Bayerische Küche · Guten Appetit

Bavarian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Pull up a chair at the Bavarian table, where the Sunday roast crackles in Schmalz, pretzels arrive warm and brushed with butter, and every Schmankerl is cooked the way the Wirtshaus kitchens of the south have always cooked it. Honest ingredients, deep flavor, and not a drop of vegetable oil.

Explore the Recipes
Almbutter Schmalz Gänseschmalz
A carefully plated Bavarian dish on a dark wooden table
Schweinsbraten
From the recipe collection
Almbutter

Alpine Butter First

Bavarian cooking leans on butter from the alpine dairies of the Allgäu foothills. Every dumpling, sauce, and sweet in this collection begins with it, never with a refined seed oil.

Schmalz

Rendered the Old Way

Pork Schmalz and goose fat, rendered slowly on a quiet flame, carry the roast, glaze the Blaukraut, and give the Wirtshaus kitchen its unmistakable depth.

Koa Öl

Never Vegetable Oil

In Bavarian dialect, "koa Öl" means no oil at all. No seed oils, no shortcuts, only the traditional fats that farm kitchens and beer gardens have trusted for generations.

From Our Kitchen

Bavarian Schmankerl

Six beloved dishes from the Wirtshaus tables and farm kitchens of southern Bavaria, each cooked with the honest fats that bring out the best in every ingredient.

Wirtshaus Schweinsbraten, sliced Bavarian roast pork with dark gravy on a warm plate

Schweinsbraten

Bavarian roast pork with dark lager gravy

3 hr◆6 servings◆Medium

The Sunday centerpiece of every Bavarian Wirtshaus. Pork shoulder rubbed with caraway and garlic, roasted over root vegetables in Schmalz, and basted with dark lager until the crackling snaps.

Ingredients

  • 2 kg pork shoulder with the rind on
  • 2 tbsp Schmalz (pork lard)
  • 1 tbsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 onions, quartered
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 1 small piece of celeriac, cubed
  • 500 ml dark Bavarian lager
  • 500 ml beef or pork stock

Instructions

  1. Score the rind in a diamond pattern, then rub the whole joint with salt, pepper, caraway, and garlic.
  2. Melt the Schmalz in a heavy roasting pan and brown the onions, carrots, and celeriac.
  3. Pour in the stock, set the pork rind side down, and roast at 180°C (355°F) for 30 minutes.
  4. Turn the joint rind side up and roast about 2 hours more, basting every 20 minutes with the dark lager.
  5. Raise the oven to 230°C (445°F) for the final 15 minutes so the rind blisters into crackling.
  6. Rest the meat, then strain the pan juices and simmer them into a glossy gravy, finishing with a knob of cold butter.
  7. Carve thick slices and serve with the gravy, bread dumplings, and Blaukraut.
Alpensee Forelle Blau, delicate poached trout served with melted butter and herbs

Forelle Blau

Blue trout with melted alpine butter

30 min◆2 servings◆Easy

The gentlest dish of the alpine lakes. Very fresh trout poached in a vinegar broth that turns the skin a pale steel blue, served simply with melted butter and horseradish.

Ingredients

  • 2 whole trout, extremely fresh, cleaned but unscaled
  • 1.5 litres water
  • 250 ml white wine vinegar
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 120 g butter, for melting
  • Freshly grated horseradish, lemon wedges, and buttered potatoes, to serve

Instructions

  1. Simmer the water with the onion, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt for 10 minutes.
  2. Handle the trout as little as possible so its natural coating stays intact; that is what turns blue.
  3. Lay the fish in a deep pan and pour the hot vinegar over them first, then add the poaching broth.
  4. Poach below a simmer, never boiling, for 8 to 10 minutes until the eyes turn white and the skin shows blue.
  5. Meanwhile melt the butter gently until it just smells sweet and nutty.
  6. Lift the trout out carefully, drain, and serve with the melted butter, horseradish, lemon, and potatoes.
Beilage Blaukraut, glossy braised red cabbage with apples in a rustic bowl

Blaukraut

Braised red cabbage in Schmalz and goose fat

1 hr 15 min◆6 servings◆Easy

The faithful companion of every Bavarian roast. Red cabbage braised low and slow in pork Schmalz and goose fat with apples, juniper, and cloves until glossy and deeply savory.

Ingredients

  • 1 red cabbage, about 1 kg, cored and finely sliced
  • 2 tbsp Schmalz (pork lard)
  • 2 tbsp goose fat
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tart apples, peeled and grated
  • 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 4 juniper berries and 2 whole cloves
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Melt the Schmalz and goose fat in a heavy pot and soften the onion for 5 minutes.
  2. Stir in the sugar and let it turn pale amber before adding the cabbage.
  3. Add the apples, vinegar, juniper, cloves, and bay leaf and toss until the cabbage glistens.
  4. Pour in a small glass of water, cover, and braise gently for about 1 hour, stirring now and then.
  5. Uncover for the last 10 minutes so the juices reduce to a light glaze.
  6. Season with salt and pepper, remove the bay leaf and cloves, and serve warm beside the roast.
Suppenküche Leberknoedelsuppe, a liver dumpling resting in clear golden beef broth

Leberknödelsuppe

Liver dumpling soup in clear beef broth

1 hr◆4 servings◆Medium

The opening act of a proper Bavarian lunch. Tender liver dumplings bound with butter, marjoram, and soaked rolls, poached gently and served in a clear golden beef broth.

