German Cuisine: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly (Part 3)

Part 3: The Ugly

Note: This is part three of my series titled, German Cuisine: the Good, the Bad & the Ugly. Click here to read part 1 and here for part 2.

Now, for the concluding part of this series on German cuisine. This is food which, in my opinion, is so bad looking, I would never even try it. Could be that some of the stuff coming up below actually tastes good, but I’m gonna go ahead and judge the book by its cover and not eat any of this ever. This was why Matjes was not included in this part; I had actually tried it.

• Mettbrötchen (Raw Minced Pork on a Bread Roll): The English translation of Mett is hard to find and the one in the heading is a literal description of what Mettbrötchen really is. As you might recall from my post on German baked goods,
  

  Mettbrötchen with onion on top.

  Brötchen are bread rolls. Mett is raw, minced pork. Consequently, Mettbrötchen is raw minced pork on a bread roll. I cannot possibly fathom how people would be okay with eating raw meat of any kind! But, tragically they are. Mettbrötchen is eaten usually for breakfast. It’s worth mentioning here that a German breakfast is quite laden with deli meat, bread and bread rolls and cheeses of all varieties. To conclude, I for one cannot bear Mettbrötchen but if you can, you have my respect.

• Königsberger Klopse: Königsberger Klopse also called Sossklopse are meatballs originating from the Prussian city of Königsberg which is present-day Kaliningrad, Russia.
  

  Königsberger Klopse

  They are almost always served with a white sauce and capers. My reason for aversion to this dish is the way the meatballs look. They remind me of male genitalia, which is really disgusting yet hilarious. As I have a problem with consuming male genitalia, I give this particular dish a wide berth. The weird thing is, I’m totally fine with many other types of meatballs, it’s only the Königsberger Klopse which make me think of the unmentionables.

• Spanferkel (Suckling Pig): A Spanferkel is a piglet – usually 2-6 weeks old, one which is still suckling – roasted over a fire. I have only come across this once in my life and it was enough to bring me to the brink of becoming a vegetarian.
  

  Spanferkel

  In Pakistan, there is a similar tradition of eating roasted calves and lambs. But, its rare and I have never seen it with my own two eyes. Spanferkel made my stomach churn and it was quite disturbing to see the poor little piglet being roasted with the skin intact (the skin can be used to make pork rinds later).

• Labskaus: Labskaus is prepared by boiling beef, mincing it, adding beetroot,
  

  Labskaus

  boiled potatoes and onions in it, and frying all of it in lard. It is usually served with a side of pickled gherkin and an egg on top. After looking at the picture, you could understand the reason for me not even going near this dish.

And that’s it! I know it’s a short post but that’s about the only German food which has truly disgusted me so far. I should point out again that this is my own personal opinion and I mean no offence to people who love any of the aforementioned dishes.

Generally speaking, I am a fan of German cuisine and like the food here. This can be demonstrated by how long the post for part 1 was and how short those for parts 2 and 3 are. I hope y’all enjoyed this series.