Let's Talk About Food

Two of the best thing about the Christmas markets are the glühwein and the food.  Since I've already covered glühwein, now it's time to celebrate all of the different foods we've had.

Würzburg Feuerwurst and käsespäztle

We'll start with the wurst first. Sausage (wurst) is a staple of German cuisine and different regions have various styles. There is of course the traditional bratwurst which is fairly consistent across the country.  A Nuremberg sausage is small -- about the size of your finger -- and come three to a roll.  In Würzburg, their feuerwurst is skinny, spicy, and half a meter in length.

Käsespäztle is another popular dish seen at all of the markets.  We would say it's similar to our macaroni and cheese.  Spätzle is an egg-based noodle or dumpling that is another staple of German cuisine and käse is cheese.  Käsespäztle is typically topped with fried onion straws like we use on green bean casseroles.

Küchle

In Dinklesbühl, we discovered küchle, a traditional Bavarian pastry.  It is a yeast dough stretched thin in the center and folded over around the edges to create a thicker ring.  It's then deep fried and dusted with powdered sugar.  At the Trier market, there was a stand making langos, which is a Hungarian fried yeast dough.  They place the fried dough on the counter for you to add the amount of garlic butter and paprika you desire. The server then places optional toppings like salami, ham, or cheese and finishes with a sour cream swirl.  The langos was my new favorite.

Just like the Hungarian langos, the food was not solely limited to German specialties. There were long lines at other stalls serving crepes (France), waffles (Belgium), and trdelniks (Czechia), which commonly translates to chimney cake.  Trdelniks are sweet dough wrapped around a cylinder, traditionally baked over a charcoal fire, then coated in cinnamon and sugar.  We fell in love with them in Prague, so we of course ate them more than once.

Hopefully all the walking we're doing will negate the extra calories.  A Christmas miracle indeed.

Langos