sauerbraten cooking class berlin
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Sauerbraten 4 Ways: Berlin Cooking Class

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sauerbraten
Sometimes you have to wait for the best…sauerbraten takes patience.

One of the best things about Berlin is the vast amount of ethnic food choices you have in the city. However – what about the German food – where is it hiding? I’m happy to tell you that I found it – Sauerbraten and spätzle! I was so happy I felt like polka dancing – in my lederhosen! After being in Berlin for 2 weeks and eating Indian, Mexican, Ethiopian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Russian – finally – I was going to eat German food. And I wasn’t just going to eat it – I was going to learn how to make it.

Karina, my friend and Berlin expert, had suggested that I try out this cooking class in Kreuzberg in order to learn about some classic German dishes. Since she was also a closet sauerbraten lover – she invited herself long. Smart lady.

Coledampf and Companies Cooking Classes

Together, we entered Coledampf’s and Companies store/classroom. As I entered and started looking around the shop, my eyes focused on the details – the space was industrial, metallic, and beautifully designed. This wasn’t just a cooking classroom – it was more of a creative space for food lovers and chefs. The cleverly designed store section sold high-quality pots/pans and cooking accessories to restaurants and Uber foodies. However, the space also included a lunch café, a coffee bar, and a cooking ‘classroom’. Somehow, all of these fit together seamlessly as a shrine to food.

Sauerbraten History

As I oohed and ahhhhed about the tables made out of doors and saw horses, the chairs, and the store design, Chef Ralf ensured we all had some coffee and instructed us to site down for a little sauerbraten history before we started the hands on work.

Coldampf and Company
Coledampf’s creative space for food – with creative interior design!

Sauerbraten has been around for over 1000 years and was originally a way to preserve food without refrigeration. It became a popular way to keep meat, and Ralf told us that originally, it was made with horsemeat. It is of utmost importance that the marinade ingredients be of high quality and that you provide ample marinade time – 48 hours minimum. The sauerbraten we’d be cooking today had been marinating for 4 days!

He pointed to a little chalkboard full of diagrams and loads of German words – yes – this class was in German – so I was at a slight disadvantage. But my secret weapon was Karina, who tried her best to translate for me – so forgive the lack of detail in this post – I will let the photos do most of the talking for me. Karina said that the quality of the questions she was asked was a little intimidating – the people in this class were pretty serious about cooking! This was definitely not a little tourist class – the class was full of locals who were part of a longer cooking series that Coledampf’s offered. However, individuals like Karina and I can join any single class at any time, too.

Chef Ralf and co-owner/win expert explaining the history of sauerbraten.
Chef Ralf and co-owner/win expert explaining the history of sauerbraten.
Sauerbraten recipe
A sauerbraten diagram…in German – luckily, I had Karina to translate!

Our German Chef and Instructor

Chef Ralf handed us an apron, and we entered the metallic kitchen. I felt as if I had walked onto the set of Germany’s Next Top Chef! We didn’t really get recipes, and it wasn’t a step-by-step type of class – instead, we all served as sous chefs, helping Ralf and his real Sous Chef do pieces of the meal. We were making not one, but FOUR type of sauerbraten – one of which Chef Ralf himself had never made before – fish sauerbraten. We also had rabbit sauerbraten, lamb sauerbraten, and traditional beef sauerbraten marinated. I was happy I had a very light breakfast – this was going to be a day of eating.

Learning how to make Spätzle

The chefs all decided upon the side dishes on the spot and started having us chopping up squash, cutting onion, and creating the spätzle dough. I have a little confession – I love spätzle – LOVE it. I had never seen it made from scratch – so I was pretty excited about this process. However – after seeing the effort that it took to make it from scratch – I promptly decided that ordering it at a restaurant was much more enjoyable!

Spätzle dough is a very hands on process – it literally has to be slapped around with your hands for about 30 minutes until it gets to the right consistency. Luckily I was not the one ‘hand-picked’ for this effort as I hid behind the my camera as Chef Ralf took volunteers. However I did get picked to form the dough into noodles – a complex process to master as I quickly found out!

learning how to make German spatzle
Making a spatzle like your German grandmother would do it.
taste testing berlin cooking class
Taste testing…no recipes needed!
Berlin cooking class
Chef Ralf explaining the sauerbraten cooking instructions.

