Rick Stein's German Bite

FOGHORN SOUNDS

ENGINE STARTS

CAR MOVES OFF

MUSIC: "Autobahn" by Kraftwerk

My German relatives are having a bit of a get-together,

so I thought it a great opportunity

a) to play Kraftwerk on the Autobahn,

and b) to try the fabulous new season's herrings.

So this is my Deutschen Bissen - my German Bite!

This trip to Germany came as a lovely surprise

and I want to keep it as a surprise,

because really I don't always know what's just around the corner.

Of course, I'll be meeting my relatives in the vineyards

of the Rheingau.

You didn't like me so much because I was so terribly boring.

I was always... LAUGHTER

I'll be trying the new season's herrings from the Baltic.

Oh!

Oh, and I'm meeting Germany's answer to Jamie Oliver.

Put in that some olive oil, some lemon juice and all that.

It's OK like that. That's my boy. THEY LAUGH

And for some reason

I was ambushed by a German film crew that wouldn't leave me alone.

Honestly, we just moved the camera back a bit to get a wider shot

and get the house in too, and the Germans are in here.

My first stop is Hamburg. Why?

Well, as John Lennon once said

"I grew up in Hamburg, not Liverpool."

I've always wanted to come here.

Mainly, I suppose because of The Beatles.

This is where they made it and they were a big part of my life.

But also, it's on the sea. Well, nearly!

And for a seafood cook, it's a great place to start a journey.

I was slightly indignant about ten years ago. I asked the BBC.

I mean, it's just because I've got German ancestors,

German relatives, I really wanted to make a programme about German food.

And I asked the BBC, and they just said,

"No, I don't think anybody wants to go to Germany."

And I thought, "Well, they've probably got a point."

I mean, there's no point in doing something if nobody's interested.

But all the time I've been, sort of, thinking about German cooking

and reading articles about it.

And I just thought it's probably time to come here and just prove

to everybody that they're wrong, that German food really is good.

And, well, that's what I'm hoping to find.

This is the place of my ancestors. MAN OFF CAMERA: Ze Fatherland.

LAUGHING: Ze Fatherland, yeah.

Well, I've always wanted to come to Hamburg,

because in the '60s, I got a job on a freighter.

I worked my passage, it used to be called,

out of New Zealand to New York,

and my job was a greaser down in the engine room,

but because the ship was on its way back to base at Hamburg,

everything had to look lovely.

And I had a job of going down next to the turning propeller shaft

where they stored the spare bolts.

These are the spare bolts for the main engine,

which were about that long.

And I had to undo them and take them up to the workshop,

give them to the lathe man, who would take a tiny bit of metal

off each of those bolts just to make them beautifully silver

and then I'd take them back to the prop shot.

And when I'd finished looking down the prop shot, I just thought,

"That says so much about the Germans,"

because, OK, you can say they're very, very precise,

but the enthusiasm for turning that engine room into something

really clean and delightful said a great deal to me about Germans.

This restaurant specialises in Hamburg's most famous dish.

I love it!

It also happens to be Liverpool's iconic dish too.

And it's called...

This is lobscouse.

Well, this is the legendary lobscouse or labskaus... Labskaus.

..which is common not only to Hamburg,

but also, of course, to Liverpool.

Hence some people say the word Scousers.

And it was actually a staple diet of all northern European

maritime nations. In here we have salt beef, corned beef.

And that would have been a staple on all boats, cos it keeps so long.

We've got onions.

We've got beetroot juice, which is making it red in colour,

but also the saltpetre in the corned beef would also be making it red.

And we've got water, we've got salt, pepper...

Anything else? Vegetable stock. Vegetable stock.

Just tell me, how long have you been cooking this for?

Oh, for a very long time. Should I say ten years? Really? Yeah.

Do you eat it regularly. Actually, I like more fish than meat.

Being from Ghana... From Ghana.

..You like fish. From the coast, yeah.

So Mensah takes the lumps of beef out, saving the precious stock

and then he puts them through this fearful shredder.

It's like something Sweeney Todd would have had

at the back of his wife's pie shop!

I think you can make this with a tin of corned beef at home.

Then he simmers the shredded beef in the stock

and adds a load of butter AND marg

in gargantuan quantities.

Finally, more butter in the mashed potatoes and that goes in too.

It's one of those dishes, it may not look very beautiful being cooked,

but it smells divine and it really tastes fabulous.

Well, an hour's gone by...

Well, not really, because we can't afford to wait for an hour,

and so we've got another one.

But this is how it would look anyway.

And I was just thinking as I was watching him making it, I mean,

it would be an ideal thing for a ship's cook to make,

because it's very, very easy to do, and making it quite easily

in vast quantities for the crew. So it's obvious, innit?

Some Liverpudlians say that it should be firm enough

for a mouse to trot over it,

but mushy and capable of being spread on bread

to make a lobby butty.

