Mass is a Bavarian beer mug. A liter one, as is typical. As "Voyage and Leisure" writes, they also eat a lot in Bavaria - tasty and varied.
If you think that German cuisine is sausages with stewed cabbage and boiled pork knuckle with the same, you are mistaken. If you think that these same sausages and knuckles are eaten all over Germany, you are even more mistaken. That is, they eat them, of course - but besides them, each historical region has its own "specialties".
And there are most of them in Bavaria. This is not surprising - Bavaria can be considered Germany only in part. At least, the Bavarians themselves like to emphasize: here, although it is a federal state (by the way, the largest of all), it lives its own way. And even speaks in a peculiar manner: reports from Bavaria on central German television are often accompanied by a ticker in "Hochdeutsch". Otherwise, residents of central and northern regions would not understand...
In Bavaria, it is still quite common to meet on the street (especially if it happens in a small town) a person in a national costume - leather pants to the knees, a vest with bone buttons and a Tyrolean hat on his head. Here, traditions are generally carefully preserved - by the way, the famous German beer purity law, "Reinheitsgebot", was adopted in 1516 precisely in Bavaria. Duke Wilhelm IV commanded: "We want that from now on in our cities, at our markets and in our country, nothing may be added to any beer except barley, hops and water," - and the Bavarians joyfully supported him. And in the North German lands, even at the beginning of the 20th century, green starch and potato flour were added to the wort...
Beer Mass
Beer is respectfully called "liquid bread" throughout Central and Northern Europe. But only in Bavaria is its consumption elevated to a true cult. "The little bit that we could eat, we would rather drink," says the Bavarian proverb (or is it a toast?). And indeed they drink: Germans (as a whole), who are considered the undisputed world leaders in beer consumption (151 liters per year per every soul of the population, including newborns and confirmed ulcer sufferers), are mere children compared to the independent Bavarians. According to statistics, for each of them - regardless of sex and age - there are 240 (!) liters of the amber drink per year.
In Bavaria, they distinguish not four seasons, but all six: two more are added to the well-known ones. First, it is the "strong beer time", which falls on Lent ("How else could we endure such a long abstinence?" - the Bavarians ask each other). Second, the ripening period of March beer, culminating in the world-famous "Oktoberfest".
However, a two-week bacchanalia in Munich, during which 5-6 million liters of beer are easily drunk, is a completely separate topic. From the point of view of a traveling gourmand, the "Oktoberfest" is interesting because it provides an excellent opportunity to get closer to Bavarian cuisine. For example, only during beer festivals do kiosks appear on the streets of Munich selling Steckerlfisch - small fish grilled over a fire.
Sausage Mecca
Of course, Bavarians do not live by grilled fish alone. They are desperately disingenuous when they declare that, they say, if only there were beer, everything else no longer matters. They know how to eat. And the main and most beloved dish of the national cuisine is weisswurst, the "white sausage".
"Well, we have finally got down to sausages," the skeptic will grunt contentedly. And we will object to him: there are sausages and sausages, and properly preparing weisswurst is an art accessible to few. By the way, weisswurst is a rare case when the time and place of creation of a gastronomic masterpiece are precisely known. The recipe was invented and immediately brought to life by Moser Sepp, the owner of one of the central Munich beer halls, on February 22, 1857. Since then - remember the special attitude of Bavarians to traditions? - it has not changed.
To make a real weisswurst, you need to take three quarters of the freshest veal (it is this that provides the characteristic whitish color), a quarter of pork, pound the fresh meat with a special wooden mallet. Then from this meat, finely chopped parsley, lemon zest, egg white and onion, make a delicate mince, add crushed ice for cohesion and elasticity, season with salt and pepper, stuff the casings with the mince - and cook in hot, but not boiling water for 10-15 minutes.
It is not enough to prepare weisswurst properly, you also need to be able to consume it properly. Firstly, it is eaten in the morning, during "Brotzeit", a morning snack (until 10 o'clock). Noon is the deadline. Previously, this rule was strictly observed; now, alas, it is deviated from even in traditional cuisine restaurants. Secondly, it is considered almost a crime to order anything else with weisswurst except sweet mustard, a freshly baked salted pretzel (another classic Bavarian dish) and, of course, beer.
