Where's the Pumpernickel?

OK, this weekend some friends are putting together a German dinner, the rationale being that the weather is getting cold and some sauerbraten and sauerkraut would be different and warming. Of course I'm invited to bring some German/Alsatian wines, and I also volunteered to find some German cheeses. I've learned that I can order cheese online -- so I signed up with Murray's and ordered some Tilsiter and some Weinkäse Lagrein. (As it happens neither of these is made in Germany -- but Murray's does not seem to have any cheese made in Germany!).

At any rate my thought was to buy some Pumpernickel, or "Party Pumpernickel" to pass with the cheese, since these are kind of a far cry from light French cheeses like Brie. I have been shopping around my area of NJ and so far have not found Pumpernickel of any kind!

I'm sure I will be able to find some before Saturday but what I wonder is -- is this a local NJ phenomenon or has Pumpernickel had a decline in popularity? I grew up eating the stuff fairly often and I believe that we used to buy it after I got married in the 1970's. As a back up I ordered some P. made in Germany from eBay, and that's supposed to come by Saturday.

In some areas I know Pumpernickel gets little respect. One "origin story" said that the origin of the name was that Napoleon was offered it and he rejected it saying that it was "Pain pour Nicole" where Nicole was the name of his horse.

But Pumpernickel with Leberwurst, or cheese and perhaps onions -- strikes me as pretty good stuff.

Anyway. We have a Russian food store in town and I looked at what they had. Of course they have Moskovskoye Khleb, which is very black but too light, none of the density one wants. And they had a good candidate in some Lithuanian Rye which is very rich and dense -- but not black.

This makes me remember a sentence we learned in Russian class -- Ya rabotayu dyen' i noch', i ya yem tol'ko chyorniy khleb i sir! "I work day and night, and eat only black bread and cheese". I don't envy the working day and night but there are worse fates than eating black bread and cheese!

[Robin Garr]

Frank. are you within range of Linden, NJ? This bread shop looks like it would be worth a road trip. It's Italian, but the pumpernickel boule (page down a bit to find it) looks like it ought to meet your needs and then some.

http://www.bakersbounty.net/breads.html

Thanks Robin, the bakery is 15 miles up Route 1, not a bad trip. And I am sure I can call first to be sure they have the Pump before I leave. This should work out well.

F

[Jenise]

Pumpernickel isn't exactly thriving here where I live, but it's well represented if you know where to look. The local bagelry makes black pumpernickel bagels that are my absolute favorite thing they do, and the local Dutch influence insures that rogebrood and other pumpernickel-ish breads, the whole grain kind that come presliced about 3/16ths of an inch thick and that are perfect for cheese, are always available.

Good luck with your quest.

Well, it seems that Wednesday is pumpernickel day in NJ. I went back to the same stores (looking for "my" pickles, Claussen Minis) and found a 1 pound loaf (which I bought) and a 4 pound loaf (which I didn't buy). It also turns out that the shop Robin found is supposed to have a booth in my home town during the farmer's market on Friday (which is still functioning) and I asked them to put my name on a pumpernickel loaf. If that works out (and I don't have to drive 30 miles) we may have a pump tasting on Saturday night.

I also remembered today that I have several packages of Spaetzle made in Germany, and wrote to offer that to the hostess. She probably won't want it but that's obviously pretty authentic.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Jenise]

Frank, German food is an area that I realized earlier this year that I know very little about beyond the schnitzels, so I bought an old book from the 70's called The German Cookbook by one Mimi Sheraton, she then of the New York Times. Haven't gotten into it yet, but you remind I should.

I respect Mimi Sheraton. I'm not a fanatic about German food, it's savory and comforting at best, but rarely exciting. I did have some really nice dishes there -- there was something involving several varieties of wild mushrooms that I really loved. But most of it is a couple of notches away from Wurst.

Without someone else deciding to throw a German dinner I probably wouldn't have pursued it.

What I suggested making (the hostess said no) is something my German 5th cousins made for me. Flaedlesuppe. You make a bunch of (more or less) crepes. Then you sliver them up into noodles of sorts, and serve in a chicken broth as soup. It's a special soup that is made for weddings. I also had the best liverwurst ever -- these cousins are farm families, and they had had one of their pigs butchered, and I think the butcher made the liver into liverwurst. It was fragrant and delicious and obviously really special. Because I was trying to watch my cholesterol (very hard to do in Germany, especially in the 1980's) I ordered a lot of smoked trout for lunch and had Riesling with it. That was memorably good. And the cousin we were visiting had an ancient barn with thick stone walls. One corner was hollowed out for the sort of oven that goes back 2000 years. You put in a bunch of wood and burn it. Then shovel out some of the ashes and put in your bread. She made me a Zopf as a going away present -- a braided loaf (like challah but bigger and sugared) that was wonderful.

My only German cookbook is in German, about schwäbisch cooking, but I haven't done much with it.

In fact because we were there during a series of religious holidays (Fronleichnam = Corpus Christi, and Maria Himmelfahrt) we were forced to eat in restaurants run by Ausländer and I really enjoyed various forms of Gulaschsuppe. Everything else was closed.

Oh, one more good memory. The best sauerkraut ever, sliced very fine and flavored with juniper berries. Weinkraut I think. I'd probably have to go back to Munich for that. I've tried to reproduce it but without success. It was served with Weisswurst which was delicate and tasty.

By the way -- the hostess was glad to accept the spätzle so we'll be having at least one food made in Germany.

I was able to buy a loaf of Pump from Baker's Bounty today at the farmers' market 2 blocks from my house. It looks great -- and the guy who sold it to me kind of chided me when I admitted that it was my first time buying from them despite the fact that they have been at the farmers' market in town for years. If I really like their bread I will certainly go back. It's getting cold here (tonight should be our first freeze) but the vendors said they would be coming back "into December" so there are a few more weeks.

Anyway thanks for turning me on to this new source Robin. Should have figured it out on my own!!