That is truly wonderful. Yummy is the word. It's just like - wow!

Fried eggs, the labskaus, the beetroot, the beer - yes.

It's good. Very, very, very good.

MUSIC: "My Bonnie" by The Beatles

This is The Beatles' first claim to fame, recorded here in Hamburg -

My Bonnie, sung by Tony Sheridan and backed by The Beatles.

It made number five in the German hit parade in 1961,

but not a sausage in Britain.

And on the B-side, Ain't She Sweet.

I know, cos I bought it!

OK, this is where it all happened. Here we have music clubs.

Allow me to introduce this wonderful lady, Steffi Hempel.

And this was the favourite pub of The Beatles. This one.

Yes, The Gretel And Alfons.

'A passionate aficionado of The Beatles,

'especially in the years when they played here.'

So this is where they first played, here then?

And it's still a live club.

In August, 1960, they had their first concert here as The Beatles.

They came here, and on the ferry they still called themselves

Long John And The Silver Beetles.

Beetles still spelt with double E, and then they changed it to B-E-A.

Why, do you know?

Yes, of course, because they wanted to have the music, the beat.

Oh, I see. I really didn't know that. I should know.

They played, they were five,

they still played with Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best on drums.

And Pete joined the group only two days before they came to Hamburg.

And what were they like in the early days in the Indra then?

They were not very good. They were real amateurs.

But then they had to play night after night after night after night,

and they became a professional live band here, so...

It's a really great story here. But they also...

There's some sort of like schnitzel sandwich they used to eat.

We're into the food here as well. Yeah, of course.

What was it like, and have you had it, and what's it called?

Er, it's called the Rundstuck warm.

And it was something that you could have after a whole night

of playing and drinking alcohol and taking pills.

Then you needed something real at the end of the night.

So this is it. Just remind me, Steffi, what's it called?

Rund...stuck... Ro..ru...

Rundstuck warm.

Warm, because it's warm, it's with warm sauce, brown sauce. Wow.

Yes, and you see, this is really something.

I don't know quite what to say.

I'd imagine after a sort of hard day's night playing...

A hard day's night, yes. It'd be...

You'd look forward to it, you really would.

Yes, you needed a piece of real meat, probably.

Without being rude, but a lot of people would think

of a lot of German food as quite, sort of, bulky like this.

But I'm here not just for The Beatles,

I'm here because I'm one of... Yeah.

What I want to do is go back to the UK and say,

"Look, German food - you've got it all wrong.

"There's some really good food in Germany."

Not quite sure this is the right place to start!

I mean, I'm not knocking this, but it's not quite

what I'm looking for, if you know what I mean.

THEY LAUGH

OK, live in 1962.

# Well, she was just 17

# You know what I mean

# And the way she looked

# Is way beyond compare

# And how could I dance with another?

# Woo

# When I saw her standing there

# Well, my heart went boom

# When I crossed that room

# And I held her hand

# In mine

# Oh, we danced through the night

# And we held each other tight

# And before too long

# I fell in love with her

# Well, I'll never dance with another

# Woo

# When I saw her standing there

# Well, since I saw her standing there. #

Yeah!

Fab. Thank you.

I forgot my plectrum, so... Doesn't matter. Fantastic!

MAN SHOUTS IN GERMAN

Wenn einer zehn Euro hat?!

Zehn Euro, zehn, zehn, zehn, zehn.

Hier ist ein Raucherlachs dazu! Schillerlocke oben drauf.

Die Aalrauchfilets dabei. Fur zwanzig...

This market in the middle of Hamburg is a Sunday morning institution

with the hung-over late-night revellers.

When the effect of the booze starts to wear off, hunger kicks in

and the young Germans here don't think of doner kebabs

or even the eponymous hamburger.

It has to be fish - smoked eel or new season's herring.

Guck da mal die Ware an. Weg fur zwanzig Euro, gratis dabei.

Beide zwanzig Euro.

Wer isst gerne Raucherlachs?

Now, he reminds me of someone, someone famous.

But he's got quite a reputation here. Some say he's rather rude!

Excuse me, can I buy some?

Es geht sofort los.

'But I think he reckons his eels are the best in the business,

'and he has the confidence to know that he'll sell

'every single one of them.'

Can I taste some eel? Ja.

He's too busy doing his laces up.

Ich hore gerade... Egal.

So!

Taste. Taste.

Ja, jetzt. Pass mal auf. Nimm du mal ein weg.

Just one, yeah? Yes, too much. Two. OK, two, why not?

I just want to taste a bit first.

Ich verstehe da nichts. Wer kann...?

Er will mal probieren. Er will mal probieren?

Das will ich gerade zeigen.

Hier, mein Junge.

That is really good eel. Lovely fatty quality to it.

Sometimes it has a pond-water taste. This hasn't got it.

It's just beautiful. So succulent.

