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Biergarten food: Obatzda revisited
Some how we ended up with a lot of cheese in our fridge. I think I wanted to make a cheese cake but all of a sudden it got too hot to bring the oven temperature above ambient. We also make weekly buys of Camembert by the mini-wheel and wait a month until they reach their ripe date. Lately I’ve been playing a kind of Tetris game with the fridge contents in order to find room for cold drinks and other whatnots. Stuff had to start disappearing.
That’s when I revisited the Obatzter recipe I posted almost four years ago. At the time I had never seen nor tasted this Bavarian cheese spread and I certainly wasn’t in the metric mode yet. To my surprise the old recipe calls for a tummy roll of butter. I needed the butter for another use so I looked into using the cream cheese I no longer needed. This is what I came up with and the group at the Biergarten was pleasantly gaga over the results.
Ingredients:
* 200 g young camembert
* 30 g very ripe camembert
* 300 g cream cheese
* 2 Tbs sweet paprika powder
optional:
* 1/2 tsp caraway seed powder
* 1 small red onion finely chopped
This is very simple to make with lots of wiggle room to be creative.
Scope out the cream cheese also known as frischer Käse into a medium sized bowl. I used two different kinds of cream cheese: about 250 g of plain, reduced calorie Philadelphia and 50 g of an Aldi brand with herbs.
Remove the rind from the Camembert (if you aren’t squeamish about the rind, do like me and chop it up finely and spoon it in after the soft cheeses are mixed). We had some very, very ripe Camembert Le Rustique and a small wedge added a lot of flavor to the Obatzda. Although the cheese stench can be overwhelming upon opening the fridge door, it really is worth waiting to use the Camembert until the date on the package.
So add the rind-less Camembert with the paprika to the cream cheese and combine throughly. You can stop there. I didn’t have any caraway seeds (called Kümmel) but it tasted fine without any. Once you’re ready to eat, sprinkle some chopped red onions over the Obatzda and serve it with a basket of soft pretzels (Brezel) and a Maß of Helles.
With so many Biergarten visits in the summer you can easily treat yourself to an extra liter of beer by bringing this appetite pleaser with you.
lets go to the Biergarten :: Wintergarten
I was at the Staatbibliotek (library) on a Friday afternoon in late June when I got a hankering for a beer. The nearest Biergarten was probably at the Chinese Tower but I didn’t want to hit that well-weathered spot. After a call with Alex, we decided to walk from the library to the Wintergarten in Schwabing.
The 27 Tram drives right by this former milk shack and quaint neighborhood Biergarten. 
It is located next to the Elisabethmarkt, which is a small grocers’ market that bursts with activity from 9am to 2pm. The Wintergarten serves Augustiner beer (yoohoo) and cooks up the standard Bavarian fair, i.e., Obazda, Weisswurst before noon, Schnitzel, etc… The atmosphere was lively with plenty of friendly faces, many of whom were dancing. I guess not very out-of-the-ordinary for 7pm. There is a small park for children to play in the back and the service was pleasantly attentive. My only complaint would be the size of the Käsespätzle. It was just a wee bit on the wee bit side.
Of course I was stealing from sharing with Alex so I can understand how I could perceive that we got gypped for our 7.50 Euro. It’s a lovely place if you are in the neighborhood and the weather is cooperative (which it hasn’t been lately, puh). A huge plus for me is the view of some quality wall graffiti from our Bierbank (bench).
Summer begins lets go to the Biergarten
It’s the summer solstice today and I think it’s fitting to introduce a new goal: go through the list of the many Biergärten in and around Munich. I’m hoping it is possible given the crazy schedule I’m putting myself through and these depressing weather bouts that we’ll be able to get a few under our belts this season. Since I’ve been here, I’ve already had a chance to visit a few listed below. With that, I write a little something about them and hopefully find in my archives a picture to mark the day.
I mention here places called Biergärten or Wirtsgärten. What’s the difference?
Where there are tables with no tablecloths, you can bring your own food and enjoy a cozy picnic (beverages must be bought in the Biergarten). In contrast to beer gardens, a Wirtsgarten is a small outdoor restaurant with wait or self service.
I’ll write about a Biergarten visit and post some pictures in future posts. If you’d like to write about a Munich Biergarten visit. Just let me know and I’ll link to this post.
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