Franconian cuisine stands for down-to-earth home cooking, regional ingredients, and recipes that have often been passed down through families for generations. This culinary tradition is brought together in the cookbook "Gessn werd derhamm!" (ars vivendi) by Annalena Denninger. More than 100 recipes - from hearty classics to modern interpretations - show just how diverse Franconian cuisine is. Here are three recipes that bring the taste of the region to your plate and inspire you to try Franconian home cooking yourself.
Franconian Cider Soup
Ingredients: 3 tbsp butter, 1-2 onions (chopped), 500 ml meat broth, 500 ml cider (alternatively white wine), 1 tbsp flour, 1 tsp salt, white pepper from the mill, 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, 500 ml cream, 2 egg yolks (whisked), 2 slices white bread, 1 pinch cinnamon
Preparation: In a pot, melt 1 tbsp butter and sauté the onion until translucent. Pour in the meat broth and cider and reduce the liquid by half.
Then knead 1 tbsp butter with the flour. Thicken the soup with the flour butter while stirring. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and pour in the cream. Remove the cider soup from the heat and stir in the egg yolk. Do not let the soup boil again.
Dice the white bread and toast it golden brown in the remaining butter. Finally, dust with a bit of cinnamon.
Serve the soup in bowls and sprinkle with the cinnamon croutons.
Cadolzburg Potato Gratin
Ingredients: 200 g crème fraîche, 200 g sour cream, 400 ml meat broth, 1 kg medium-sized potatoes, 1 sprig rosemary, 5 slices toast bread, 50 g butter, 100 g diced ham
Preparation: Preheat the oven to 200 °C (top/bottom heat). Mix crème fraîche, sour cream, and broth and pour into a baking dish.
Wash the potatoes thoroughly, then make multiple cuts about 2 mm apart, but don't cut all the way through. Place them in the dish with the cut side facing up, side by side, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until they are almost done.
Wash the rosemary, shake dry, pluck off the needles and chop. Cut the toast bread into cubes. Melt the butter in a pan and briefly toast the rosemary, bread cubes, and ham cubes in it.
Distribute the mixture on the potatoes and bake in the oven until the bread cubes are golden brown.
Carp Fillet in Franconian Wine
Ingredients: ½ bunch fresh parsley, ½ celery root, 4 carrots, 2-3 parsley roots, 2 leek stalks, 2 bay leaves, 1 clove, 250 ml fish stock, 250 ml Franconian wine, 500-750 g ready-to-cook carp fillet, 1 egg yolk, salt and black pepper from the mill
Preparation: Wash the parsley, pluck off the leaves and chop finely.
Clean the vegetables, peel the celery, carrots, and parsley roots and cut into thin strips, cut the leek into rings.
Place the vegetables with bay leaves, clove, fish stock, and Franconian wine in a large pot, bring to a boil and simmer until the vegetables are al dente. Then remove about 150-200 ml of the cooking liquid, transfer to a small pot and keep warm.
Place the fish on the vegetables and let it simmer gently, covered, for another 5-10 minutes.
For the sauce, whisk the egg yolk in a bowl, temper it with some of the reserved stock, and then incorporate it into the remaining stock while stirring constantly. The sauce must not boil anymore, otherwise the egg will curdle. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the carp fillets on the vegetables, spoon some sauce over them and sprinkle with parsley.