I've come here with my interpreter, Vera Feller.

She said it's her favourite place in the whole of the city.

To come to Hamburg without trying the herring

in this particular fish market is a sin.

I love that contrast of the salty herring and the sweet onion. Mm-hmm.

Just a bit undignified eating it.

But it's the right kind of breakfast if you party hard, I think.

Yeah. Yeah, that's what you want to eat, right then.

It's totally delicious.

I mean, raw herring, just a bit of salt in it like this is...

And the fattiness, the taste of it

with the onion and the pink peppercorns and the spring onion,

it is just total, total luxury.

So, Vera, what's your thoughts about British food, then?

We're very rude about German food back home. Are you, are you?

I think that the Germans are quite rude about English food as well,

and they don't know a lot about English food.

I mean, they know, of course, Jamie Oliver, but, um...

But I think it's mostly about fish and chips and pasties,

as I just learned, or mince pies, something like that.

But it's not really... I think

that Germans are much more into Italian cuisine, something like that.

But the funny thing is, what I'm beginning to realise here,

is there's a lot more to German cooking than sausages. And Kraut.

Yeah, good, good.

Those that live around these parts

are truly blessed with the new season's herring.

For a few weeks in the spring, everyone is allowed to catch

these "silver darlings".

That's the name they give them in Scotland.

These lovely fish are best dusted in oatmeal and simply fried in butter.

They're sweet and highly nutritious,

and this little fish, hundreds of years ago,

was the key to the wealth of virtually all of the countries

surrounding the Baltic.

Even Bismarck had a herring dish named after him -

raw salted fillets marinated in wine vinegar and spices.

He once famously said, "This dish will immortalise me."

Well, it has done and it's lasted a lot longer than his battleship!

Now, this restaurant, I think,

has all the charm of a defunct typewriter factory,

but I have to say, the food is fabulous.

It's the headquarters

of Germany's answer to Jamie Oliver, Steffen Henssler.

He's really famous here.

I like the classics, like fried fish with fried potatoes, mustard sauce.

You got the herring and all this stuff.

And these classics are really nice. A little bit old but nice.

But you just take it and then mix some ingredients up,

do some new things, and you get a nice taste, you know?

And you don't have to change it. Just take it and bring it up to the next step.

That's what always gets me about a lot of modern cooking,

you know, the chefs don't understand the traditions.

And food is like language, it's part of what you are.

That's what I do.

Don't get me wrong when I say this,

but the reputation of German cooking,

rather like the reputation of British cooking, is...

Fish and chips! Exactly! It's not great...

It's sitting in the sun without cream.

That is what we think about English cooking.

And the Germans nicking the loungers.

It's true! But it's true! It's a problem, that's true. I know.

What I'm here for is to prove to people that German cooking

is on the move, really. And this is the sort of dish I think...

I think the main problem is that most people think about German food,

they always think about the south of Germany, like Bavaria.

So there is much Bratwurst, sausage, Knodel, and all this stuff.

But Germany is much more than just Bavarian,

so if you go to the north you have nice fish dishes,

very nice meat dishes.

And you get very much tourism now in Germany,

so much international influence, so everything is changing.

But the classics are still there, they're still nice.

But you just have to mix it up a little bit.

Steffen does a really refreshing and tasty dish

with the new season's herring.

He uses cucumber cut into long thin ribbons,

mango for sweetness,

to offset the saltiness of the herring, and spring onions.

It's Oriental, simple, but based on a classic dish.

Now we have to fry the cubes. I'll get out of your way.

No, don't worry.

Because what I like in this kind of dish,

to make them a little bit new, is to mix up the temperatures.

So we got the herring, which is cold, and the cold mango.

And you've got the warm...black bread!

THEY LAUGH

This pan was way too hot! That's television for you.

The bits that people don't generally see.

And the problem is we can't cut it out because we are live.

So we just do it again.

Put some olive oil, put some... So what you said...

What I like is the temperature.

Now the bread is getting crispy and warm and when you mix it

under the salad and you eat it and you get the warm bread,

the cold fish, the mango, the fruit, all this mashed up in your mouth.

I hope you like it.

So, very deftly, Steffen throws together this salad made with

those fatty, oily, salty new season's herring.

Just a bit of rocket for that peppery bitterness, and that's it.

For the moment.

Fantastic. So now we do the warm bread into the salad, like that.

Now...

Now I really have to take care,

because you have to taste this, so it has to taste well! OK.

Normally, on TV, I just put it there,

nobody cares about the taste, but today it's different.

I certainly do!

So you've got some soy... Just a little.

Mix it up.

I'm a little bit nervous. Oh, don't be silly! You're so famous. No, YOU!

OK. That looks great.

I do like Jamie Oliver bit of olive oil,

some lemon juice and all that. It's OK like that.

OK, now the moment is coming.

I'll go straight for the herring.

