While manfred is sharpening the knives to cut the bacon for the next dish, ernst is getting a second helping of tomato soup. "It doesn’t taste that bad, what we managed to do together", he finds, after the first course of the menu is pleasurably lofted from the plates.
On the initiative of birgitt waldner, nudlingen’s senior citizens’ representative, a good dozen old men got together in the school kitchen of the schlossberg school for the first men’s cooking course in the area: arthur and oskar, karl and helmut, ernst and all the others. Some knew each other, some didn’t. But they were all driven by one thing: to cook with a professional, or at least to look over his shoulder and possibly learn something themselves.
Silence, stirring, seasoning
they kept to themselves – only disturbed by the nosy reporter. And because men don’t talk as much as women, it was comparatively quiet. Even the course instructor, master butcher reinhard krzossok, confined himself to the essentials. In the cooking class, also a premiere for him, he showed what to do, and the men followed suit: stirring and tasting, chopping onions, parsley, lettuce or ham, watching curiously what the master was presenting. Fascinated – mannerists appreciate practicality – they were that krzossok had mixed the right mixture of salt and pepper beforehand and put it in a fab ("two parts salt, one part pepper"): "otherwise, you never know how much to use," says one of them, says one; "I will also import this at home", another.
While at one the dessert – lemon curd – is stirred in the corner of the school cake, onions are simmering on the stove in an immense amount of fat in the pot for a tomato soup. Some rash heroes mix in canned tomatoes, sour cream and other ingredients. "Fat is a flavor carrier", heibt’s. Even when later the roast potatoes with fat ham hocks get a hefty helping of fat on top. "Always druff uff de huften" thinks "wife and the instructor says, "okay, next time we’ll cook with very little fat at the women’s cooking class." Whether there will ever be?
The butcher has brought dark-cut schnitzel, demonstrates how to make cordon bleu from it. "They can be cooked in the oven?", an assistant cook is amazed, while the instructor brushes the baking paper and the works of art rolled in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs thickly with fat. "It is especially good when there are many guests", he says. That makes sense to everyone. And when he pulls them out of the oven, everyone involved is as proud as an oskar. And their mouths were watering.
Meanwhile, karl-heinz still has problems cooking rice: how many bags per pot, how much water? "That’s too many", says a fellow cook and rushes over with a second pot. Together it works better. Even with the salad dressing. "Cucumber infusion for the dressing, I’ve never heard", one of them is amazed and finds the idea remarkable. And when karl and hans come up with the idea of serving beer, the heroes at the stove or while slicing turkey meat get really cool. At the end of the meal, one of them says: "I’m going to watch my wife cook even more in the future." And helmut is thinking about cooking for his own people again: "i haven’t done that for 25 years." Well, it’s about time. And bon appetit.
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