Ingredients

  • 250 g beef liver, trimmed and finely minced
  • 4 stale white rolls, diced
  • 150 ml warm whole milk
  • 60 g soft butter, plus 1 tbsp for the onion
  • 1 small onion, very finely chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • Finely grated zest of a quarter lemon
  • Salt, black pepper, and a grating of nutmeg
  • 1.5 litres clear beef broth, plus chives to finish

Instructions

  1. Soak the diced rolls in the warm milk for 15 minutes, then squeeze them lightly.
  2. Soften the onion in 1 tbsp butter until translucent and let it cool.
  3. Beat the soft butter until creamy, then work in the liver, eggs, soaked rolls, onion, marjoram, zest, and seasonings.
  4. Let the mixture rest 15 minutes so the crumb swells and binds.
  5. With wet hands, shape the mixture into dumplings the size of a small apricot.
  6. Poach in barely simmering salted water for about 15 minutes until they float high.
  7. Warm the beef broth, set the dumplings into deep bowls, ladle the broth over, and shower with chives.
Backstube Brezn, deep brown Bavarian pretzels dusted with coarse salt on a bakery board

Brezn

Bavarian pretzels brushed with butter

2 hr 30 min◆8 pretzels◆Medium

The emblem of the Bavarian bakery. A firm dough twisted into the classic knot, dipped for its deep mahogany shine, and brushed while warm with melted butter, the beloved Butterbrezn.

Ingredients

  • 500 g bread flour
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp barley malt syrup or sugar
  • 260 ml lukewarm water
  • 40 g soft butter, for the dough
  • 1.5 litres water, for the dipping bath
  • 80 g baking soda, for the dipping bath
  • Coarse pretzel salt, for sprinkling
  • 40 g melted butter, for brushing

Instructions

  1. Knead the flour, yeast, salt, malt, water, and soft butter into a firm, smooth dough, about 10 minutes.
  2. Cover and let it rise 1 hour until nearly doubled.
  3. Divide into 8 pieces and roll each into a long rope with thin ends and a plump belly, then twist into the pretzel shape.
  4. Rest the shaped pretzels uncovered in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so the surface dries slightly.
  5. Bring the water and baking soda to a gentle simmer and dip each pretzel for 20 seconds.
  6. Sprinkle with coarse salt, slash the belly once, and bake at 200°C (390°F) for 15 to 18 minutes until deep brown.
  7. Brush the warm pretzels generously with melted butter and eat them the same day.
Süßspeise Dampfnudeln, golden steamed sweet dumplings served warm with sauce

Dampfnudeln

Steamed sweet dumplings with a butter crust

2 hr◆6 servings◆Medium

Bavaria's grand sweet finish. Pillowy yeast dumplings steamed in a covered pan of butter and milk until they grow a golden, lightly salted caramel crust, served with warm vanilla sauce.

Ingredients

  • 500 g plain flour
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • 60 g sugar, plus 1 tbsp for the pan
  • A pinch of salt, plus ½ tsp for the pan
  • 220 ml warm whole milk, plus 250 ml for the pan
  • 60 g soft butter, for the dough
  • 1 egg
  • 60 g butter, for the pan
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar
  • Warm vanilla sauce, to serve

Instructions

  1. Knead the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, warm milk, soft butter, and egg into a supple dough and let it rise 1 hour.
  2. Shape into 6 smooth round dumplings and let them rise again, covered, for 30 minutes.
  3. In a wide pan with a tight lid, melt the butter with the milk, 1 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp salt, and the vanilla sugar.
  4. Set the dumplings into the pan with space between them and cover with the lid.
  5. Steam over low heat 25 to 30 minutes without ever lifting the lid; the crackling sound tells you the crust is forming.
  6. When the liquid is gone and the bottoms are golden and crisp, lift the dumplings out carefully.
  7. Serve warm, crust side up, with plenty of vanilla sauce.
A cook working at a warm stove in a busy home kitchen
Our Kitchen

The Kitchen Behind Dorlav Schmankerl

Dorlav Schmankerl is a small home kitchen devoted to the cooking of Bavaria, the unhurried south of Germany where lunch begins with a clear soup, bread means a warm Brezn, and "Schmankerl" is the local word for the little delicacies a kitchen is proud of. We write these recipes down the way they are still cooked in farmhouse kitchens and neighborhood Wirtshäuser, patiently, precisely, and always with a generous hand on the butter.

Our only house rule is an old one: butter from the alpine dairy, Schmalz rendered slowly the traditional way, goose fat saved like treasure, and nothing else. Vegetable oil never comes through our door, because it never sat on the tables we learned from.

An Guadn, may it feed you well.