Take some bread. Definitely. And some mango. Yeah.

And a little bit of cucumber.

Sensational!

The fruit of the mango takes the fat, like in Germany, "umschlingt es".

What a lovely word! Say it one more time. "Umschlingt es."

"Umschlingt es."

Oh, wow! What a good language. "Umschlingt es."

"Umschlingt es."

Fantastic.

I'm driving south now in our cantankerous old camper van

to Dusseldorf, where my relatives come from,

and it's here I'm meeting up with my son Jack,

because he's very keen to get to grips with our German heritage.

Hello.

How are you?

I'm very well. How are you? It's very nice to see you.

How's Germany? It's good.

It's really good, actually.

But I bought you a beer. I know how much you don't like flying.

Morbid fear of flying over.

Cheers. Cheers.

How's it been? It's great.

Absolutely fantastic.

I am quite keen to get into a beer house.

A beer house. Yeah. Is it true they keep filling you up until...

Well, apparently,

if you want to finish, you have to put a beer mat over the top.

I see some Wiener Schnitzel down there.

Oh. Not your favourite. Not my favourite.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC

It's Fathers' Day today.

An excuse for all dads to get a bit merry.

Germans really need an excuse to do something a little naughty,

it's true. And this pub, Zum Uerige,

is probably the best known pub-cum-brew house

in the whole of Dusseldorf.

I'm liking... I've been looking at that dark Alt beer. Yeah.

I'm just thinking...everybody seems so, sort of, like...

Relaxed, don't they?

I mean, yeah, if this was in England -

this many people drinking in the sun, in the middle of the day -

it'd be a recipe for disaster.

But they all seem really happy and...

They're almost like I would like all English people to be -

in other words, polite, and, sort of, well mannered.

And friendly.

But they still enjoy life, and they still like to have a drink

and eat food, but they don't necessarily want to throw it up

or launch glasses of lager at you. Exactly.

I'm afraid that at my age, I'd sooner be with them, because...

I think at my age I'd sooner be with them, as well.

Let's see if we can get a drink.

Got money? I haven't got any money.

Can we have some money please? JACK LAUGHS

It's just an observation, but I thought it worth a mention,

that each barrel of this fabulous Alt beer - that means old beer -

lasts an average of half an hour.

Half an hour for a barrel this size!

And old is an old recipe - not an old beer.

Apart from the excellent beer,

these brew houses do really good food.

This is a speciality of the house -

pork knuckle smothered with spices and then baked.

It's for the serious trencherman,

and served traditionally with coleslaw.

'While the revellers were outside enjoying the spring sunshine...'

Cheers! Cheers! Cheers!

'..Jack and I met up with cousin Paul,

'who's pretty hot on the Stein family history.

'It's a fitting location to meet up as the early Stein family

'made a fortune out of booze.'

Well, that's you, that's me, that's my dad,

that's Julius William my great-grandfather,

Julius, also my great- great-grandfather, and this is...

That is the grand-grand-grandfather of Rick and me.

So, do you see a family resemblance there, Jack?

I can see, yeah, in this part. This area here.

Yes, with...

THEY LAUGH

So you're the same generation as Rick? Yes, same as Rick.

He was the one that really built the whole Stein business up,

almost, wasn't he?

Yes. This one. I can't read upside down. Julius William.

What prompted him to move to London? He was sent there.

He went to London because they wanted to open

a branch of the Stein Brothers business in London.

And my father, Eric...

That's what Eric took on? That's what Eric took on, yes.

No, it's really nice to... I like it being on the back of an envelope!

Why didn't they return back to Germany?

Why did they stay in England to found what is our generation?

Well, I think, actually, they became British.

The problem was that my grandfather

and my father Eric were there in the First World War.

In London.

And being German, they were totally...

Well, they had bricks thrown through their front window

in their house in Walton-on-Thames.

And people shouting at them in the street.

And I think they decided we don't want to be German.

We don't want to be associated with all that...

Like our royal family did?

Like the royal family. I suppose so, yeah.

My aunt, two days before she died,

started speaking in German again.

Really? All her life she... Didn't want...

Simply because they were ostracised in the First World War.

Wow, look at that.

I think that's not a very British food.

THEY LAUGH

The gravy is exquisite,

really, really thick and concentrated,

But...also you've got great crackling

and it's coated in spice.

The combination of this lovely, fatty pork,

the crackling and this coleslaw, which is just, it seems to me,

made with vinegar - really good contrast.

It goes very well with beer.

I couldn't see the resemblance earlier but after a couple of beers,

you're starting to look more and more alike,

so I might just get a quick picture of you.

Same hair, for sure.

# Don't let's be beastly to the Germans

# When our victory is ultimately won

# It was just those nasty Nazis who persuaded them to fight

# And their Beethoven and Bach are really far worse than their bite

# Let's be meek to them And turn the other cheek to them

# And try to bring out their latent sense of fun

# Let's give them full air parity

# And treat the rats with charity

# But don't let's be beastly to the Hun! #

So it seems very well-to-do, this street.

