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Zurich15355 Posts
Barbecue
Since it is that time of the year again, I thought it was a good moment to finally write another issue of my Germany blog series. This time it will be about the Germans favorite past time during the summer: Barbecue. And just like everything German, their version of barbecuing ("Grillen") has a few, well, particularities.
First of all, Grillen is ubiquitous in Germany. From as early as March, it is almost impossible to escape. Supermarkets will stack up the front rows of every section with piles of coal, various grill sets, and barbecue sauces. During the summer you won't be able to walk a park, river bank, or residential area without noticing the biting smell of burning coal from as early as 10am well until the wee hours of the night.
Grillen is universally loved by all age groups too. Teenagers will combine blackening cheap sausages with their usual open air beer binges. Here cost is the number one priority, and luckily for everyone short on a budget, you can buy the complete beginner's Grillen set virtually everywhere: The 1 Euro single use grill with starter and coal included, the 1 Euro family pack of meat or sausages of dubious origin, and the 5 Euro case of local discount beer. Even gas stations will stack up on those Grillen essentials, as they are the only store still open during the night in most places.
 Square spots of burned grass everywhere show how popular these things are.
In more mature circles, Grillen has long become a huge dick measuring contest. Here it is all about presenting the latest model of the best kettle grill, which the home owner will proudly present to the invited party for the season opening Grillen. Those Grillen connoisseurs will only accept grilling on beech coal, and everyone will have their more or less secret methods and techniques to create the perfect amount of heat. Winning your neighborhoods Grillen season this way can easily set you back 2k Euro, but apparently for enough people that is worth it, since every Spring home depot stores all over the country present an impressive range of expensive German engineered barbecue sets.
 Own one of these babies and you have made it.
What is remarkable about Grillen season is that just to enjoy some fire roasted piece of meat, Germans throw many of their usual habits out of a window - something that really does not happen very often. Consider the food itself for example. For all their love for alcohol and hearty meals, Germans are incredible conscious to eat healthily overall (Germans are obsessed with health generally - a topic that deserves its own blog I believe). These days no store could survive without offering a vast range of "Bio" lines, a green label that is seemingly arbitrarily printed on food products of virtually every kind.
Yet come Grillen season, the same green Germans will happily buy cart loads of the cheapest and most disgusting pre-marinated meat (aptly called "Gammelfleisch") and devour heaps of the same with very un-Bio potato salad and white bread.
Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions. Actually, bringing a cool box will quickly get you labeled as "Americanized" among the more radical Grillen circles.
Another instance is the famous German love for rules and regulations. Open fire is in fact verboten anywhere but in clearly marked and confined areas - which are rare enough in your typical university city. That doesn't seem to faze the hoards of German Grillen fanatics though, who will carry bags of coal and fire starter to the local park, ignoring the possibility of fines which can be several hundred Euros. The officials, most likely among the arsonists themselves on their free time, have long turned a blind eye. Only recently have I heard of large scale summer night police raids to clear public parks and preserve some unscorched specks of grass.
Still these instances are the exception, and this year will surely be yet another season of industrial scale coal burning all across the country. And as someone who actually likes good food it will be another year of escaping the immense peer pressure to go Grillen every weekend.
Random bits of knowledge about Germany
Ep6: Gun ownership
Ep5: Lines
Ep4: Bild and Fear
Ep3: Stereotypes
Ep2: Sauna
Ep1: Small Talk
 
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And as someone who actually likes good food it will be another year of escaping the immense peer pressure to go Grillen every weekend.
Aww, come on. Don't make it sound that bad. Proper Grillfleisch is amazing, as long as you're willing to invest more than 5€ in your food and the preparations.
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That looks a lot more complex than our barbeques. We just throw meat on and turn it after a bit, plus the beer of course
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1 Euro single-use grill?!? So you can grill every single day for three months for less than 100 Euro, that's a pretty good deal.
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On April 13 2012 19:07 Shockk wrote:Show nested quote +And as someone who actually likes good food it will be another year of escaping the immense peer pressure to go Grillen every weekend. Aww, come on. Don't make it sound that bad. Proper Grillfleisch is amazing, as long as you're willing to invest more than 5€ in your food and the preparations.
Truth! We actually barbecue better meat then we eat at home most of the time.
