flipBerlin Abendbrot with Cold Cuts and Rye Bread
Berlin Abendbrot with Cold Cuts and Rye Bread
Why this dish? After long days of composition and rehearsal at the Leipziger Straße villa, the Mendelssohn-Hensel family, like any Berlin household, had a cold Abendbrot: breads, cold cuts, and pickles. A simple meal that closed the working and conversational evenings Fanny so loved.
An evening board: slices of dense rye bread, ham and sausage, fresh butter, sour pickles, and cheese. Everyone composes their own open-faced sandwiches, no fuss.
When evening comes, when the ink is dry and the scores rest, there is no ceremony at our table. They bring the dark bread, the good butter, a few slices of ham, and those little vinegar cucumbers my brother adored. Each one cuts his own tartine as he pleases, and we still talk a little music before the night. You see, it was in these unpretentious moments that the house breathed best.
- •Rye bread (Schwarzbrot) — several slices (base)
- •Fresh butter — as desired (fat binder)
- •Smoked ham — a few slices (cold cut)
- •Dry sausage (Mettwurst) — a few rounds (cold cut)
- •Vinegar cucumbers — a few (acidity)
- •Farm cheese — a piece (umami)
Berlin Abendbrot with Cold Cuts and Rye Bread
An evening board: slices of dense rye bread, ham and sausage, fresh butter, sour pickles, and cheese. Everyone composes their own open-faced sandwiches, no fuss.
Why this dish? After long days of composition and rehearsal at the Leipziger Straße villa, the Mendelssohn-Hensel family, like any Berlin household, had a cold Abendbrot: breads, cold cuts, and pickles. A simple meal that closed the working and conversational evenings Fanny so loved.
When evening comes, when the ink is dry and the scores rest, there is no ceremony at our table. They bring the dark bread, the good butter, a few slices of ham, and those little vinegar cucumbers my brother adored. Each one cuts his own tartine as he pleases, and we still talk a little music before the night. You see, it was in these unpretentious moments that the house breathed best.
Ingredients (period version)
- Rye bread (Schwarzbrot) — several slices (base)
- Fresh butter — as desired (fat binder)
- Smoked ham — a few slices (cold cut)
- Dry sausage (Mettwurst) — a few rounds (cold cut)
- Vinegar cucumbers — a few (acidity)
- Farm cheese — a piece (umami)
Ingredients
- Whole grain rye bread — 6 slices (base)
- Salted butter — 50 g (fat binder)
- Smoked ham (e.g., Black Forest) — 100 g (cold cut)
- Dry sausage or Mettwurst — 80 g (cold cut)
- Sour pickles (Gewürzgurken) — 4 (acidity)
- Hard cheese (emmental, gouda) — 80 g (umami)
- Radishes and chives — a few (freshness)
Method
- Slice the rye bread and arrange on a board.
- Generously butter the slices.
- Arrange ham, sausage, and cheese in a fan pattern.
- Add pickles cut into fans, radishes, and chopped chives.
- Serve as is: everyone composes their own open-faced sandwich at the table.
How it was made : Abendbrot — literally 'evening bread' — remains a pillar of German life to this day. In the 19th century, the hot meal was taken at midday (Mittagessen); in the evening, cold fare sufficed, lightening the kitchen's workload. Dense rye bread kept for several days.
The contemporary twist : Present the board as a 'tableau' and name each cold cut after a musical movement (allegro for the spicy, adagio for the mild cheese).
Sources : Henriette Davidis, Praktisches Kochbuch, 1845
Fanny Mendelssohn · Charactorium
