Handkäs with Rap, Techno & Jazz

Say Cheese! We have grabbed the classic from Hesse and want to make Handkäs presentable again. The MILK. Food Lab team has developed fantastic new “music styles” that are worth listening to.

Handkäs with music is a classic, middle-class pub dish in Frankfurt. By default, the cheese is served with a vinegar-oil-onion music often supplemented with caraway seeds. That in itself is a very good, quite intense regional culinary experience. Unfortunately, this combination is largely unknown outside of Hesse and many visitors and even some Hessians have fear of contact with this cultural asset.

Tangible potential

As advocates of Hessian cuisine, we see potential in Handkäs’ mit Musik. We were already taken with the name. “With music…” which probably gave the name to the classic onion vinaigrette as a euphemism for flatulence, can also be interpreted quite differently. Music at all. We thought of styles that have shaped us but also the city of Frankfurt: Jazz, rap and techno are therefore the basis for our first steps with our own music creations.

We became directly nostalgic and had to think of old favorite records. And we are already at the packaging. Because LPs are not somehow lovelessly welded in plastic, but lovingly, according to the content, wrapped in a thoughtful and usually very appealing packaging design.

Precisely because the music cannot be heard when you look at the packaging, the sound is visually depicted synesthetically, so to speak. Anyone who has ever discovered fantastic music via a record sleeve knows what we’re talking about.

Handkäs with classic

Back to the hand cheese. The music of the classic version is relatively monotonous, but caraway seeds give the sour onion marinade that certain something, and with the cheese it’s just a treat. However, it is precisely this intensity that deters many. We try it a little less strict, but more aromatic and complex. Regionality should also come into play but not in a folkloristic way, because Frankfurt is in a constant state of change.

For our recipe development on techno, jazz and rap, sensual considerations play together with conceptual ones. It will sound like this:

Handkäs with Techno

Frankfurt was a world city for electro beats. There were legendary clubs here and DJ greats like Sven Väth provided the world with their sound around the clock from Frankfurt. Then as now there is Handkäs with music and now also with techno.

Techno is intense and extensive, loud and steady, the pulse beat of an attitude towards life. The Handkäs with music is austere, intense, sour (ACID), a strong white wine vinegar and spicy, a little chili gives us the kick for it but also bright and healing, turmeric and curry bring intense colors and flavors of another world to this Hessian specialty. This is dance n’ trance. The toughness of Frankfurt paired with the gentleness of Goa.

Handkäs with Rap

Frankfurt is rap: Moses Pelham made Rödelheim the epicentre of German rap back in the 1990s and now AZAD and Offenbach-based rappers like Hafti are giving the banking city street cred. It’s about money, lots of money, but also sometimes drugs and dodgy dealings. These partially dark worlds are not that far removed from our lives. And what does that mean for our Handkäs accompaniment?

“CHABOS KNOW HOW TO EAT HANDKÄS”

The traditional marinade is refined aromatically. Apple balsamic provides gentle sweetness, because despite all the hardness, a rapper is also a Frankfurt Bubb at heart. As the boss of the store, Ras el Hanout gives an inimitable aroma, cumin underlines this otherness, sumac provides a special acidity, a little mint makes things fresh and hemp seeds bring relaxed calm. Coal can’t buy you everything, but it does lend something sinister to it. Gold leaf enriches the mix. Eat the rich Brudi. Chabos know how to eat Handkäs.

Handkäs with Jazz

Frankfurt is jazz. Whether in an underground jazz cellar or in the Mampf jazz club – where the world of jazz meets regional culinary delights. Jazz is local and global, simple and complex, relaxing and demanding. Just like the cities where this music is at home – be it the Big Apple or Frankfurt itself. Handkäs with Jazz is sweet and complex, with the soft and subtle flavour of after hours. Apple is enhanced with coriander to provide a relaxing and sophisticated global pleasure – the best accompaniment for great jazz music. Why not open a bottle of single variety apple wine to complete the perfect flavour combination?

Lovely illustration by: Johanna Schwarzer

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