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Well i buy my Grillfleisch at the butcher and am ok with paying a lot more.
But I agree, most ppl in Germany buy random Met from Supermarkets.
Oh Summer here I come: Weizen and beef. onomnomnom.
Others thing that are very common in my area:
1) ppl start Grillen in January.
2) we have a lot of salads when we do Grillen
Awesome Blogs though. I love em. Keep it up zatic
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It might not be that common but there are in fact some people who still like Grillen but do it with high quality meat, sauces and salads. I doubt that people who are really concerned about their food switch it up that much when they are grilling. When you are a student (or something similiar) it's generally hard to get quality food when you are out with your peers (mensa etc). It doesn't really has anything to do with grillen, except that you have to do it like every other day.
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You forgot to mention that on the first of may barbecuing is mandatory. Its in the law! :D
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GRILLEN ! GRILLEN ! GRILLEN EVERYWHERE !
Germany in summer is the best. My best memories from all the summer I spent over there are grillen parties at friends, at lakes, the forest. It's amazingly cool.
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Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, GRILLEN!!!!!!!!!!!! It's that time of the year again. I can only echo the people in this thread, that you can indeed have quality food there. Also, since when is cooling your beer americanized? A cooling box amongst my friends makes you a god rather than an american. Warm beer, especially cheap ones, taste rather terrible in my opinion. And I don't know in which university city you live but I'm from Heidelberg and I know that the officials haven't turned a blind eye for years. Instead there are rules and specifically marked spots where you can have open fire.
On April 13 2012 19:17 Surth wrote:
You forgot to mention that on the first of may barbecuing is mandatory. Its in the law! :D
You forgot to mention Wandern and getting drunk 
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I don't feel represented in this blog about Germany at all.
In my family we value the meat and buy it at a butcher to get quality meat. We also don't throw "barbecue parties" or barbecue with drunk friends, most of the time its just me and the family and maybe one of my parents friends coming over and eating potatoes with tzatziki, some self-made salads and nice sausages + aforementioned meat.
I can see why you're seeing it as a negative though, the examples you mention sound awful indeed, but that has never been my personal barbecue experience.
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I'm so looking forward to this. Summer is coming. Also great blog. But i don't think all people use cheap meat. A lot of people do however of course including me sometimes.
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Zurich15355 Posts
See? I can feel the social pressure to go grill stuff even in here.
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On April 13 2012 20:16 zatic wrote:
See? I can feel the social pressure to go grill stuff even in here.
We have ways of making you grill!
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You aren't in NRW, are you? I'm in Düsseldorf, and I'm thinking we need to organize a TL barbecue meet up...
(with meat from the butcher, farmer's market veggies and quality beer, of course)
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zatic spreading generalisations again. In my family grillen is done at my grandparents and the potatosalad my grandma makes is awesome 
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yeah i already have the first grillen evening behind me.. about two weeks ago -.-
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Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RsOZJ.jpg)
Only way to correctly solve this problem.
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On April 13 2012 20:29 MisterD wrote:
yeah i already have the first grillen evening behind me.. about two weeks ago -.-
what the hell? You start grilling on the first or second of january! 
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Zatic i just read all your germany blogs! they are all awesome, entertaining and informative looking forward to future posts! Not so surprisingly german and swedish people seem very similar on a lot of points!
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nice blog, but some things sound worse than they are. you can buy AMAZING meat everywhere and i dont know a lot of people who grill with low quality meat (and even them just do it very rarely).
and americanized because cooling the beer? that doesnt sound like my germany. where the guy who managed to cool the beer, even at the weirdest places, gets praised for that ! :D
for perfect grilling you also need perfect beer temperature, we are germans afterall! :D
(well of course not really perfect,but i've never seen someone drinking warm beer on purpose, even in the deepest woods :D.)
But yes Grillen is everywhere! And i miss it during the winter times. There is nothing more relaxing and funny than "grillen" with friends, some beer, the warm sun and in the best possible case a game of football (yes i mean soccer you heretics).
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Professional "Grillers" will always choose a Location with a River so the Beer can be cooled my momma nature <3
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On April 13 2012 21:06 Eisregen wrote:
Professional "Grillers" will always choose a Location with a River so the Beer can be cooled my momma nature <3
Grillwiese are almost always near water.
