German food outside Germany usually means one sausage and one beer hall. Inside the country it is a lot more regional than that: Berlin and Bavaria do not cook the same way, the north coast runs on cured fish and pickles, and the southwest barely resembles any of it.
Here are 20 dishes that show that range, from a five-minute herring roll to a Christmas loaf that needs a week to rest before you cut it. Every one links to the full recipe, and where two dishes share an English name, like the pork knuckles from Bavaria and Berlin on this list, the differences are called out plainly rather than blurred together.
1. Currywurst mit Pommes, Berlin and the Ruhr area
Sliced bratwurst under a warm, curry-spiced ketchup, dusted with more curry powder and served with a real pile of fries. Berlin street food, the full version.
Recipe: Sliced bratwurst, curry ketchup, a dusting of curry powder, and fries.
Get the full recipe: Currywurst mit Pommes.
2. Rheinischer Sauerbraten, Rhineland
Beef marinated for three days in wine and vinegar, braised until tender, and finished in a sweet-sour gravy thickened with crushed gingersnaps and raisins. The Rhineland's patient pot roast.
Recipe: Beef marinated for three days, braised, with a gingersnap-thickened sweet-sour gravy.
Get the full recipe: Rheinischer Sauerbraten.
3. Schweinshaxe mit Knödel, Bavaria
A whole pork knuckle, dried, slow-roasted, then blasted with high heat until the skin shatters like glass. Bavaria's beer-hall showpiece, roasted rather than boiled.
Recipe: Pork knuckle, dried and slow-roasted, finished hot for crackling, served with a dumpling and gravy.
Get the full recipe: Schweinshaxe mit Knödel.
4. Nürnberger Rostbratwürste, Nuremberg, Franconia
Small, marjoram-seasoned pork sausages, grilled fast and served a dozen at a time with sauerkraut and mustard. Nuremberg's protected specialty, genuinely finger-sized.
Recipe: Small marjoram-seasoned sausages, grilled, served with sauerkraut and mustard.
Get the full recipe: Nürnberger Rostbratwürste.
5. Weißwurst mit Brezn und Süßem Senf, Munich, Bavaria
Pale veal-and-pork sausage, warmed gently in water just below a simmer, served with a soft pretzel and sweet Bavarian mustard. Munich's late-morning tradition, with a real rule about the clock.
Recipe: Weißwurst sausage, gently heated, served with a soft pretzel and sweet mustard.
Get the full recipe: Weißwurst mit Brezn und Süßem Senf.
6. Rinderrouladen mit Rotkohl, Across Germany
Thin beef rolled around mustard, bacon, onion and pickle, braised until tender, served with sweet-sour red cabbage. A Sunday-table classic found all over the country.
Recipe: Beef rolled around mustard, bacon, onion and pickle, braised, served with red cabbage.
Get the full recipe: Rinderrouladen mit Rotkohl.
7. Schwäbische Maultaschen in Brühe, Swabia
Oversized pasta pockets of minced meat, spinach and soaked bread, poached and served sliced in clear broth. Swabia's "little God-cheaters," with a real legend behind the name.
Recipe: Large pasta pockets filled with meat, spinach and bread, served in broth.
Get the full recipe: Schwäbische Maultaschen in Brühe.
8. Allgäuer Kässpatzen, Allgäu
Soft egg noodles layered with melted mountain cheese, topped with a generous pile of golden fried onions. The Allgäu's own version of comfort-food pasta.
Recipe: Egg noodle Spätzle, layered with mountain cheese, topped with fried onions.
Get the full recipe: Allgäuer Kässpatzen.
9. Schwäbischer Zwiebelrostbraten, Swabia
A seared steak, nearly buried under a pile of crisp fried onions, with pan gravy and Spätzle alongside. Swabia's steak night, built around the same onions that top Kässpatzen.
Recipe: Seared steak, topped with crisp fried onions, served with gravy and Spätzle.
Get the full recipe: Schwäbischer Zwiebelrostbraten.
10. Königsberger Klopse, East Prussian heritage
Veal and pork meatballs, gently poached and served in a creamy, caper-sharp sauce, with boiled potatoes. A dish that carried East Prussian heritage west across the rest of Germany.
Recipe: Poached veal and pork meatballs in a creamy caper sauce, served with potatoes.
Get the full recipe: Königsberger Klopse.