Nothing was measured – The chefs cooked to taste – this was the cooking big leagues. It’s slightly intimidating for me, who typically cooks with a recipe and measuring cups! We all helped prepare the dishes, and as each dish was ready, we plated it up nicely, and then all sat down at a communal table and ate it. Each sauerbraten had a side dish – so basically, I ate four main dishes that afternoon – yes – I was sauerbraten stuffed…and very happy. For each course, one of the other owners picked a beautiful wine to go with the course – so it really was a complete food experience.

The Perfect Space for a Cooking Class in Berlin

I sat and talked with one of the owners to learn more about this innovative concept for a creative cooking studio. He said that the store was based off the saying “I know who made my shoes.” Meaning it was a community based business and they wanted a ‘face’ to the product. They wanted to create a relaxed atmosphere – even down to the silverware – you pick your own flatware out of the middle of the table – they want an inviting feel – not pretentious.

utensils
Help yourself to utensils!
restaurant bell
Order up!

The three partners started the store/space/café 1 ½ years ago in this lesser-known Kreuzberg neighborhood. They went into this neighborhood because it wasn’t pretentious – it had more of a hard edge, and they wanted to bring community to it. They are integrating into the area by working with the other businesses surrounding them and providing an inviting atmosphere.

They of course use local food sources. As I talked to him I was impressed that everything has a personal, local connection in a way. Whether it be the partners who run it together or the people they work with – it feels like a close knit group of people who enjoy what they do – it gives off a great vibe of energy and familiarity.

Our Finished German Dishes

Five hours, a bottle of wine, and thousands of calories later, we had finished our class. It was a fabulous day of cooking and meeting new people with innovative ideas. Plus – even though I was the only tourist in the class – everyone knew how to speak English, and I was able to converse with the other students, learning more about them, Berlin, and Coledampfs & Company.

Sauerbraten
Sauerbraten 4 ways! Going clockwise – Fish, Lamb, Rabbit, Beef
apertivo
A new spiced liquor we were able to taste – yum!

More Info

Coledampf & Company – https://www.colecomp.de/
They serve breakfast and lunch. Lunch is 6 to 16 euros – they try to make great food accessible. The coffee bar and snacks are open until 8 PM. On Culinary Friday, the restaurant has special themes, and the feel is simple. It also includes a wine shop. They also run events with their kitchen crew, or you can bring your own.

spatzle
Me – trying my hand at spatzle! I did it!

Disclosure:  The Living la Vida Local experiment is in partnership with Go with Oh.  However, all opinions expressed are my own.

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    12 Comments

    1. I absolutely love German food! I love the sausages. The weisswursts for breakfast are, oh, so good, as are the Nürnberger Rostbratwursts. I really like the liver noodle soup, leberknoedelsuppe! And, the spit broasted chicken that you find at the Oktobefest so often…..really, really delicious!

      I also just love the way Germans eat at restaurants. You walk into what typically is a very large place with very large tables. You just go and sit down at one, where others you don’t even know, may be sitting. Or, you may sit down at an empty table, and, eventually, someone will come up and sit at that same table. So, while you’re eating scrumptious food, you also get to have a conversation with someone you don’t even know. Great fun, along with a great meal!

    2. I forgot to mention spatzle! I really like this food. Early this year, I wanted to use a Living Social coupon I had purchased at a “German” restaurant in the area I live in. These are like Groupons. I had never been to this place and was looking forward to eating there. Unfortunately, not only did they have an extremely limited menu that night (and apparently, I was told, would have such a limited menu for awhile); the “German” food I ate was horrible, including the spatzle. So, I’m looking forward to finding a much better German restaurant soon….maybe I’ll just have to plan a trip over there!

      And, one more German thing I really like is Spezi, which is a mixture of orange soda and cola.

      1. Stephanie – I hope you get back to Germany someone and have a better experience as I think it’s a great country to travel through. And there are such diverse food option in Berlin! I had to really work though to find a Germany cooking class. This one was not really marketed to tourists – but to locals.

    3. Great photos! I’ve taken a few cooking classes before in some cities and they are always such a good time. I had no idea that Berlin had such a diverse array of food options, it just nudged itself a little higher up on my must see list!

    4. My daughter-in-law is from Dusseldorf. We love it when she cooks a German menu for us. Since both my son and his wife are German professors at a local university, Germany is a huge part of our lives. What a beautiful country!

    5. What a wonderful experience! Through your written description and lovely photos I could almost taste the food. Congrats on making spatzle, it looks like you had a great time!

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