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grillen is so awesome because it makes already cool stuff even cooler.
Imagine a day on a lake with your friends. suddenly you get hungry and instead of heading home, you can do put meat/sausage on a grill and eat it under the open sky. to make it extra special: open a beer (preferably cold). ^________^ gg.
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Zurich15355 Posts
On April 13 2012 20:38 Uracil wrote:Show nested quote +
Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions.
Only way to correctly solve this problem.
See this is exactly what I mean. Unless it's like January, this will NOT result in cold beer. But is good enough for the outdoor Grillen-crazy average German, apparently.
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On April 13 2012 21:09 Otolia wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2012 21:06 Eisregen wrote:
Professional "Grillers" will always choose a Location with a River so the Beer can be cooled my momma nature <3 Grillwiese are almost always near water.
Small faster flowing rivers >>>>> lakes and other less fast flowing waters!!
A lake wont cool your beer in a good way =/
Smaller rivers normally have a lot of shadow and never fails to supply your beer with cool water
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On April 13 2012 21:10 zatic wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2012 20:38 Uracil wrote:
Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions.
Only way to correctly solve this problem. See this is exactly what I mean. Unless it's like January, this will NOT result in cold beer. But is good enough for the outdoor Grillen-crazy average German, apparently.
Proper beer is best around 13-15° and any lake or river can easily get you that.
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On April 13 2012 21:34 Skilledblob wrote:Show nested quote +On April 13 2012 21:10 zatic wrote:On April 13 2012 20:38 Uracil wrote:
Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions.
Only way to correctly solve this problem. See this is exactly what I mean. Unless it's like January, this will NOT result in cold beer. But is good enough for the outdoor Grillen-crazy average German, apparently. Proper beer is best around 13-15° and any lake or river can easily get you that.
Could be a little bit colder like 7 - 9°C but yes mostly you can get these temperatures. Ok not in the middle of the summer in a little lake but its possible.
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Germany should have the first inaugural barbcraft!
I'll leave it to German ingenuity to figure out how to get a working stream in the middle of the woods
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You people do not seem to realize that what you consider as cooled is considered lukewarm everywhere else. 13°.. hilarious.
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13 is perfectly fine for drinks... I dunno why you would want anything colder ^^.
But well.. I also hate crushed ice or anything more than 1-2 cubes of ice in any of my drinks .
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On April 13 2012 22:04 aqui wrote:
You people do not seem to realize that what you consider as cooled is considered lukewarm everywhere else. 13°.. hilarious.
let me guess, you drink Oetinger? I would cool that much more too because it tastes like piss
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On April 13 2012 20:38 Uracil wrote:Show nested quote +
Or take their unquestionable love for good beer. Well I suppose they still do love beer, but since Germans hate cooling, they'll have their otherwise good beer summerly warm during their open air Grillen sessions.
Only way to correctly solve this problem.
I never faced the problem of warm beer either, and I really dunno where the warm beer thing comes from anyways 8[
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When in university we used to do "Eingrillen" in our shared flat in January every year. I mean why not?
You're right about the cheap meat and i think it's a terrible habit. For most people over here it's more important to drive an expensive car than to eat decent food. The french got a way better attitude toward food. I use to say: In Germany the brand new Mercedes S class stands in front of ALDI (random cheap discountmarket), in France the 10 year old Renault Clio stands in front of the five star restaurant.
I only use meat from the butcher and mostly marinate it myself. Also i always prefer local beer or some nice bavarian stuff (Tegernseer Hell! One of the last TRUE breweries who do everything themselves, if you ever have the chance, check it out. It's expensive, but definately worth it).
Your blog in general is pretty accurate and a good read, though i feel a bit offended living in the "EMPTY" (Kassel!) area of germany you talked about in your stereotypes episode. But i can understand, we are not very outgoing and generally don't make a fuss about ourselves, which i really like about the people over here. Too lazy to check if it's still true, but we used to have the highest students/people and bars/people ratio in all of Germany! Also my region is famous for this beauty:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/R0lfX.jpg)
Ahle Worscht. ("Ye olde sausage" i'd say) :D
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No Schwenker. No grillen. Keep your stupid grills away.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zUwaJ.jpg)
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I don't see a single Weisswurst in any of the pictures. Shame on you.
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I only grill marinated meat sry (also it's random google image^^).