11. Berliner Eisbein mit Erbspüree, Berlin
Cured pork knuckle, simmered for hours until the meat falls apart and the skin stays soft, served with split-pea purée and sauerkraut. Berlin's boiled answer to Bavaria's roasted one.
Recipe: Cured pork knuckle, simmered until tender, served with split-pea purée and sauerkraut.
Get the full recipe: Berliner Eisbein mit Erbspüree.
12. Labskaus, Hamburg and northern Germany
Corned beef and potato, mashed pink with beetroot brine, topped with a fried egg and served with pickles and rollmops. A sailor's meal that became Hamburg's signature plate.
Recipe: Corned beef and potato mashed with beetroot, topped with a fried egg, served with pickles.
Get the full recipe: Labskaus.
13. Matjesbrötchen, North Sea coast and northern Germany
A crusty roll filled with mildly cured Matjes herring and a handful of raw onion. About as fast and simple as North Sea food gets, and better for it.
Recipe: Matjes herring and raw onion, in a crusty roll.
Get the full recipe: Matjesbrötchen.
14. Grünkohl mit Pinkel, Bremen and Lower Saxony
Kale cooked down for hours with smoked Pinkel sausage and a little rolled oats for body, served with potatoes. Lower Saxony's cold-weather dish, traditionally eaten after the first frost.
Recipe: Slow-cooked kale with smoked Pinkel sausage and rolled oats, served with potatoes.
Get the full recipe: Grünkohl mit Pinkel.
15. Himmel un Ääd, Rhineland
Mashed potatoes swirled with stewed apple, topped with pan-fried blood sausage and a heap of browned onions. A Rhineland dish named, literally, for heaven and earth.
Recipe: Mashed potatoes and stewed apple, topped with fried blood sausage and browned onions.
Get the full recipe: Himmel un Ääd.
16. Pfälzer Saumagen, Palatinate
Pork, potato and herbs, cooked inside a pig's stomach casing, then cooled, sliced and pan-fried until crisp outside and soft within. The Palatinate's most famous, and most political, dish.
Recipe: Pork and potato filling, cooked in a stomach casing, cooled, sliced and pan-fried.
Get the full recipe: Pfälzer Saumagen.
17. Flammkuchen mit Speck und Zwiebeln, Southwest Germany and Alsace
A paper-thin, yeast-free flatbread spread with crème fraîche and topped with bacon and onion, baked fast in a very hot oven until it blisters and cracks. Not a pizza, despite the resemblance.
Recipe: A thin, yeast-free flatbread, topped with crème fraîche, bacon and onion, baked hot and fast.
Get the full recipe: Flammkuchen mit Speck und Zwiebeln.
18. Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Black Forest
Chocolate sponge layered with cherries and Kirsch-soaked whipped cream, covered in more cream and chocolate shavings. The Black Forest's famous export, and genuinely built on real cherry brandy.
Recipe: Chocolate sponge, cherries and Kirsch-soaked cream, layered and covered in chocolate shavings.
Get the full recipe: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
19. Dresdner Christstollen, Dresden, Saxony
A dense, rum-soaked loaf of raisins, candied peel and almonds, finished in a thick coat of butter and powdered sugar that lets it keep for weeks. Dresden's Advent tradition, meant to be made ahead.
Recipe: A rum-soaked fruit and almond loaf, finished with butter and powdered sugar, rested before slicing.
Get the full recipe: Dresdner Christstollen.
20. Rote Grütze mit Vanillesauce, Northern Germany
Mixed red berries, cooked down and thickened, chilled and served with a thin, pourable vanilla sauce. About as simple as northern German desserts get, and none the worse for it.
Recipe: Mixed red berries, thickened and chilled, served with a thin vanilla sauce.
Get the full recipe: Rote Grütze mit Vanillesauce.
good to have in the kitchen
A handful of things come up again and again across this list. None are strictly required, but they make the difference between a good version and the real one.
A dried marjoram, the defining spice in Nürnberger sausages and more than one dish on this list.
A dark beer, for basting Schweinshaxe and building its gravy; a dunkel works better here than a lager.
A gingersnap cookies, the odd, real trick behind a proper sauerbraten gravy.
A kirschwasser, not optional for a real Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, whatever a syrup substitute promises.
A spätzle press, makes Kässpatzen and Zwiebelrostbraten's side dish far less fiddly than scraping by hand.
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