We took a trip out to Artern, a 45-minute drive out of Erfurt, to visit my mum-in-law. At home, this trip would have been called "balik kampung", which literally means "back to village". I am married to a man whose maternal family originally came from Artern, and so it is here that we travel to, every month or so. This time, I grabbed me some fish.
As a belated birthday treat for hubs and daughter, MIL treated us to lunch at the restaurant in a hotel in town, Hotel Restaurant Weinberg. It isn't my first time here, and the food has always been lovely. Today, I decided to try what I haven't tried before - their fried Forelle.
I have always said that I love seafood. So when I have a chance to, I go for it. Even if it is the same type of seafood, e.g fish, I like trying out the different ways it is done. Raw, baked, fried, steamed - there are just so many ways of cooking one same thing, with different results. The Forelle is no different, and here it is, fried in butter.
It was served steaming hot; so hot, in fact, that the steam wafted up to the nostrils welcomingly. And along with those wafts, came the wonderful scents of freshly-cooked white meat.
[Do you notice how red and white meats smell differently? No? If not, the next time you order one of each, clear your head of all scents and take in a deep waft of the freshly-cooked stuff. Both smell wonderful, but distinctly different. Red meats have a full-bodied aroma attached to them while white meats have a lighter, airy scent. Like I said, equally wonderful, and wonderfully different.]
Heavenly smells from this not-so-little plate of goodies. What I loved too was that the fish wasn't oily. Fried to a crisp with no tangible feel of oil on the skin or plate. Loved it.
The meats inside were just as I had hoped - tender and slightly succulent. My only jibe here is that it wasn't as juicy as I wanted my fish to be, but that could very well be because of the type of fish it is and not the method in which it was cooked. For a fried fish with a crispy outer skin, the fish meat was sufficiently juicy, especially for a state that doesn't have that much access to seafoods of any kind.
The forelle came with two slices of lemon - one slipped between the meats, and the other was an extra, presumably for those who prefer their fish tangier.
The one slipped inside gave the fish meat an added kick - the fish meat tasted of fresh, lightly seasoned fish with a tang of sourness that enhanced its fresh fishy flavour. I'm assuming that diners could squeeze out more lemon juice from it, but being someone who is quite sensitive to an overload of citrus in the digestive system, I left mine intact. Besides, it wasn't necessary for me, anyway. I could taste the tang in the meat and that was quite enough to make me happy. But by all means, if you wish to, do go right ahead.
On the fish was a dollop of Remoulade, a kind of dip that I discovered is often eaten with fish here. This is somewhat new to me, as I had never eaten my fish with this dip before, till I moved here.
In case you're wondering why, let's just say, it is akin to the freshly-cut chilli in light soya sauce that my side of world has a dip for almost all our dishes.
So, Remoulade = freshly-cut chilli in soya sauce/vinegar. It may have been an alien concept before, but I have come to accept and like the combo. After all, life would be boring if we did everything exactly the same way, won't it?
Potatoes were served as the base for the dish and came steaming hot as well. Combine the scents of freshly-fried fish and hot potatoes, and trust me, your appetite will come running, even if it didn't want to. The potatoes were so soft and sprinkled with a dash of basil and parsley, lovely as a base to the main dish. I'm not a huge potato fan (still requires some getting used to) but these potatoes, I enjoyed.
My side was a cold salad of sliced carrots, cucumbers, some white beans stalks, broccoli, a pickled pepperoni and a slice of tomato. I don't have much issues with it, but I do have to say, I would have liked maybe an extra slice or two of tomatoes (why only one slice, I wonder?).
I'm not sure if this one slice thing is a rule for all side salads, or if every plate is given only one slice, or if I was the unfortunate diner to get only one slice. Whatever it was, one slice of tomato was a little disappointing. And no, I really don't think I'm asking for a lot here - in my opinion, two or three slices of tomatoes would have made the salad look a lot more attractive, plus it would have added a little more zing.
All in all, I am not complaining. Freshly-done fish that had all its flavours intact, plus not oily (that gets a super thumbs-up from me) + super-soft potatoes served piping hot + adequately-served salad.
The last time I had something similar to this was a couple of months ago in Thale, which I wrote in an earlier blog here. Same type of fish with similar sides, and yet, somehow their recipes are not exactly the same. Here in Artern, I found the fish to be lighter in its seasoning, yet just as appealing.
Which just goes to show that our world is so much more interesting when we have and accept differences.
And appreciate them for all that they are worth.
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