European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Erman recipes for american by Randy Pruitt staff writer Gini Youngkrantz a earliest memories go Back to the family Kitchen in the Village of Handschu sheim Germany. By age 4 she was cooking. She stood on a wooden Box to reach the stove taking cues from her grandmother in Post War Germany ingredients were hard to come by. Youngkrantz still recalls a soup concocted from shortening flour water and Salt. Times were especially hard for her family her father a musician had died just months after her birth in 1944, forcing her Mother to work. The family ended up trading her father s possessions for food Staples. Quot i never went hungry but my Mother and grandmother did Quot she said. Cooking soon became her responsibility. Fortunately it was something she loved. Over the years she Learned to prepare traditional German dishes or what she describes As Quot Home style  she took her skills to America after marrying a . Soldier and looked in . Bookstores for German cookbooks. Quot there weren t any Quot she said encouraged by her husband Bob Youngkrantz wrote Quot authentic German Home style recipes Quot a Cookbook with the . Service member in mind. Quot they re the right kind of audience because they re stationed Here and they be gone to the restaurants and Gas Hauses Quot she said. She compiled 75 pages of recipes using her husbands computer to convert measurements from the metric system. The dishes were mostly salads soups and cakes things she easily remembered. One thousand copies were duplicated at a neighbourhood Quick copy shop. Following an article about her in the army times Youngkrantz was inundated with orders. Readers sent letters mentioning food they a eaten in Germany recipes she d forgotten about Quot it made me realize id have to write another Book a she said. Her third edition a 224-Page Book includes entertaining anecdotes and helpful Kitchen hints. She a obviously struck some taste buds among service members. They keep buying her Book and writing letters of appreciation. To Date she a sold 20,000 copies. Quot i can to understand Why German cuisine has t gotten More of a reputation Quot she said. Quot everybody Here says it s  Youngkrantz a secret is that she keeps the recipes simple. All Call for ingredients that can be purchased in the states at any grocery or supermarket. She shows How germans prepare asparagus carrots and potatoes cabbage and potatoes and potato pancakes. Meat dishes include Fried sausage meat loaf Chicken breast in nut breading fish in Mustard Gravy and goulash. There Are also casseroles and of course desserts. Anything with strawberries is her favorite the recipes All carry both their English and German names for those who know a dish Only by How they ordered it in a restaurant. Her Only time consuming recipe is Black Forest cake or Schwarzwalde Kirsch torte. She received too Many requests to simply ignore it. Many recipes come from her 86-year-old Mother who still lives in Handschu sheim. A suburb of Heidelberg. Youngkrantz publishes the Cookbook on her own although she has been approached by a major publishing company. One drawback of self publishing she said is placing the Book in major bookstores. Large Chain bookstores usually work Only with distributors. Youngkrantz thinks that germans love of eating goes Back to the War when food was scarce. Quot even now if you go shopping on saturday its almost like they re buying out the store because it s closed on sunday Quot she said. Youngkrantz who became a . Citizen in 1970, lives with her retired military husband in Colorado City Colo. Their son Chris lives in san Antonio and their daughter Sandy is assigned to a military intelligence unit in Augsburg Germany. Youngkrantz who visits Germany every year will autograph her cookbooks from non to 2 . Saturday at the stars and stripes Bookstore in the Augsburg shopping Center and from noon to 2 . Aug. 28 at the Bookstore in Heidelberg a shopping Center. She said the ultimate compliment is when someone follows a recipes and says a that tastes just like i  the following Are some of the recipes featured in authentic German Home style recipes. Spaetzle German homemade noodles 3 cups flour 2 eggs beaten 1 cup water 1 Teaspoon Salt 4 Tablespoons butter or Margarine in a Large bowl mix All ingredients and beat with a wooden spoon until Batter leaves the sides of the bowl. If needed add a couple Tablespoons water. Bring a Large Saucepan of water to a boil and add 1 Tablespoon Salt. Place 2 Tablespoons of Batter on a Board. Using a knife scrape thin slices of Batter into the water. If slices stick to the knife dip into water. Once the Batter is in the water boil for 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon Transfer noodles to a heated Platter and keep warm. Repeat All these Steps until All the Batter is finished. Brown butter or Margarine pour Over the noodles and serve. Serves 6-8. Wiener schnitzel breaded veal 4 veal steaks Salt and Pepper flour 1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water 1 i cups bread crumbs 3 to 4 Tablespoons shortening Lemon wedges beat steaks until thin and Sprinkle with Salt and Pepper. Dip into flour then egg mixture and finally bread crumbs Fry in shortening until Brown on both sides. Garnish with Lemon wedges. Serves four. A Frisch Kraut bavarian cabbage 1 i pounds cabbage shredded 4 slices Bacon diced 1 medium onion diced 2 medium tart apples diced i cup dry White wine v4 cup water 1 i Teaspoons Caraway seeds in Praise of v Lidil int fun  Carleton Jones the Baltimore Sun i really think i could pay off the Auto loan quickly if i could think of an adequate diet consisting solely of cabbages bananas and Oatmeal then package it and sell it. In this Day of occasional 50-cent tomatoes and Lemons a head of cabbage fresh and Green does come with an increased allure though we think of it ordinarily As an accompaniment for such wintry specialities As corned beef platters and pork roasts cabbage and its pungent daughter sauerkraut deserve at least another look in late summer because 1 it is so plentiful and 2 you May not have tried it since the late 1970s. Plenty of other people have however for Industry sources say americans eat 210,000 tons of Kraut annually using sauerkraut with versatility takes some thinking to 1vi