I looove cooking and baking. Now all I need is a husband who doesn't mind ironing.
If you want the Swiss-est of all cookery books, get yourself a Tiptopf. It's what we are taught to cook with in school here. It's includes all the classics like Züri Gschnetzelts (your call if you want to use Kutteln to make it like the die-hards say you should), Creamy Chicken Curry in a Rice Ring, Nüsslisalat mit Französischer Sauce, Filet im Teig, Hörnli mit Ghackets and many more things... Also, Betty Bossi has just brought out a compendium of all their recipes, almost 500 pages including the delicious Mississippi Cake.
Nicky, I was given a Swiss cookbook (in English) by my Swiss gf. Unfortunately, it was just as I started WW so I can't say I've tried anything out of it yet, but some things look good.
"Cooking in Switzerland" by Marianne Haltenback, published by Wolfgang Hölker, in its 9th printing as of 2005.
I also had an English version of another book, but I gave it to my mom. Now I only have the German edition of Kochkunst und Tradition in der Schweiz , apparently by Nestle and Swissair(?) It is a beautiful book with maps, photos of folkloric costumes, chocolate, Schnapps, wines, countrsides, contains some Swiss history, and more (more than just your average cookbook with recipes and photos of food)
Nicky and Jazz, your suspicions are dead on! Potatoes are a starch, not to be confused with the 5 a day fruit and veg!
Now, about stinky cheese....Appenzeller could gag a maggot! It gags ME, at least! Hope that doesn't make me part maggot! You should have no problems with Swiss neighbors about smells - the Swiss seem to have a huge tolerance for odors that other cultures find offensive.
How do we explain me liking Stilton but not Appenzeller? One of life's little mysteries, I guess!
Tripe is something that I would never eat but both horse and veal are upon the list. Favorties in this house at the moment are hörnli & ghacket (pasta with a beef mince sauce) served with lashings of apple sauce, braised beef shins (on the bone) cooked with bacon, onions and blue cheese, pork filet wrapped smoked bacon and cooked in pastry.
I like them both but my Swiss other half also loves Stilton but hates the smell and taste of Appenzeller.
Mmmmm sounnds nice, will have to have a look for those books Carrie mentioned and discover other Swiss foods beyond cheese!
We have Tiptopf but as Kittster said, it is more of a school cook book with quite simple recipes that are not just Swiss.
Speaking to my wife, she has many of the recipes in her head so has trouble recommending a specific book. For traditional recipes you could try Schweizer Spezialitäten from Betty Bossi.
I don't really understand why people are complaining so much about Swiss food. How many who have been making comments eat regularly with the Swiss? Sure, some of the old traditional food is crap, but the same could very well be said of old cuisine in the UK or the US. The worst food I've had here is basically exactly the same my parents tried to make my sibblings and I eat when I was 5...
Have any of you had Älpler Macaron? It is just like homemade Mac & Cheese in the states (if you leave the apples on the side and eat them as a dessert). How about "Knöpflipfanne" (or at least that is what I know it as) -- knöpfli or spätzli (it is called spätzli in the US as well) with cheese, bacon, cream and onions. A beautiful heart-attack dream. Züri Gschnetzelts are absolutely great with either chicken or veal (traditional, but more expensive) and loads of mushrooms.
I have to say, I found the food here in Switzerland to be far better than in the US. Maybe I just have a strange family of in-laws (100% Swiss, only time abroad was like 9 months in the UK in terms of the mother-in-law), but I was exposed to a wide-range of dishes with Italian and Greek influences loaded with vegitables and pasta. I have had the best homemade tzatziki here, lovely baked peppers stuffed with feta, superb pasta dishes and all sorts of other international dishes. I also was introduced to dishes with curry here (as well as in the UK), whereas no one in my large extended family would have likely ever cooked with the stuff in their lives. I think all of this is also helped by the fact that I find German food great, and the restaurant that I was a regular at in the US was run by a Bavarian and served Bavarian food.
