Oktoberfest Recipes

Flammkuchen, literally ‘Flame Cakes’ are Germany’s answer to pizza. Originating on the border with France at Alsace, where they are known as Tarte Flambée, Flammkuchen are deliciously thin and crunchy flatbreads. Topped with rich crème fraîche, bacon and onions they are super flavoursome and a delicious meal or snack.

Oktoberfest Roast Chicken is a Bavarian classic recipe. The secret to tender, fall off the bone meat is to roast the chicken extra low and slow.

Maybe it is lucky that we aren’t having an Oktoberfest here in Munich this year as unlike our usual sunny, warm autumn, the weather has turned very wintery with squalls of rain and temperatures around 5°C. To be fair, cold weather never puts a damper on the celebrations, as people crowd into the tents and keep warm with plenty of dancing and beer! I’m sharing another Oktoberfest recipe today, the ultimate classic, Bavarian Pork Schnitzel. Unlike our cousins the Viennese, who prefer to make their schnitzels from veal, here in Bavaria the preferred meat is pork. And what could be…

The Oktoberfest recipes continue today with a real symbol of folk festivals here in Germany: Gingerbread Hearts or Lebkuchenherzen. Anyone who has ever visited the Oktoberfest has seen the many stalls selling these sweet treats. Ranging in size from tiny to absolutely enormous, these brightly decorated hearts are meant to be hung around the neck of your sweetheart – the bigger the heart, the bigger the love, or so the story goes. Gingerbread Hearts, much like old fashioned sweetheart candies, have writing on them, usually a sweet or humorous term of endearment, a greeting or good wishes. The possibilities are…

We are bang in the middle of the Oktoberfest season, and while no Oktoberfest is being held in 2020, that doesn’t mean we can’t have our favourite Bavarian foods at home! If you’ve been following along you will have learnt how to cook the perfect Oktoberfest Roast Chicken, and today we are cooking one of the real staples of Bavarian cuisine, ‘Kartoffelsalat’ or Bavarian Potato Salad. If you have ever travelled to this part of the world you are guaranteed to have eaten Bavarian Potato Salad as it is served with nearly every meal. Being married to a Bavarian, this…

We are in the middle of those golden autumn weeks, where the days dawn bright and sunny, the early fog burning off quickly under the sun. The woods are full of giant, brightly coloured mushrooms and toadstools, tucked away under the falling leaves. While the nights are already too cool to sit outside for long, it’s the ideal time for afternoon sundowners on the balcony, and what could be better than a refreshing Hugo Spritz Cocktail? The Hugo has taken Europe by storm over the last ten years or so, nearly knocking the beloved Aperol spritz from the throne as…

I have had a bit of wanderlust recently, so you might have noticed that many of the recipes I’ve been sharing are from far-flung places as I travel in my imagination around the globe. I love the way the smell can taste of food can transport us directly into other cultures. I’ve returned home to Bavaria today though with a real regional speciality: Zwetschgendatschi, Bavarian Plum Tart. When you start seeing the first slices of Zwetschgendatschi in the bakeries of Munich, it is a sure sign that summer is coming to a close. The smell of sweet, baked prune plums,…

When people imagine German food, they often think about only one thing. Meat. Yes, Germany is the home of gigantic schnitzels and plate-sized pork knuckles, but it is also the land of many different dumplings (knödel). True, the purpose of most of these dumplings is to soak up the sauce that comes with the meat, however, sometimes they are served as a vegetarian meal in their own right. Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings, full of delicious greens, creamy ricotta and salty Parmesan cheese are definitely an import from our Italian neighbours to the south. Claimed by the city of Florence as…

The sun is out, I’ve got my balcony door open to the kitchen letting in some lovely fresh air and I’ve been baking one of my all-time favourite cakes. All things that are so good for the soul. I think it’s so important at the moment when we’ve all had to slow down a little (or a lot!) to enjoy the simple rituals of life. For me, those are mostly based in the kitchen. And there’s nothing better than a freshly baked cake on the weekend! What is this fabulous cake you ask? This is an old family recipe from…

It’s that time of year again, when ‘Fasching’ or Carnival in Germany reaches a week-long peak of festivities, partying and general frivolity before the gloomier days of Lent begin on Ash Wednesday. The streets are littered with confetti and streamers and the Faschings-Narren (Carnival Jesters) pop up in the unlikeliest of places. Thursday is a dangerous time to wear a tie as it’s likely to be cut off and carried away by a horde of women in crazy costumes, and the whole city seems to boom with up-tempo party music from every bar and hotel. Before I moved to Germany…

Hooray, it’s nearly the weekend. Here in Munich it is a blue sky day, bright and sunny and a balmy -3°C! The temperature doesn’t bother me in the least and during these darker months I crave sunshine so I’m soaking up every possible ray. I’m also thinking about breakfast for the weekend, and what could be better for an indulgent weekend breakfast (or Valentine’s Day surprise, if you’re so inclined) than that most wonderful of Austrian creations, Kaiserschmarrn. Kaiserschmarrn – or literally Emperor’s Mess, if you’ve never heard of it, is a type of pancake – but not just any…

My real Bavarian recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels with step by step instructions for making Oktoberfest style pretzels at home. No special equipment necessary!

It’s that time of year again, Munich is buzzing, the tourists are flooding into town, the Wiesn is covered in beer tents and roller coasters, that must mean that the mother of all celebrations, Oktoberfest is nearly upon us. Love it or hate it, the Oktoberfest is an absolute phenomenon. A fixture of the Munich calendar since the marriage of the future King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen in 1810. Every year the Oktoberfest seems to get bigger, brighter and more famous with over 6 million visitors drinking nearly 8 million litres of beer, and eating over 450,000…

UPDATE: Lots of visitors to this page are searching for a more traditional crumble cake to use up their lovely red currants. Click here to check out my recipe for Farmhouse Apple Cake which is a deliciously old fashioned cake, topped with buttery, nutty crumble – perfect for red currants too! It’s been a busy week! I’m hard at work on a new project (exciting!) and I’ve had a really full calendar – it always seems like July is the tipping point for the year and all of a sudden the rush is on to December 31st. The gorgeous fruit…

The depths of January can be fairly gloomy in Munich, but the last few days we’ve had crystal clear, blue skies with the resulting temperature drop. I’ve been mostly appreciating the sunshine from the window, as well as dashing out to the markets to buy ingredients. I’m in the big final push for the cookbook now, which means the blog has had to take a back seat as juggling a full-time job while cooking and photographing like a mad man eats up almost all of my time. I am SO excited about how it is going, and it almost feels…

Beautiful autumn continues here in Bavaria, this entire week has been cool, but beautifully clear and sunny – perfect for all the people celebrating the Oktoberfest on the Wiesn. This morning has dawned grey and cool, which is the ideal kind of day to spend in the kitchen thinking about warming autumnal flavours and writing with a cup of coffee and a slice of Plum Cinnamon Streusel Cake. It’s no secret that plums are one of my favourite fruits – I have wonderful childhood memories of my grandmother’s plum jam made from dark and delicious Black Doris plums from her garden…