Teaspoons sugar red wine vinegar Salt in a Large Kettle Fry Bacon until Crisp add onion and saute until Golden. Stir in sugar and Cook until lightly Brown. Add cabbage and apples mix Well cover and Cook approximately 30 minutes. Add Caraway seeds wine and water. Cover and Cook another 20 minutes. Season with Salt and vinegar. Makes 4-6 Servings. Apfel Kuchen Apple cake 136 cups flour 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder 1 6 cups sugar 4 eggs 2 Teaspoons Vanilla extract 1 stick butter or Margarine 4 pounds tart apples peeled cored and quartered 36 cups whipping Cream place flour on a counter top Sprinkle with baking powder and i cup sugar. Make a Well and drop in an egg and 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract. Cut the butter or Margarine in slices Over the flour. Knead the ingredients to a smooth dough. Roll it out and place it in a greased 10-Inch Spring form cake pan making sure it is Halfway up the sides. Cut slits into the outside of the Apple quarters and Lay them on the dough Slit Side up. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Beat 3 eggs 1 cup sugar and 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract until it is creamy approximately 5 minutes. Add the whipping Cream and pour Over the apples. Place cake Back in the oven and bake another 20 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Haunch entrust in Nuss Hulle Chicken breast in nut breading 4 Chicken breasts boned 1 egg 5 Tablespoons bread crumbs 5 Tablespoons ground walnuts 5 Tablespoons flour 4 Tablespoons butter or Margarine 1 Small onion diced 1 Tablespoon Curry 1vi cups whipping Cream 2 Tablespoons Lemon juice 3 Teaspoons cornstarch Salt Pepper beat egg in a shallow dish with Salt and Pepper. Mix bread crumbs with walnuts and set aside. Pound each Chicken breast to a Inch thickness. Dip into flour then in egg then in bread crumbs with walnuts. Melt butter or Margarine in Large Skillet Brown the meat on both sides turn Down heat and Cook for 20 minutes. Place breasts on a Platter add diced onion to drippings in Skillet and saute until glazed. Add Curry powder and stir in whipping Cream make a paste with cornstarch and Lemon juice stir into Cream and bring to a boil stirring constantly until thickened and smooth. Season with Salt and Pepper and a dash of sugar. Place Chicken breasts in sauce and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Serves 4. Gina Youngkrantz wrote her recipe Book with . Service members in and. A amps Randy Pruitt shake out the cliches of the past a my two Best cabbage dishes with them. They were a family style Cole Slaw and a stuffed cabbage Roll formula done armenian style plenty of Sage and ground pork and onion. The Cole Staw was made by a favorite aunt who used a razor Sharp chef s knife. She would shave away at a single head of cabbage for at least half an hour building up tender razor thin transparent slices that produced eth really Light Slaw delicately seasoned with celery seed and Cream. In those Days my sauerkraut experience was limited to an endless procession of Maryland thanksgiving turkeys and Deli Reuben sandwiches. That there were other worlds of Kraut outside of Slaw and the turkeys and the sandwiches never occurred to me. Kraut with hot dogs a a Quot Standard Quot of Philly Milwaukee or St. Louis and Points West a never seemed to become epidemic in Baltimore. The fact is it is sauerkraut in one or another form that 5 by All Odds the most popular cabbage preparation of Al tune. There Are a number of major sauerkraut festivals in the nod states most of them held from August to Aber Waynesville Ohio Phelps n.y., Franksville. S and Scappoose Ore Are among the Sites. Its an Lyday dish in Europe from Paris to Moscow. In Eastern Ince Chou route the National dish of Alsace holds Fth in Bavaria and in Poland and the Balkan slates. Shredded cabbage mixed with apples sometimes goes the Sweet route with vibrant currant Jelly spiced with red wine cloves and cinnamon Sticks. Scandinavians mix their cabbage dishes with diced apples and smother them in Orange Flavoured Cream. So How can you set about an exploratory Kitchen session with Kraut if you Are Lucky enough to have an ethnic Deli close by chances Are its sauerkraut is As Good As you Are Likely to find or make at Home your second Best Choice. A third Choice if you Are in a hurry is Kraut from a can and Here opinions differ. Some Cooks will used canned cabbage if cooking is involved. Whether canned or bought in bulk sauerkraut always has had a must preparation step. Rinse the botch and Drain it Well before using. When laying Down the shredded cabbage in a Home sauerkraut operation a Shade More than 1 Tablespoon of Kosher Salt per Pound of cabbage is about right. Sauerkraut must be weighted in Glass or Ceramic crocks and kept under brine water at an Ideal temperature of about 60 degrees freshly cooked and Frozen sauerkraut is said to be As Good As fresh from the Crock ii your Kraut turns Pink or Limp or dark wholly or in spots throw it out ii you find that you must add brine water while your sauerkraut is ripening add 1 .6 Teaspoons of Kosher Salt to every quart of water used to cover. The oddest use of recent years is the addition of sauerkraut to Lush chocolate cake preparations the flavor of the Kraut will be undetectable but it is said to give chocolate preparations a hint of expensive Swiss chocolate flavor while it also helps keep the cake fresh the dietary benefits of sauerkraut include Richness in Vitamin a potassium and fiber and thinness in calories. Freezing Kraut is eminently practical and should produce a thawed out product As Good As the original the following recipe from Gini Youngkrantz s authentic German Home style recipes starts with canned sauerkraut sauerkraut 2 16-ounce cans sauerkraut 3 Tablespoons shortening 1/2 cup White wine 1 i cups water 1 medium onion diced 1 Apple grated 1 Bay Leaf 3 whole cloves Salt Pepper sugar saute onion in shortening until Golden dram sauerkraut and add to onion saute another 5 minutes add water and wine add the Apple Bay Loat and cloves and simmer 45 minutes stir in the potato and simmer for another 10 minutes season with Salt Pepper and a dash of sugar. Serves 4.Page 14 a the stars and stripes Friday september 20, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15