Hm, tastes like heel balm

After a fantastic nap with the European rain lulling my dreams, my stomach is rumbling.

My friend Caroline prepares some traditional Frankfurter food for me: ‘handkäs mit musik’ (hand cheese with music) served with ‘bauernbrot’ (farmers’ bread); and ‘grüne soße’ (green sauce) with hard boiled eggs and potato. We enjoy some delicate, dry Riesling from the Rhine region in the area while we chop and chat.

I tried the handkäs on it’s own after our trip to the supermarket and it tasted the way heel balm smells. Now I am quite curious and, well, nervous, to try it ‘mit musik’. The official version is that ‘mit musik’ refers to the sauce. The unofficial version is that ‘mit musik’ is the flatulence that is caused by all the chopped onions.

The sauce of vinegar, oil, onions and cumin makes all the difference to the balmy taste of the cheese and the flavourful ‘bauernbrot’ is a perfect companion. ‘Handkäs’ is completely fat free and therefore quite healthy. The ‘grüne soße’ is a light mixture of yoghurt and herbs. I prefer to eat it with my Frankfurter sausage (which tastes more or less the same here as anywhere else) than the traditional way, having never really been a fan of eating potato and eggs together. We wash it all down with the fresh taste of ‘äbbelwoi’, while recalling memories of previous adventures.

I wanted to try my hand at baking the traditional Frankfurter cream cake for dessert but when Caroline phoned her mom to get the recipe, Mrs Braun exclaimed that ‘it’s really old-fashioned and so not cool!’ and suggested that we make ‘bethmannchen’ instead. Yet we don’t end up making the Frankfurter marzipan sweets, or any other dessert for that matter.

Which is a good thing because by the time we finish the food and the wine, we are so feasted out that there is not a spot left for a sweet tooth. I guess that will have to wait for another visit.