Taste of Old Germany: Recipes from my Colorado Restaurant and my Childhood

I feel sad that my travels never took me to Delores, Colorado in the 1990s. I think I would have loved Rita's restaurant! Other reviewers commented about how some things are "missing" in the recipes. I too have noticed the omissions like how many servings each recipe makes, etc.... I simply look at the recipes as general outlines from which to improvise, enhance, or change as your personal tastes dictate. The pork schnitzel is a hit with my family. The first time I did it, I followed the recipe exactly. Wow! Some ancient memories bubbled to the surface of my memory. My paternal grandmother was first generation American of German descent. She must have made schnitzels when I was a young girl. Rita's sauerbraten recipe was merged with another one given to me by a Bavarian friend and tweaked by me became another trip down a gastronomic memory lane. My first husband was from northern Germany and he made a beef dish and I had forgotten what he called it. After following Rita's recipe I realized what my former husband had cooked for me - a kind of simplified version of sauerbraten.The chicken soups are WONDERFUL. The soup's only seasoning is juniper berries (used as a substitue for pepper back in the middle ages when pepper was rare and expensive) and bay leaves. Wow! The delicious simplicity will tickle your taste buds for sure! The use of juniper berries is common in German cuisine, but not used as much in American cuisine.If you are a confident cook willing to improvise and tweak a recipe, Rita's little cookbook will work quite nicely for you as it's doing for me. So, think of Rita's recipes as general outlines on which you can build and create your own customized German dinner.Guten Appitit!

As a child my father would go to Germany often for business and fell in love with their food. My mother being an excellent cook began to research and cook German food from time to time for fill the need in between his trips. I purchased two of these cook books for my sister and I so that we could try to live up to my father's German food expectations. This past weekend I cooked a German feast for my father and he was very impressed!The recipes in this book are easy to follow and basic German home cooking. There is a great variety of recipes that will fit many different occasions! Love it!!!

I wanted to love this book. Unfortunately I don't. While it is a nice tribute to her customers it leaves a lot to be desired in the way of true German dishes. I grew up in a heavily German populated area of NYC and enjoyed all of the wonderful mother land foods while growing up. The recipes in this little book leave a lot to be desired, for instance the recipe for Potato Dumpling (Kartoffelknoedel) has as its ingredients:5 large Idaho potatoes1 kaiser or 2 french rollspotato starch1 teaspoon salt 1 pinch nutmeg2 eggsShe then goes on to give the mixing instructions but does not tell you how much potato starch to add.....a teaspoon, a tablespoon, a cup? She leaves you guessing and if you're not an experienced cook I can see you having many problems with a lot of the recipes.The book is a nice tribute to her restaurant and her overcoming her lifes trials but in no way it is a great German cookbook. I'll be looking for another soon.

I can't believe someone ran a restaurant using these recipes. Nothing special. Very easy to make. I enjoyed reading what she had to say more.I'm glad it worked for her and her family and she is enjoying her life now as a retiree.I am going to pass it on to someone who enjoys German food but does not have the culinary skills.Don't get me wrong, it has great simple recipes in here using basic items found in any grocery store. So if you are looking for an easy cookbook with your favorite German food, this is the cookbook for you! If you are a more knowledgeable in cooking, then I would pass.

We loved the restaurant and love the cookbook!!

I work for a German company and my wife and I have made many trips there over the years. We love the food and are always on the lookout for a good German cookbook. This one sounded promising when I read about the author but we were very disappointed when we saw the recipes. They are simple if you want "easy" but I was surprised that many our favorite dishes here relied on "brown gravy mix". We did not try the currywurst recipe but it is hard to imagine that 1 cup leftover brown gravy, 2 Tbs ketchup and 1/4 Tsp curry will create the sauce we remember. There are some "keeper" recipes here but we are willing to take some extra steps, time and ingredients to recreate the special dishes we loved in Germany. We will look more closely at future cookbooks we consider.

Terrific cookbook! I love cookbooks and will sp enjoy this one. We were in Delores Co but you were in the process of closing down. My brother owned a coffee shop there

Nice book,excellent easy to make recipes.fast shipping.

Brilliant, love it easy to follow great recipes,timeless,haven't stop using this book.Highly recommend !!!!!!!!!!!! ................. :) happy

I am very pleased with this cookbook. Thank you.