As zatic said - the more fat & unhealthy stuff - maybe same burned parts - the better.
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On April 14 2012 00:43 Lorant wrote:
I don't see a single Weisswurst in any of the pictures. Shame on you.
that's cause you don't grill it but just cook it i think.. gotta stick with those rules, it's germany after all!
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On April 14 2012 00:43 Lorant wrote:
I don't see a single Weisswurst in any of the pictures. Shame on you.
yeah that's because Weißwurst is only eaten in Bavaria and it's disgusting
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Never noticed this blog series before. Going to go back and read em' since I'll be living in Germany for 3 months this summer! Germany seems pretty awesome, working on my Deutsch a bit but just started 2 months ago so got a ways to go.
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On April 14 2012 00:43 Lorant wrote:
I don't see a single Weisswurst in any of the pictures. Shame on you.
That's because you don't barbecue Weisswurst.
You don't even cook it. Weisswurst is left to simmer in hot, but not boiling water for 10-15 minutes. And then, in a glorious display of German eating tradition, you basically suck the sausage empty from on end, assisted maybe by pressing parts of it forwards to better reach them (only amateurs cut it open). Oh, and you eat it at 11:00 AM, with sweet mustard and beer.
Personally, I find Weisswurst amazing. I can eat one or two and find them delicious; as soon as I start eating a third, I want to throw up. Not really sure what's going on in my brain and/or digestive tract there.
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On April 14 2012 22:31 Shockk wrote:
Personally, I find Weisswurst amazing. I can eat one or two and find them delicious; as soon as I start eating a third, I want to throw up. Not really sure what's going on in my brain and/or digestive tract there.
you are not alone bro, you are not alone :D
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A good german always brings his beer cold so that by the time you drink, it has the right temperature.
Oh btw, there is this amazing invention:
![[image loading]](http://www.outdoor-renner.de/out/pictures/wysiwigpro/Kuehlbox3.jpg)
You put your cold beer in there and it stays cold for ever
But I guess there are a lot of bad germans that like their cheap piss warm.
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I like my beer cold on a hot summer day.
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I love your blog about germany zatic!
But i have to admit im one of the persons who will buy the cheap meat.
Thats because im a student and dont have the money to buy the good meat at a butcher every time we grill.
Even if the other meat tastes a hundred times better.
A small hint if you use a One-Time-Use-Grill put something underneath it (like rocks) cause everytime we grill in an open park there will be cops showing up and looking if you scorch the earth. (At leat in Tuebingen which sees itself as a verry green city).
And the beer has to be cold!
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OH GOOD LORD. It's that time of the year again, I guess I'll go hide in my bunker until the neighbors finally managed to blow up their "Grill" ^^
No seriously, living in a small flat in front of the neighbors terrace when they "grill" 3 of 7 days a week is not fun. Not at all. And I'm not even invited.
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In all your germany blogs I always hope more non-germans would post something, but most
of the time it's a bunch of us discussing the topic with only a few others in between :D
on topic: I rarely grill, it is a lot of fun like once every few weeks tho imo, but if it's 2+ days in a row I always
start to be annoyed, and honestly by then I don't like the food anymore either
NEVER ever tho would I buy cheap meat, just no... there are things in life where you can be greedy and save some money
but not with this! 
can't say anything about the warm beer thing, I don't drink any - yes I said it, I'm german and don't drink beer (or any other alcohol :o)
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I have never seen a better mood Killer than warm beer. Serve warm beer at your Party will most likely cost you half of the guests after like 30minutes ? Of course beer should'nt be too cold, if it's too cold it won't have any flavor anymore. The optimal drinking temp for beer is 5-8 °C. And cooling your beer in Water only works in flowing waters without any exposure to the sun, but I think most of the Germans know that.
The thing with the meat is more likely, cuz most Teenager or students don't have the money to buy expensive meat, but that's it, most families buy the good stuff cuz Grillen is still something special. I myself will never eat Supermarket cheap meat, it just tastes really awful and I would always choose a Pizza or whatever over this shitty stuff.
Overall I really liked your Blogs till now. Keep at it !
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Being from a full german family, we can't grill worth shit. I don't know how many times i've eaten charcoal food from the BBQ, its gotten so bad we just threw our BBQ in the basement to die.
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EPT
