen, lit. “sow’s stomach”, is a regional speciality of the Rhineland-Palatinate. Filling Ingredients: 3 lbs. pork, neck and shoulder meat 3 lbs. blanched potatoes 3 lbs. minced pork (or meat … Continue reading
On the nature of things
Encyclopaedia n. a book or set of books giving information on many subjects or many aspects of one subject, typically arranged alphabetically.” Concise OED, 11th edition, 470. Derived from the Greek … Continue reading
Himmel und Erde
The name of this Rhineland dish translates as ‘heaven and earth’. It combines apples from heaven and potatoes from the earth and is served with slices of black pudding and … Continue reading
Druckpresse
Mainz (1455), Strasbourg (1458), Cologne (1465), Rome (1467), Augsburg, Basel and (1468), Nuremberg and Paris (1470), Cracow, Bruges, Buda, and Barcelona (1473), London and Gouda (1477), Leipzig (1481), Vienna and … Continue reading
Europeenses, part 2
The Duc de Sully’s ‘Great Design’ for an all-Christian universal republic not only excluded the Ottoman’s but also Russia, unless it converted to Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism. Less than a … Continue reading
Rhine
Der Rhein rises in two headstreams in the Swiss Alps, the Vorderrhein and the Hinterrhein, which meet at Reichenau above Chur. The river in its various guises as the Rhein, … Continue reading
Internationalen Preise
In addition to the Internationaler Karlspreis zu Aachen the good burghers of Aachen also present the annual Orden wider den tierischen Ernst, the “Medal for Combating Deadly Seriousness”. Its origins lie … Continue reading
Aachener Printen
Aachener Printen are a variety of Lebkuchen that originate from Aachen and are protected by the European Union PDO scheme, Protected Designation of Origin. In other words, like Stilton, Melton … Continue reading
Europeenses
Aachen is the disputed birthplace and favoured winter residence of Karl der Grosse (c. 747 – 814), more popularly known as Charlemagne in the English speaking world, whose kingdom at … Continue reading
Mentos
A few miles down the road from Antwerp is Breda, the home of Mentos, everyone’s favourite chewy mint sweet (with the exception of those who prefer Trebor Softmints). Invented in … Continue reading
Noordzee: Vikings in Frisia
The entry for the year 800 in the Annales Regni Francorum tells us that Charlemagne built a fleet on the Gallic (North) Sea which was infested with pirates. Though not … Continue reading
Ostende Garnaalkroketten
Garnaalkroketten, croquettes de cervettes, or shrimp croquettes, are a Belgian culinary classic and are traditionally made with the indigenous North Sea common or brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) which is also … Continue reading
Nordzee: The Seafarer
The Seafarer is an Anglo-Saxon poem that is preserved in a single copy in the Exeter Book or Codex Exonienis, a tenth century anthology of Anglo-Saxon poetry donated to Exeter … Continue reading
Noordzee
Radio 4 listeners will be familiar with the mantra Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight, Humber, Thames, Dover, the tone poem of the … Continue reading
Flood myths
“One day it chanced that the supreme god Pramzimas was looking out of a window of his heavenly house, and surveying the world from this coign of vantage he could … Continue reading
Doggerland
Since fisherman began beam trawling in the North Sea they have been bringing up preserved bones and artefacts from a sunken world that is now covered by water. Archaelogists have named this … Continue reading
Kentish Huffkins
The huffkin is a flat loaf traditional to Kent with an indentation in the centre and a soft crust. This recipe is from my Mum’s first ever cookbook. Ingredients: 1lb … Continue reading
The Great European Plain
Despite their symbolism in the minds eye of the English the white Cliffs of Dover, far from marking the boundary of England and separating Britain from the Continent, are in … Continue reading
The Legend of Europa
Europe owes its name to a mythological Phoenician princess deceived by Zeus in the form of a bull, abducted from her homeland, taken to Crete where he rapes or seduces … Continue reading
