The wilds of culinary Frankfurt!

Today, I am going to take you into the wilds of culinary Frankfurt and along with Franzi on a long and fun-filled day en femme.

The day started out as so often on “Saturdays out and about,” my wife being out with a friend, Franzi home alone, enjoying the transformation process. I work with a check list – don’t laugh, I am an engineer and I love check lists. I have often forgotten certain things or aspects during preparation, such as fake lashes or earrings or blush or my debit card. That is why I developed a two-page long check list, page one covering the preparatory steps that can be taken the evening before and page two detailing the step-by-step transformation. One fun aspect in Franzi’s preparation and an early entry on page two of my check list is “girly music.” Lately, I have been listening to an Apple music play list called “Girl Power” during my transformation.

Portrait of the day

In the late morning, Franziska left home and took the bus from the bus stop around the corner to Frankfurt south station. In this section of town called Sachsenhausen, you can find numerous “Apfelweinlokale” (apple wine places), which offer authentic Frankfurt cuisine. My American readers will be happy to learn from the following picture that the NFL is gaining in popularity in Germany.

The area around Frankfurt grows lots of fruit: pears, plums, apricots, quinces, cherries, grapes, but the biggest share of fruit are apples, with some meadows just being covered with apple trees that nobody harvests. Fermented apple juice tastes great and can be kept in an open barrel for many months. The result of this fermentation process is called Apfelwein (apple wine), or Äppler or Stöffsche and it has around 6% alcohol content. And while the designation “wine” is technically not correct, “Hessischer Apfelwein” (Hesse being the state in which Frankfurt is located) is a regional specialty, protected under a European enactment, the likes of “Parmesan Cheese” and “Champagne.”

One of Franzi’s male alter ego’s most favorite apple wine places is called “Kanonesteppel.” It is very much a local place with virtually no tourists. I also love taking customers here and, incidentally, happened to have been at this very place just a few days earlier with a coworker and two Asian business partners.

The courtyard of “Kanonesteppel” around lunch time on a Saturday.

Apple wine, “sauergespritzt,” which means about ¼ sparkling water, which makes the drink less sweet. That is how we drink it here in Frankfurt.

A very special local appetizer is "Handkäs mit Musik" (hand cheese with music), which is a marinated cheese with onions and cumin, enjoyed on a buttered slice of hearty German bread. This sure is an acquired taste. I know very few people that liked it the first time. If you wonder about the music bit - that is what comes with the raw onions.

“Frankfurter Grüne Soße” (Frankfurt green sauce) is being served as a side with many local dishes, such as Schnitzel or prime boiled beef or veal. I prefer the vegetarian version with either boiled or fried potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. Here is what is in the sauce and how to make it, in case you want to give it a try: Germany-insider-facts.com 

And should you ever come to Frankfurt, you HAVE to try it in some local place. This sauce has a fantastic fresh taste and is also said to have been the favorite dish of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Germany’s best-known poet, playwright, theater director, and scientific writer, who was born in Frankfurt.

“Apfelküchle mit Vanilleeis” (fried apple rings with vanilla ice cream). No description needed here, as am sure that you all can imagine how this typical local dessert tastes.

And for good measure, we finish off a good meals with a “Mispelchen,” which is distilled apple, water, sugar and a “eingelegte Mispel” (inserted common medlar).

After lunch, I visited some of my favorite places, which you will recognize from previous postings: Römerberg, the square in the city center, where Frankfurt’s town hall (the “Römer”) is located.

The cafe and prosecco bar at the major department store.

And I got to sit on my most favorite windowsill at this hip wine bar in Frankfurt’s new old town. I think this is the third picture I have of Franzi in this very spot.

Across from the wine bar is a Steiff store. I am not sure how well known this over 150-year-old German brand for cuddly toys (brit.) / stuffed animals (amer.) is in the rest of the world. But this giraffe sure is impressive, don’t you think?

And then I had to go home – to change into another outfit, more fitting with the plans for the evening. “But that is another story and shall be told another time,” as one of my favorite book authors would have put it.