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german salads, cabbage, potato

1K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  wlong 
#1 · (Edited)
I wanted to find recipes for these salads I've had in Berlin.  My son lives there so i go often and we often go shopping on Karlmarxstrasse and stop at Kropp, a deli with stand-up tables  Maybe this is irrelevant, these may just be standard German salads but I only have had them there.    I hate to eat standing but it's worth it there to get some fried fish and these salad sides.  . 

These are probably just ordinary in Germany, but I've never been to other parts of Germany, and never came across these in other places we've been and i really like them. 

There are three in particular I loved:

one seems to be a cabbage based salad, like cole slaw, but creamy and sweet and sour. 

another is a potato salad, similarly sweet and sour and creamy

and another is a green potato salad - it looks completely green, i don;t remember it being creamy. 

anybody happen to know them?  how to make them?  I was thinking, for the cole slaw, that it might be cabbage, carrot and maybe something else, sugar, salt and vinegar  and then ? sour cream? 

Would the potato one be the same? 

and what is on the green one?  It could be herbs, but it's not strong, so the herbs would be mild, like parsley. 

I know there are millions of cole slaw and potato salad recipes on the internet, but precisely because there are millions it might as well be none.  I would like to know if you know any that meet my description (or if you know this place...) (for all i know it's considered crap there, but i liked it).
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Have your son write them a letter and ask. Quite often they'll share recipes.

These are my hunches:

For the potatoes, Sour Cream, a little sugar, white vinegar (though I like cider vinegar better). seasonings, S&P dill, celery seed, some hot sauce. Maybe a little mayonaisse. It wouldn't surprise me if they used a little sweet mustard instead of adding sugar either. That's my guess for the potato salad. I've had a similar cucumber salad with that sort of dressing as well. No mayo in that, but some added hot sauce.

For the cabbage, salt it first to lightly wilt it and drain a while so it doesn't make the dressing go watery. It will still be crunchy after the salting and draining. For this one, I'd suspect a hybridized vinegar based simple syrup. Boil equal parts vinegar and sugar to dissolve the sugar. it won't take much volume for this dish so maybe do this in the microwave rather than in a pan on the stove where it will boil too fast. Cool it down. Then start mixing into some of the sour cream/mayo to see how close you can get. Make notes of your ratios so you know how to make it for a full salad.

There's a fish and chips place by me that does their cole slaw with this rice vinegar based simple syrup and some turmeric and other things. Shocking yellow, but surprisingly good.

Similarly, there's a local barbecue joint that does a regular simple syrup cut 50/50 with an "italian" style salad dressing for one of their cold salads of cucumber, onions, capers and such. It's good too.

I have no idea about the green one. I did read this one over the weekend, but it's not likely what you're looking for.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...n_improved_version_of_the_fourth_of_july.html
 
#3 ·
Thanks Phatch.  I don't think my son's german is up to it yet, but maybe i can ask his girlfriend who has become more fluent. 

Thanks for the ideas, i planned to experiment but wanted to know if anyone had recipes that sounded a little like these.  I don;t think they have mayonnaise, the creamy part is completely white, not yellowish. 

The green one is not, as you suspected, the one you posted, but is actually green.  It almost seems as if there were cooked vegetables in it, pureed, but i doubt it, it didn't taste that way.  I wonder if some sort of puree of parsley or something.  Next time i go, which won;t be for a few months, i'll try to understand it. 
 
#4 ·
Town I grew up in had a big German heritage and influence. Coleslaw was Miracle Whip or mayo thinned with milk. Add sugar to taste and salt to taste. Can add pepper, celery seed etc as desired.

German potato salad is served hot and is a bacon dressing based version that I grew up on.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Thanks Mary.  I think there was no mayonnaise or miracle whip in this, it felt lighter, and milkier, but of course, it's hard to say.   Keep in mind, though, that the german immigration was a very long time ago, and recipes tend to morph gradually over time using local ingredients and methods. 

Yeah, i know about the usual warm potato salad, but this was different too.
 
#7 ·
Thanks VeryTasty, that sounds nice, but this one didn;t have bacon, and there was definitely something milky, like sour cream or yoghurt or something. 
 
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