This is Johann William's street. They had plenty of cash.

It's like a Regent Street or... Yeah, it is.

..whatever that one in New York's called.

Fifth Avenue. That's the one. Yeah. Yes.

They were the richest family in Dusseldorf in the 19th century.

And that's all from booze? From booze, yeah.

Where's the money now?

Don't know, actually. Good point.

I remember saying to some German,

"Well, we've got a street named after us," and he said,

"Most cities in Germany have got Steinstrasses,"

so I felt a bit, like, "Oh, OK"...

Say you've got a small town in Cornwall named after you.

What, Padstow? Yeah.

That's not a joke.

You don't talk about Padstein in polite circles, Jack,

you know that.

Steinstrasse, though.

It's pretty...you know. Cartier...

Don't know what that is. Let's move on, anyway.

You got sat nav? Uh...no.

JACK LAUGHS

Do you think you know the way?

You know we're going to Lintorf, which is where the family came from,

or a farm just outside. Yeah.

They decided to go into distilling alcohol out of grain,

because there wasn't much money in farming,

and it got bigger and bigger - in Lintorf, first of all,

but latterly in Dusseldorf.

And at that stage,

they gave a lot of money to the local Protestant church,

and between them, they built this hostel for alcoholics.

I find that quite ironic -

they're making money out of booze, right?

And they put this money into... Treating alcoholics. Yeah.

But I sort of think, because I...

I see our German family as being quite...do-gooders, you know?

Although they made the money out of alcohol.

I quite like that, in a way.

It's a bit like us giving loads of money

to the lobster hatchery, I suppose.

Well, yeah, I suppose it is, in a funny sort of way, actually.

That looks suspiciously like a Cornish flag up there.

That's Manfred's friend. They've both been to Cornwall.

I was just talking to him earlier and they've put it up in our honour.

Lintorf is not far away from Dusseldorf,

and this is where the Stein family started.

They were farmers initially before making tonnes of cash -

first from spirits and then from wine.

Jack and I are about to meet Manfred Bauer.

He's Lintorf's local historian and actually,

I've had the pleasure of meeting him before.

Manfred! Very nice to meet you again.

Yes. This is my son, Jack.

Very nice to meet you for the first time.

Thank you very much.

OK. Welcome to Lintorf - Willkommen in Lintorf.

Thank you. Danke schoen.

So your great-great-grandfather Wilhelm bought the vicar's house.

The first vicar who lived in that house

established the first...um...

..clinic or asylum for alcoholics in Europe.

It was the first in Europe.

And did they put the money up for the church? Which is now, on cue...

The bell works!

When the church was built,

he bought some things for the church.

Wow.

So they didn't forget their roots when they made it big in Dusseldorf.

They did not.

And do you know that the three brothers first were farmers?

Farming and, er, smithy was not good enough,

so they wanted to make money and they founded the distillery.

So they were public-spirited people, albeit the money came from booze.

So without all this ingenuity of our ancestors,

to create this distillery and the wealth,

we probably wouldn't have a restaurant.

That's absolutely right, but more to the point,

you probably don't know this,

but I had a great-uncle, who would be your great-great-uncle,

called Otto... Yeah. ..who had no children.

He was part of the Stein family business in Dusseldorf,

so he left all his considerable fortune to his grandchildren

and the money then passed on - because my father was dead -

to the great-grandchildren, one of whom was me.

And I got 12,000 quid from the Stein family in the early '70s

and that's what I used to buy the restaurant.

Wow. I never knew that. Absolutely.

So they're directly responsible for us now,

and we're in the same business. It's extraordinary.

It's like one restaurant to a bistro and a deli and...

Everyone plays Monopoly in this family.

You've heard that expression "Rags to rags in three generations"?

No.

Well, it's just simply that the first generation -

me and your mother - build up the business.

The third generation... Blows it all. Yeah. Brilliant.

THEY LAUGH

Was soll es sein?

Two.

'Now, this is Schinken Toni's - celebrated in Dusseldorf,

'famous for real, unfancified German food

'guaranteed to make your mouth water.'

This is real garlic sausage -

Bratwurst with garlic for the second breakfast.

I like this second breakfast.

Very good with beer.

Second breakfast with beer? Yeah, yeah.

And here, we have pure beef sausage, real frankfurters,

and here, we have wiener sausage with herbs and made from veal.

This is weisswurst - it's very mild, typical in Bavaria.

That is red cabbage with mashed apples,

with a lot of onions, bay leaves and mace and pepper.

My Aunt Zoe's favourite dish, that. Red cabbage? Yeah.

This is a grilled knuckle, we call it Hachse,

and this is very popular in combination with cabbage.

