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FijiFlavors · Baden-Württemberg
Fresh pasta dough filled with ground meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion and herbs, served in broth, browned with onions, or sliced and fried with egg. A Swabian dish with protected geographical indication since 2009, traditional at Easter week.
Traditional dish from Baden-Württemberg
Also known as: Maultaschen, Herrgottsbscheißerle, Herrgottsbescheißerle
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Schwäbische Maultaschen — Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Schwäbische Maultaschen are large fresh-dough pockets from Swabia, the historic region that covers much of Baden-Württemberg and part of Bavaria. The filling mixes ground meat or sausage meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion, parsley and seasonings. The dough is rolled out, topped with the filling, folded or rolled and cut into rectangles that are cooked in water or broth.
There are three classic ways to serve them. In soup, the Maultaschen are served whole in a beef broth with chives. Geschmälzt: they are served with onions browned in butter and potato salad. And geröstet: sliced and fried in a pan with beaten eggs. Many Swabian families serve all three during Holy Week, one on each day.
The nickname Herrgottsbscheißerle, roughly “those who trick the Lord,” comes from a legend. It says that a lay brother of the Cistercian monastery of Maulbronn, during Lent, hid minced meat inside the greens and wrapped everything in dough so God would not see that the monks were eating meat during the fast. The administration of Maulbronn monastery, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, repeats the story, but there is no document that proves it.
Since 2009, Schwäbische Maultaschen have a protected geographical indication from the European Union, tied to the Swabia region. Maultaschen are the dish of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in many homes in the region, and appear the rest of the year on tavern, canteen and home menus as everyday food.
Baden-Württemberg
Schwäbische Maultaschen are a protected geographical indication of Swabia, the region that covers much of Baden-Württemberg.
Fresh dough made from flour and eggs; filling of ground meat or sausage meat, spinach, soaked bread, onion, parsley, nutmeg, salt and pepper. To serve: beef broth, onions browned in butter, or eggs.
In broth with chives; with onions browned and potato salad; or sliced and fried in a pan with egg.
All year round; traditional at Easter week, especially on Maundy Thursday.
Your questions
Because of a legend: a brother from the Maulbronn monastery is said to have hidden meat inside the dough during Lent so God would not see. The story is told in the region, but there is no document that confirms it.
In three classic ways: in beef broth; with onions browned and potato salad; or sliced and fried in a pan with egg.
All year round, but they are traditional at Easter week, especially on Maundy Thursday, in many Swabian homes.
Flavors of Germany
Aachen spice cookie, sweetened with syrup and with small pieces of brown candi sugar that crackle when you bite them. It can be hard or soft, plain, with almonds or coated in chocolate. It has a protected geographical indication from the European Union.
Layered chocolate sponge cake soaked in Kirschwasser, the cherry brandy of the Black Forest, with cherries and whipped cream, topped with chocolate shavings. Black Forest tourism presents it as the region’s most famous sweet specialty.
Dark beer with a smoky flavor, made with malt dried in the smoke of beech firewood. Bamberg tourism presents it as part of the city’s identity, and the traditional preparation is listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
Paste of camembert or brie cheese mashed with butter, paprika and, depending on the recipe, onion, cumin or beer; eaten with bread or a pretzel. A beer‑garden dish from Bavaria, with protected geographical indication since 2015.
Sausage sliced into rounds, topped with tomato sauce and curry powder, served with french fries or bread. The creation of the sauce is attributed to Herta Heuwer, who sold it in Berlin in 1949.
Kale slowly cooked with bacon, served with the smoked sausage Pinkel, smoked pork and potatoes. Bremen’s official portal presents it as the city’s best-known specialty, a winter dish of the Kohlfahrt.
Light, pale beer with top fermentation, served in a thin cylindrical 0.2‑liter glass by the breweries’ waiter, the Köbes. It is a protected geographical indication and may only be made in Cologne and in a few breweries in the region.
Sweet Christmas bread with raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and plenty of butter, coated with powdered sugar. Mentioned in Dresden since 1474, it has had protected geographical indication status since 2010.
Amber-colored beer, top-fermented with a pronounced bitterness, brewed in Düsseldorf’s brewery-taverns from a mid-19th-century recipe. The city’s tourism promotion presents it as the typical drink of the Altstadt.
Cold sauce of seven chopped fresh herbs with sour cream, served with hard‑boiled eggs and potatoes. The mixture of the seven herbs, grown largely in the Oberrad neighborhood, has protected geographical indication.
Sweet made from fermented, laminated dough with butter, sugar and cinnamon, rolled and pressed until it takes its characteristic flattened shape. Hamburg’s official portal presents it as a specialty of the city.
Dry, acidic apple wine, fully fermented, served in the Bembel ceramic jug and in the diamond-patterned glass called the Gerippte. It is a protected geographical indication of Hesse, and the apple wine culture of the state is listed in the German inventory of intangible heritage.
Little tart of shortcrust pastry filled with marzipan, almonds and a touch of jam or a cherry, with two strips of pastry crossed on top. It replaced the roasted lark, a Leipzig dish until the hunting ban in 1876.
White veal sausage with bacon and parsley, warmed in hot water and served with sweet mustard and a pretzel, traditionally before midday. It is one of Munich’s best-known specialties.
Honey cake with spices, walnuts and almonds, often baked on a thin wafer and covered with chocolate or icing. It has a protected geographical indication since 1996 and may only be made within Nuremberg.
Pork sausages 7 to 9 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram and grilled, served by the dozen with sauerkraut or inside a roll. They have protected geographical indication since 2003 and may only be made in Nuremberg.
Ball of strips of shortcrust pastry, fried and dusted with confectioners’ sugar, resembling a snowball. Rothenburg ob der Tauber tourism presents it as the city’s regional specialty.
Cake baked in thin layers on a spit that turns in front of a fire; when sliced it shows rings like those of a tree trunk. Made in Salzwedel since the early 19th century, it has been a protected geographical indication since 2010.
Long, thin pork sausage, 15 to 20 centimeters long, seasoned with marjoram, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal and eaten in a small roll with mustard. The earliest known mention dates from 1404, and the name has protected geographical indication status since 2004.