I was a bit confused by what everyone has said about Rösti. It is such a diverse dish!! Have you had Rösti pizza? Throw some cheese, bacon, and veggies on it! How about Rösti with some eggs too? It is like eating a big Sunday breakfast in the US. Normally rösti is cooked as a side dish, but when you add additional ingredients it can occasionally be used as a main.
p.s. I sadly iron my clothes and tend to organize the laundry. I miss washers and dryers that made it possible to avoid ironing basically everything... The machines on this side of the pond just are not that good.
swiss cookbooks in english
- 'Cooking in Switzerland', by Marianne Kaltenbach ( she was our sort of Delia
Smith)
- 'A taste of Switzerland' by Sue Style,a Briton well seasoned traveller and a
readable book,tho' NOT very close following of our recipes, she added her
own twist here and there
- 'A little Swiss cookbook' by Jaqueline Martinet MBE,she is a very lively lady
and I had the chance to met her a couple of times on her lecturing tours
through the Anglo -Swiss clubs,her booklet follows more tradtional swiss
recipes and covers the most well known recipes
Over 350 swiss recipes,articles written about swiss food and customs, with few foreign exceptions,translated, tried and tested can be found on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/silverspoon/
cheers
! we thought we were friggin crazy!!! We're still trying to figure out our washer/dryer (afraid of starting a long, awkward summit conference if we ask our landlord).
As for food, I am personnally in love with the bog of eternal Appenzeller stench and...bratwurst. And pretzel bread. And cheap, light, yummy Apfelwein!!!
Tried to like the spatzli and rosti...can you say yawn?
I would just like to add that you are obviously eating in the wrong restuarants and drinking the wrong beer. Yes there are alot of cheese dishes and rosti can be very bland on its own!!! But do you sit down for dinner and just eat roast potatoes??? You have to be a bit opened minded, chuck a fried egg on top and if you haven't tried Zuricher Geschnezeltes then you haven't lived. I do believe you are also eating in the wrong places. And by the sounds of it drinking the wrong beer!!!
Sorry I reapated myself, I was writing it then got called away for dinner!!!
Cheese fondue...with a big plate of rosti
Well to be honest Swiss beer is a bit bland unless you want to throw away a lot of money on something that is more expensive or imported. Afterall, they do have Sam Adams, Young's and other good beers at Coop. Otherwise, if you're ok with Lager (I find Löwenbräu a lot better than any of the Swiss lagers -- and it tastes better than the Löwenbräu one can buy in 12oz bottles in the states) it is a fair amount cheaper to buy beer than in the US, UK or Ireland. If you're talking about going out, it depends upon where you go. If you put Zürich in the same context as New York and London it isn't too bad. In terms of beer diversity on tap, you're bound to suffer.
I really miss the regularly availability Doppelbock. But, luckily, it is almost time for it to be produced over here, where it is a seasonal beer served during Lent.
http://www.xs4all.nl/~patto1ro/swisbrew.htm
Not 100% accurate, but very good.
I'll second that. I sent my (now 16 years old) son to infant school in the North east and discovered that everything on the school dinner menu was accompanied my chips. Including the pizza!!
But the prize for the most unusual food must go to Kyrgyzstan. I was there to attend two weddings last October and sampled this: http://flickr.com/photos/flashman4/2...7594343463827/
BTW. In the North east Chippies (fish and chip shops) you can sample such delights as Mars Bars deep fried in batter.
Not the whole of the North East, Parmos will be on the menu in Boro deep friend Mars bars are more likely to be found in Newcastle/Sunderland.
You're probably right. I'm from Sunderland.
What are parmos?
Parmos seem to only be available in Boro, its flattened pieces of pork or chicken (usually pork) coated in bread crumbs, fried then a thick white sauce is spread on top along with cheese/parmesan and its grilled, these are served as take aways as you would get fish'n'chips etc.. they actually have Parmo Houses in Middlesbrough that sell all sort of takeaway crap but mainly Parmos
Not something to shout about but my non Boro husband has become quite partial to my home made parmos since being with me - can't say I am a fan of the takeaway variety but quite nice if you make them yourself
Ooops, I just got sick.
hmm, i feel i may be about to cause a swiss german swiss french divide here, but being in Lausanne, i think we're blessed with generally good quality cuisine as I believe the swiss french definately know how to cook. Obviously I'm generalising here, but how many english people like to cook(and are actually good at it?). And if you enjoy cooking, you can almost always get what you want at coop, migros, and globus. Globus is pricey, but for 'les anglais' you can get mint sauce, salty and vinegary crisps and very good indian microwavable meals, but what a wealth of ingredients you can buy here, it's damn good!
Oh yeah, Rösti with a fried egg and Aromat. Bliss!
Maybe this was explained before, but what is Aromat?