The stew is made with meatballs and stew sauce.

We're getting a real lesson in German food. What about that?

That's a speciality of Northern Germany. It's green cabbage.

It's made in wintertime and autumn, when it's very cold outside,

and in combination with Mettwurst,

it's a traditional raw sausage which is raw and then smoked.

Uh-huh.

This is so good, don't you think?

And everybody wants Mediterranean food -

it doesn't matter where you go, they want light Mediterranean food.

And this is so good.

The regional kitchen of Germany is very popular,

but not so well known for foreign people.

We're really enjoying this, Toni. Is this just sauerkraut? Yeah.

This sauerkraut, we make ourselves.

Our recipe is we take a lot of onion,

therefore the sauerkraut is not so acid.

In earlier times, they needed more fat.

Now we have this recipe today -

people don't work so hard

and are not always outside in the cold.

They are sitting on their laptop and so...

Sitting on their bottoms, working on their laptops.

They need not so much fat. Yeah.

Let's go back to England

and get some of these cabbage dishes on and sauerkraut.

Yeah, fine!

Here it is. Have you met him before? Yeah, I have. Yeah.

'We are going to meet up with cousin Eckhardt.

'He and I go back to our great-great-grandfather - the one

'the main street in Dusseldorf was named after.'

Hello. Guten Tag. You do speak German! Good to see you again.

Very nice to meet you.

And this is my son, Jack. Good to meet you.

Showing him the German relatives. Come in. Let's.

It was a miserable day so Eckhardt, being a bit of a foodie,

took us to his favourite market in the middle of Frankfurt.

He steered straight for this store selling ingredients

for Frankfurt's famous green sauce, Frankfurter Grune Sosse.

Smell it, it's really great.

You cut it with a knife small, small, small

and then blend it with mayonnaise and add lemon.

Parsley.

Sorrel, chives, chervil,

I love my chervil.

That's Pimm's. Borage. What's that?

Burnet. Burnet. And that looks like cress.

It's a dish mainly for the spring months, because later in summer

the herbs are growing too fast and they don't produce that rich aroma.

You should smell the different flavour of the different herbs.

So, this is how to make the famous Frankfurter green sauce.

Chop up the herbs very finely

and then add a generous dollop of sour cream and mayonnaise.

Now, chopped gherkins.

And chopped-up eggs.

Very finely chopped shallot

and German mustard.

I love German mustard. It's pleasantly mild.

Lemon juice, a good dish for the summer, this.

And then add some zest.

A sprinkle of salt.

A quick whisk.

And a bit of brine used to preserve the gherkins.

It was reputedly the poet Goethe's favourite dish.

Sehr gut!

That looks very nice. How do you say bon appetit in German? Guten Appetit.

Guten Appetit!

That's lovely.

I think it's great when food is about a season.

And it has to be prepared rightaway.

You can't keep it for hours or a day.

I said to Jack, it's nice to be sitting

here in Frankfurt in May eating a meal from the fields around.

Yes, it's great. It's what food is all about.

Great. A pleasure. Shame you aren't making the reunion on the Rhine.

No worries. There's always another day.

My son, Jack, he's just like me really. Always off somewhere.

And he's into his surfing big-time.

I think my surfing days are numbered.

Where's he gone?

He's gone to Bali. He's lucky.

I have a few days to go before I meet up

with my relatives for a special lunch.

Friends had told me about the town of Laboe on the Baltic coast.

They knew I was a fan of the film Das Boot

an anti-war film made unbelievably over 30 years ago.

They said the scene is so surreal it's like a massive shark

washed up on the beach, not quite dead.

But anyway, the film was about the utter futility of war

and yet, I suppose, celebrating the amazing comradeship

that went on in this pressurised piece of metal.

A naval historian, Dr Witt, an expert on submarines,

showed me around the U-boat.

Crikes. It's so small.

I feel like I'm in Das Boot. I remember that rushing down there.

It's unbelievable. The film is also popular in Britain?

Terribly popular. Particularly with me and my mates.

It reminds me of a nice story, modern U-boats don't look much different.

A friend of mine, who was a U-boat commander,

told me on his boat he commanded they had a ritual every Wednesday

evening they met in the officers' wardroom to watch the movie,

but with the sound turned off.

So, they were speaking in different roles the dialogues of the movie.

They liked it that much, they knew everything. They knew everything.

By heart. So, noise, stench, can you imagine the living conditions?

There was one thing that kept their spirits up which was food.

Usually they say the cook was the second most important

man on board, some even say the most important.

I think the most important, but I would.

He was not only a chef, he was an artist

and I'll show you his galley.

Brilliant, let's have a look.

So, you are a chef.

Just imagine yourself standing here cooking three meals

a day for a 50 man crew. For 50? Just here?

Where would you keep the food?

All over the boat. I see. This is the aft toilet.