Finally, you also need to cut the sausage with sense. The casings for it are taken very thin, and chewing them is an even worse offense than if you had demanded that the notorious stewed cabbage be served with weisswurst. Separating the contents from the casing without significant harm to either is not so easy; the simplest way is to cut the sausage lengthwise, and then use a knife to separate pieces from the casing. But that is for tourists. The Bavarians themselves prefer a more "barbaric" treatment: having bitten the edge of the weisswurst, they suck it out of the casing, actively helping themselves with their hands. For natures more refined, but at the same time not wanting to distance themselves too much from the people, a third method is offered: cut the sausage crosswise, pierce the cut with a fork, carefully cut the casing with a knife and, holding the skin with it, "unroll" the weisswurst with the help of a fork.
Despite all the aforementioned subtleties and complexities (or perhaps precisely because of them), Weisswurst enjoys unimaginable popularity in Bavaria. Essays are written about it, jokes are told, welcoming speeches and toasts are composed in its honor, poems and ballads are composed. There is even a special "Weisswurst Anthem", and in 1957, on the occasion of the sausage's 100th anniversary, an international congress dedicated to it was held in Munich.
Mecca of Snack Bars
Perhaps the reason for Weisswurst's success is that it goes wonderfully well with good Bavarian beer - Löwenbräu, for example, or Augustiner. Although there are other, no less successful options for traditional beer snacks. The Bavarians themselves - Munich residents in particular - prefer pretzels, Salzstangen (salted sticks), and for some reason red radishes, while in beer pubs throughout the rest of Germany, the so-called "Bavarian platter" enjoys enduring popularity. As a rule, it is a dish of impressive size on which slices of sausage, smoked meats, and several types of cheese are artistically arranged, accompanied by assorted vegetables and herbs, with onions, pickles, and a ball of soft lard for spreading on bread. Bread is served in a separate basket - also of several kinds.
Sometimes it turns out amusing: in a pub in the Pomeranian town of Greifswald, the author was served an "Ostsee Bayern-Platte". That is, if translated literally, a "Baltic Bavarian platter". But in Bavaria itself, I never happened to order such "platters". Perhaps because it simply never came to that: there were plenty of other gastronomic pleasures.
Although trying all the characteristic dishes of Bavarian cuisine at once is no easy task. They are far too plentiful and filling. So I had to, sipping from a Mass of Hofbräuhaus and snacking on a pretzel, watch how the Bavarians themselves eat.
And this, I must say, is an epic spectacle. To begin with, a substantial portion of sausage salad is consumed (no, it's not without reason that Germans are called "sausage-makers"!). Its recipe is simple: thin strips of the best smoked pork, onion rings, vinegar, mustard, and vegetable oil. The only subtlety is that the ingredients should be mixed by hand. No less unpretentious is Hackpeter - raw minced meat with salt, pepper, egg, and spices... Amazingly delicious!
Then comes the turn of hot appetizers. Here Bavarians usually choose between Leberkäse - "meat cheese", a sort of hot galantine made from ground beef, liver, and bacon - and the cheese spread Obatzda. For the first course - Leberknödel, liver dumplings in a rich clear broth or cream of chanterelle soup, and for the second course...
This is where the choice becomes especially agonizing. What to do if your belt is already loosened to the last hole, and there are still so many temptations on the menu? What to choose: a circle of fried sausage Milzwurst with potato salad or Spanferkel, a suckling pig on a spit? Roasted pork knuckle Schweinshaxe with cabbage (and how could one do without it?) or Schlachtschüssel - pork belly with liver sausages and blood pudding? However, Bavarians do not hesitate for long: they take "a little bit" (that is, a portion capable of knocking out any Western European) of one, and another, and a third. And they also order for dessert Dampfnudeln - sweet dumplings stewed in milk sauce.
Gardens of Heavenly Pleasures
The arena for all these Pantagruelian feasts is most often the Biergarten - "beer gardens". These are indeed small gardens, most often chestnut, with long wooden tables and benches set up in the shade of the trees. Drinking in the fresh air (in the warm season, of course; with the onset of cold weather, the public moves to indoor halls, which every self-respecting Biergarten has) is also an old tradition that originated under King Ludwig and subsequently spread throughout Germany. Originally, tables were placed around cellars where beer was cooled on hot summer days, and chestnut trees were planted around them because they provided the densest shade.
Another tradition associated with Biergartens is that you can still come there with your own food. The main thing is to choose a table not covered with a tablecloth (that's important!) and order beer. And it's by no means about German stinginess: it's simply been the custom for centuries. Once upon a time, Bavarians went to the brewery only to have something to wash down the meal they had brought from home. Of course, that practice is long gone, but the custom remains.