Saumagen

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on
Pfälzer Saumagen

Saumagen is a German dish popular in the Palatinate. The name means "sow's stomach". The dish is similar to a sausage in that it consists of a stuffed casing; however, the stomach itself is integral to the dish. It isn't as thin as a typical sausage casing (intestines or artificial casing). Rather it is meat-like, being a strong muscular organ, and when the dish is finished by being pan-fried or roasted in the oven, it becomes crisp. The dish is somewhat similar to the Scottish haggis, although the stuffing is quite different.

Stuffing

Saumagen stuffing consists of potatoes, carrots and pork, usually spiced with onions, marjoram, nutmeg and white pepper, in addition to which, various recipes also mention cloves, coriander, thyme, garlic, bay leaf, cardamom, basil, caraway, allspice, and parsley.[1][2] Sometimes beef is used as well; a variant popular in autumn replaces some or all of the potatoes with chestnuts. The larger ingredients are diced finely. After that, the saumagen is cooked in hot water, slightly below boiling temperature to prevent rupture of the stomach. It is either served directly with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes or stored in the refrigerator for later use. To warm it again, the saumagen is cut into slices approximately 1⁄2 to 1 inch thick (1.3 to 2.5 cm), which are then fried in an open pan. The typical accompanying drink is - in the wine region of the palatinate - usually a dry white wine, in the Palatinate forest to the west preferable a local beer.

History

Saumagen was created in the 18th century by Palatinate farmers who used leftovers to make a new dish. Today the ingredients are not leftovers at all; indeed the butchers creating saumagen use very high-quality ingredients. Saumagen was being deemed a typical poor people's meat dish, and as for the Dutch Goose, to be presented on holidays if nothing better was affordable. Louise Wilhelmine Henninger[16] (1871–1951), cook and landlady at the famous Weinhaus Henninger in Kallstadt, is said to have reinvented the Saumagen as a delicate dish for high level cuisine. Kallstadt Saumagen is as well the name of a distinguished Riesling vineyard site in Kallstadt.[3]

Helmut Kohl, the German chancellor from 1982 to 1998, who came from the Palatinate, gave the heretofore very local dish some international recognition. He served saumagen to many foreign visitors such as Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.[4] Kohl was sometimes ridiculed for this in other parts of Germany, where it was perceived as just another sign of his alleged provinciality. The Schifferstadt Carneval society Schlotte awards the Order of the Saumagen since 1992.[5] Landau hosts a Saumagen-competition, the Internationale Pfälzer Saumagen-Wettbewerb. Uniqe receipees include e.g. fish or deer stuffing. The first laureats, Imke Bruns and Iris Wittmann are now members of the jury.[6]

Dutch Goose

In the Pennsylvania Dutch region of the United States, the dish, known locally as seimaage, hogmal, stuffed hog maw ("maw" is an old word for stomach), simply pig stomach, or Dutch goose (by those who are not Pennsylvania Dutch) is popular during the harvest season. Traditionally, pig stomach, not turkey, was the main course for Thanksgiving among Pennsylvania Dutch families. This tradition stems from the Old World, with the bulk of Pennsylvania Dutch settlers originating from the Palatinate. Unlike the German version, the dish is typically baked for several hours, rather than boiled.

Further reading

Judith Kauffmann (in German), Der Saumagen – Entdeckungsreise ins Innere eines Pfälzer Küchenklassikers, Annweiler: Verlag Plöger Medien, ISBN 3-89857-204-8 

References

  1. ↑ Hermann Koch; Martin Fuchs (2009). Die Fabrikation feiner Fleisch- und Wurstwaren. (in German) (22nd, Maison d’édition spécialisée allemande ed.). ISBN 978-3-86641-187-6.
  2. ↑ Marie-Louise Weiß (2002). Das Kochbuch aus der Pfalz [Cookbook from Pfalz] (in German) (Editions Hölker ed.). Münster. ISBN 3-88117-033-2. DNB 780285468. Literature by and about Saumagen in the German National Library catalogue
  3. ↑ "Wie Köchin Luise den Saumagen rettete". morgenweb, das Nachrichtenportal für die Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
  4. ↑ David Frogier de Ponlevoy (2006-12-21). "Ex-Kanzlers Leib- und Magenspeise" (in German). Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2011-06-14.
  5. ↑ "Die Verleihung des Saumagenordens" (PDF; 3,6 MB) (in German). Karnevalsgesellschaft Schlotte. Retrieved 2012-12-18.
  6. ↑ Saumagen-Wettbewerb zeigt viele Rezeptvarianten. In: Die Welt, 6. November 2014, abgerufen am 7. Februar 2016
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.