But it was used mostly as a provision store.

And, as you know, a bad cook is the most hated person on board.

You couldn't even swing a cat a few inches here.

Three hobs and an oven, not much more than you get in a camper van.

And here, in this old film, the cook has just made a Christmas cake

and I would say that's a triumph.

What sort of types were the submariners?

Very young people, of course.

The average age was about 20, 21 years of age - even the commanders

were only 25 or 26 years of age.

And so they were young, enthusiastic and...

Most of them were volunteers, but on the other hand, well,

if you have the choice between the Eastern front in winter

and serving on a U-boat, I think the choice would be obvious.

At least for me.

Yeah, I keep getting sort of panic attacks almost

just thinking how claustrophobic it would be.

Did they regard themselves as an elite in the Navy?

Yes, this was also part of the propaganda of course.

They tried to create this imagery of elite force,

the Grey Wolves and all that stuff.

But most of them did not survive.

So, they had losses of about three quarters. Good Lord.

From 40,000 German U-boat men in the Second World War,

more than 30,000 perished.

The Germans have a great love for all things surreal

and they were determined to make a documentary about us

with two film crews...

We've only got one!

..Going about our business, but it became, well, very odd indeed.

The presenter, a very nice young man called Jared

who originally came from Ethiopia wanted me to cook him lunch...

..On a nearby beach, conveniently called, well, Stein.

You need a hand? No, I think I'll be all right.

But first Jared decided to give me a lesson in the local dialect.

There are four words in northern Germany you need

and when you say them just right away people think you're from here.

So, we don't say OK here. We say, "loppt".

Loppt. Great. Loppt.

You can it a bit bored and just "by the way". Right.

Loppt. And then if somebody asks you, "Everything OK?"

You say, "Joh!" Say that again.

Joh! Eyoh!

That's good. Say again. Joh!

Der lernt das so, langsam. So langsam.

Das ist ein kleiner Integrationskurs fur den Englander.

I said it's an integration course

when people come to Germany, want to get the German citizenship,

so I, as a German, give you an Integrationskurs,

so you afterwards can say you are one of us. OK, everything OK? Yeah.

All right, yeah.

All right. OK. And now in German!

Alles klar? Loppt! All right. Start again!

We do it very dry in a northern German way.

Rick, alles klar? Joh.

Loppt? Loppt.

Loppt.

Rick, ist der Butter heiss?

Loppt.

It's OK. Loppt. Loppt.

Well, I thought I'd serve fillets of turbot called Steinbutt here.

With the new season's asparagus with a green herb sauce,

very simple. Vinegar, oil, mustard.

Eine Menge Kochen gelernt. Was machst du? Das ist Senf.

I can't use my fingers.

I don't know where I put the cloth!

I would lick your fingers, but I don't know

if that is OK for your TV station!

Certainly not!

Good mustard. I like your German mustard.

German mustard, yeah. Er mag gerne den deutschen Senf.

It's hot but not too hot.

There we go. Now then, what I'd really like would be a bit of pepper.

You are a very famous cook in your country.

And I'm a lousy cook here in Germany.

So, what is the difference when you make the Steinbutt

and when I make the Steinbutt? What makes the...?

Well... He charges you ?45 for it.

LAUGHTER

He always has his jokes.

He doesn't understand the economies of restaurants, do you see, Jared?

He doesn't get it.

Right, 'scuse fingers.

I never had something like this.

No, well, it's like a salade tiede.

Right. Oh, the potato's done! Yeah... Whoa!

They're a little bit...

Die Kartoffel sind tatsachlich fertig geworden.

Right, go on, try it. Just try... I try first?

Yeah, yeah, you can, you must. Is that an honour, or...?

Do I risk something? Well, we've only got one fork!

One fork and one knife. Yeah, yeah. That's good.

No other fork?

I thought there was one, but I seem to - oh, we've got a spoon.

You know how we do it? What?

I eat with fingers, because I am from Ethiopia,

and in Ethiopia we eat with fingers. Do you?! Seriously.

I tried to do that in India, tried to master the art of it.

But it just dropped down my shirt. It's difficult, yeah.

Ich hab gesagt ich esse mit Fingern, er kann mit den Gabel essen.

Go on, I'll use the spoon.

Oh, it's a good fish.

It could do with a bit more salt, but it's a lovely fish. Rick! Mm?

You can cook. Oh...

This needs a tiny bit more, but it's really nice.

See, I'm learning to... Is that good? Mm, I like it.

Rick, is that good? Yeah.

Joh. Joh.

Seasonality is something the Germans take seriously.

The Spargel, or the asparagus,

is looked forward to with great relish in the Rhine valley.

I've never seen this before,

the harvesting of the white asparagus, so unlike our own green.

As soon as the asparagus breaks through this light alluvial soil,

it's time to cut.

If it's left for more than a few hours in daylight,

the tip darkens, and it's deemed second-rate.

