Things have been pretty stressful around here the last couple of weeks. First we were moving, and then that fell through and now we’re back on the hunt for a new place. Anyways, it seems the stress finally got the better of me and I blew it this week. I didn’t check the blog before making what I thought was this week’s recipe, and ended up making the Buttermilchplinsen this weekend instead of the Grie Soß. Yes, you may feel free to stamp a big “L” on my forehead.
So I will update this post later this week with my version. I won’t be able to make it today, hopefully tomorrow will work out, but I can’t say for sure. We’ve got a houseguest and Oliver’s birthday this week, plus I’m sort of co-hosting a double baby shower and Laaber’s Bürgerfest is coming up. Anyways, I should have it done this week. In the meantime, read the entries from the non-losing-their-minds participants! (CN Heidelberg says this recipe is one of the best versions of Grie Soß she’s ever had, sounds awesome!)
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Okay, I managed to get to the market and get some more herbs yesterday, and we had delicious green sauce for dinner tonight. Interestingly, I read over at Heidelbergerin that there are supposed to be seven herbs in this. Out of the herbs listed in the recipe, I was only able to find five: chives, cress, flat-leaf parsley, sorrel, and a pinch of dill. It’s the same sorrel I used for the Sauerampfersüpple (my plant has rebounded nicely since that almost complete harvest), but this time I cut out the thick, center vein on all but the smallest leaves. I’m wondering if the other herbs are something you mainly harvest in the wild, or if they tend only to be in markets around Frankfurt, because I’ve never heard of them to be honest.
Apparently, the use of an immersion blender is taboo (who knew there were so many rules in making a dish!), so I cut all the herbs and the egg whites by hand, which was some serious Arbeit. I didn’t want to clean egg yolk out of the sieve, and after smashing it with a fork and adding the other ingredients, I found it didn’t really combine well, so I did use a couple burst of the immersion blender on the sauce just to combine the egg yolks well with the oil, etc.
I didn’t bother to peel the potatoes, I’m a fan of eating potato skins (they were bio-potatoes, too). None of us have ever had Frankfurter Green Sauce before, so we have nothing to compare it to, but we all thought this dish was delicious, although Rainer thought it was a little too vinegary. I had added the high end of the range from the recipe, four tablespoons (of white wine vinegar). I also had a choice of extra virgin olive oil we bought in Italy, or Biskin cooking oil, so I went with the olive oil. My aunt found it reminded her of deviled eggs, and thought combining it with chopped up potatoes could leave you with an interesting potato salad to bring to potlucks.
I didn’t add any dairy, I just went with the original recipe. I didn’t really think it needed any addition richness. I’m wondering if the olive oil being whipped up slightly by the blender (really, I only pulsed a couple times) might have made a difference, since my photos look a little different from the other participants, but my dish does look pretty close to the photo shown along with the recipe.
As to whether or not this recipe is authentic, I have no idea. There has been some questioning of the lack of dairy, the herbs included and whether eggs should be in the sauce or on the side. I don’t know any Frankfurters, but out of the recipes we have made, when someone from the region has tried it, they’ve said it was an excellent, authentic recipe (this is not an insignificant number of these recipes either – the only exception is possibly Berliner Frikassee, but who knows what Berliners make at home, just seemed a little too gourmet though). It is of course possible that this recipe isn’t authentic. It is also possible that this recipe varies tremendously from person to person, like many regional specialties do (I’m leaning towards this explanation).
I haven’t been for a visit to the city of Frankfurt, only to the airport, but I hope to make a trip sometime in the near future, and I will definitely get some green sauce while there and report back to you all. Until then, I found this to be an excellent recipe that I would make again.
Other participants:
- CN Heidelberg at Heidelbergerin
- Stephanie at A Greenville Life
Next challenge!
- July 27, Buttermilchplinsen (Buttermilk pancakes)
- August 3, Dicke Milch (Thick Milk)
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Finished with my entry – we all loved this dish! And don’t worry – I was confusing the order of all of the recipes also – I think it was the buttermilk needed for the berry bowl – I wanted to use the rest of it up and made the pancakes!
.-= Stephanie´s last blog ..Grie Soss (Green Sauce) =-.
I hope you are able to find a house soon. We are going to be house hunting in germany very soon ourselves and heard it can be a rather stressful venture.
Updated the post with my outcome. Excellent recipe!
@stephanie: I think that’s what happened to me too. I wanted to use all the buttermilk, so I just switched it up in my head.
@sonya: Thanks. Good luck to you when the time comes!
I too love Gruene Sosse, and remember it fondly when my grandmother made it (she lived in a village near Frankfurt, so presumably fairly authentic). She only insisted that one needs to use 7 different herbs, but other than that, there are plenty of variations. I cannot get very many of the herbs here in Alaska, so I substitute plenty! I even use spinach… anything to make the # of herbs end up at 7!
.-= borealkraut´s last blog ..Why don’t she write? =-.
the eggs go in the sauce indeed. when i liven in frankfurt for three years, i had my fair share of Frankfurter Grüne Soße. when you ever get lucky and are in town for the weekly market, have a look around. usually that’s the time when you can purchase bags full with the right herbs. (i always thought is was a mix of 12 herbs, btw.) but i guess when it comes to the “right” or “wring” ingredients, it is pretty much like Leipziger Allerlei. there are no definite recipes because these are dishes that originate from scratch cooking.
.-= rita´s last blog ..new pretties =-.
Now I’m curious: what were the herbs you couldn’t find?
.-= Ed Ward´s last blog ..Market To Table, Plus Plantation Again =-.
For us the herbs are available packaged together at the market; I think this is because we’re pretty close to Frankfurt. One site I read said that even in northern Germany some of these herbs are really hard to find.
Don’t worry about the people complaining that this recipe isn’t correct – opinions are like assholes and that probably goes double for complicated, secretive recipes like this one.
.-= CN Heidelberg´s last blog ..Public Toilets: Germany v. US =-.
Gee thanks. Nothing being better than being called a nasty name for trying to help out with a recipe. I have had your blog listed for several months as a favorite on my cityguide you know, as well as AmiExpat. Should I remove it now that you seem to feel so strongly about me and my opinions?
The basic recipe is not complicated nor secretive, except the version as how it was given in the cookbook. I apologize if I offended anyone with my suggestions as to how this recipe is most commonly made. Honestly, this is the first time I have ever heard of people being upset because of recipe suggestions, let alone being called names for it.
Though it had been my goal to make contact and participate in discussions here or to participate in the cooking, since I am a cook, it looks like it would be wiser to not come back. Wish you all lots of fun.
Jo, perhaps I should have written the entire saying so it would be clear that it is not a reference to a person: “Opinions are like assholes: everybody has one.” No one has been called an asshole here. The point is that everyone has an opinion of their own, and it would be impossible to listen to all of them.
However, I was rather irritated that the point of your comment on my blog seemed to only be to rain on the parade of two people who were obviously very happy with the recipe by telling them to go find some other recipe because it is all wrong. And, you never came back to respond to my reply and further links indicating that, indeed, there is no one ‘right’ way to make this recipe as you so strongly insisted.
I apologize if my comments have caused you offense.
.-= CN Heidelberg´s last blog ..Reading Material =-.
@borealkraut: What other herbs do you use as substitions? (in case there are any people living in the US who want to make this)
@rita: I bet it’s a lot cheaper to get all the herbs together in a bag than buying them separately like I had to. There’s nothing like that at the markets down here, I love going to markets in other cities to see the differences. And I agree that there are probably as many variations of this recipe as there are people who make it.
@ed: I couldn’t find chervil/Kerbel, borage/Borretsch, lovage/Liebstöckel, or burnet/Pimpernelle. I have heard of chervil, but not of the others.
@cn heidelberg: I think there are a lot of variations on this recipe. Thanks for all the really informative links you provided in the comments to your post!
@jo: I’m sorry you felt insulted, I don’t tolerate people being disrespectful of each other on my blog, but I didn’t read CN Heidelberg’s comment the same way you did. I read it in the way she clarified, that everyone has an opinion on this type of recipe. I know from my own experience of posting my mother’s Thai recipes (she is Thai and moved to the US when she was 24), that there are a lot of differing opinions on what is authentic in regional cuisine recipes, and there are often deep, heated feelings regarding authenticity (in fact, strangely enough, most of the comments disagreeing most vehemently with my mother’s recipes have come from American expats in Thailand or, even more often, from Americans who have spent a summer backpacking through southeast Asia).
Regarding these difference we find in recipes, I do have to agree with her as well that your comment on her blog was harsh. I tried to answer your questioning of the recipe there in the update to my post in what I think was a respectful way. I’m sorry if you disagree and feel the need to remove yourself from this blog’s community. I hope that you can come away from this situation without a bad feeling, but my impression is that most of the drama and controversy surrounding this recipe has come from you. I hope you’ll stick around and even participate, but if you need to remove yourself from my readership, then I understand that it’s something you need to do. Life is too short to do something that makes you unhappy. Best of luck to you.
Once again I apologize. It truly was never my intention to rain on anyones parade nor cause any problems at all. You are both correct, I was in the wrong.
with kind regards and many happy hours cooking,
Jo
There’s a polish variant I like to make when in mood for some Grie Soß, but not in the prep time. I think it a polnisch shortcut of sorts, being Polnisch/Deutsch I get to compare a lot at family dinners
I’ll comback with full recipe. But it goes like…
Sour cream, oil, some vinegar, chives, parsely, onion, sliced dill pickles…
then, maybe poured over noodles, or potatoes, or spread on rye toped with radish
…never used eggs so far.
I like to accent the green color by using dill relish and caper juice.