At my cousin Eckhardt's house, his wife Suzanne boils asparagus

and then makes an exquisite hollandaise sauce

using some of the boiling liquor,

and she serves them with just a bit of ham and some boiled potatoes.

This was, I think, the very best thing I tasted on my journey,

simple and fresh.

What do you think of the green asparagus

that we prefer in Britain, then?

Yes, we do like it, but of course it's not comparable to this one.

Of course. It's the queen of asparagus.

I must say, there is a real affinity with this white asparagus

and hollandaise sauce, to me. There's a sort of like... Ja.

Made-in-heaven match. Ja.

Boiling the asparagus this way makes perfect sense,

because the base is thick, and will get more heat,

whereas the tips are more delicate, and will cook well in the steam.

I've done this a million times.

Suzanne puts egg yolks

into some of the water the asparagus was cooked in, and whisks.

The water has good flavour,

because she cleverly put the peelings from the asparagus in it.

Now lemon juice, whisking all the time, over heat,

to thicken the egg yolks.

How do you know when the - what we call a sabayon -

how do you know when it's ready?

It's the sound. Is it? The sort of...

WHISK TAPS Yeah, yes, I do, I do.

You use your ears a lot in the kitchen, actually.

And now the butter, whisking all the time, to build up a thick

but fluffy sauce.

One of those completely satisfying tasks in the kitchen.

It was an absolute lesson in how to cook asparagus hollandaise.

Thank you.

So, it's nice to have you here.

To the next season. Yes.

This is the Rheingau, the most famous wine production area

in the whole of the country, and my family,

a long time ago, had vineyards here,

producing a very popular Riesling

that was well known all over the world as Hock,

because that's the name of the local village, Hochheim,

where it's made.

It used to be really popular with Queen Victoria,

and there's even a monument to her right in the middle of the vineyard.

It was also supposed to be the favourite tipple of Oscar Wilde.

Anyway, I'm here to meet up with my German family,

at the home of Dr Franz Werner Michel, a wine maker extraordinaire.

He thinks this is the best white in the world,

with a natural, racy acidity. I like that.

And he's kindly hosting a lunch for us all today.

So, this is one of the reasons I came to Germany.

First of all, Heidi, very nice to see you. Paul. Paul's wife, Ursula.

Conrad, Frederica, Heidi's son and daughter,

and Franz, who owns this beautiful vineyard.

First of all, I would like to speak to Heidi,

because you came to our farm in Oxfordshire a long time ago, didn't you?

Yes. I was 17 of age and you were six or eight, I guess.

And I was sent to you because I should learn better English,

and I was happy enough to be outside in the farm,

Mere Farm, near Churchill, and I was very happy in your family.

But I'm afraid you didn't like me so much, because I was terribly boring.

LAUGHTER

I was always asking questions, the name of flowers,

the name of trees, of animals,

and you thought I was so stupid that I had to ask all those questions.

You didn't like it. I'm so sorry.

But you were... That was soon after the Second World War, wasn't it?

Ja, and I felt it, because I felt pity for the English,

because they didn't like me.

Of course, they immediately found out that I had a German accent

and would turn around -

every time I was alone in the street and asked a question,

they would turn around and would not...

And I was terrified, because what could I do about it?

It was not my fault, and I felt very guilty.

And this was a strain on my visit.

But then I had wonderful times on the farm,

and your father invited us, together with my sister,

who was working in London at the time,

we went to Sadler's Wells, and it was just out of this world.

It was the greatest experience.

However, one of the things I firmly believe in

is that food and drink bring us together. Like today. Absolutely.

So I'm here to celebrate great German food. Cheers. Cheers!

Ja, sehr gut. I would say we make our next family meeting in Cornwall.

That would be great!

Isn't that fantastic, this ham? And all these good sausages.

And here. This is something special.

Asparagus, white asparagus, which is so soft,

so it's melting on your palate.

Especially with this wine. Yes.

It's pretty hard to cut.

'German food is what it is. It's seasonal and extremely robust,

'just like those excellent Mercedes taxis that go on for ever.'

Well, I'd like to thank you very much for inviting me here,

and I'm really looking forward to eating a bit with you.

Here's to Riesling and here's to racy acidity. I like that.

Racy acidity, in all walks of life!

Cheers.

To me, food is always accompanied by a sense of romanticism.

But from what I know,

I think after the war, the Germans really didn't feel like

flying their gastronomic flag very high.

They felt a certain sense of shame about being patriotic and German,

and one of the ways of expressing your enthusiasm for your country

is through your food. Now they're beginning to do it.

Speaking to people, there's a great excitement about German cooking.

I've heard German food described as Cinderella,

waiting to meet a handsome prince.

Well, maybe when Europe tires of olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes,

pasta and balsamic vinegar, her prince might come.

I do hope so.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd