The Berghoff Café Cookbook

Berghoff Family Recipes for Simple, Satisfying Food

by Carlyn Berghoff, Nancy Ross Ryan

Price: $24.99
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-8514-6
ISBN-10: 0-7407-8514-1
Format: Hardcover
Size: 8 x 10 in.
Page Count: 176 pages

“The recipes represent the full range of Berghoff Café food. The book starts with a chapter on bar snacks, followed by soups, sandwiches, salads, side dishes, a chapter featuring the café’s daily specials, one with its relatively new pizzas, and desserts from “yesterday and today.” There is a lot more useful information on food and food history than we were expecting from a restaurant cookbook (to tell the truth, we weren’t expecting much or any useful information, just a bunch of recipes mixed in with a little nostalgia, so we were delighted with the scope of this book). ” ––O Chef http://www.ochef.com/reviews/0740785141.htm

“Giving a modern twist to old-fashioned German comfort food, [Carlyn Berghoff] says, “My aim is to present simple, healthy ideas that encourage people to cook.”As a great-granddaughter of Chicago’s venerable German food and beer family, Berghoff has an array of relatives and more than a century of family restaurant lore from which to draw material and recipes. Added to that is her own expertise, grown from college chef training, years of running the Berghoff Catering and Restaurant Group and cooking at home for her family, so her book is heavy on practical, economical dishes that are easy to make and nutritious.” ––Vernon Hills Media http://www.pioneerlocal.com/vernonhills/lifestyles/food/1875330,pioneer-press-berghoff-111209-s1.article

“This cookbook is full of recipes for things we all know well; food we have eaten with our families as children and as adults. Dishes that bring comfort and are ’simple and satisfying’ like the cover promises. … The Berghoff Café Cookbook offers recipes across the food gamut from bar snacks to paninis and pizzas to yummy desserts.  … I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for straightforward, comfort food pure and simple. It’s all there. Nothing fancy; nothing pretentious.” ––1 Hundrews Miles http://1hundredmiles.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-berghoff-cafe-cookbook.html

“Family is everything, and so is food when it comes to the Berghoff family. The Berghoff Cafe food and drink, originated by Herman Berghoff more than 110 years ago, is the foundation of Berghoff tradition carried on today by great-granddaughter Carlyn Berghoff. Cafe fare is simple and satisfying, nothing fancy, and not at all fussy. … The eighty recipes plus variations in The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook represent the full range of Berghoff Cafe food. … The recipes you’ll find in this book are easy to prepare, look great on the plate, and are a pleasure to eat.” ––My Imaginary Kitchen http://www.imaginary-kitchen.com/2009/10/27/the-berghoff-caf-cookbook-berghoff-family-recipes-for-simple-satisfying-food/

“Founded in 1898, The Berghoff Café serves German food in an Old World ambience in Chicago. The cafe is now run by fourth-generation restaurateur and caterer Carlyn Berghoff. She offers 85 of the restaurant’s recipes, plus variations, in “The Berghoff Café Cookbook: Berghoff Family Recipes for Simple Satisfying Food“” ––Modesto Bee http://www.modbee.com/life/taste/story/900933.html

“The Berghoff Café Cookbook by Carlyn Berghoff is a collection of soul-satisfying, simple recipes served at the well-known Chicago cafés. In addition to current customer favorites, the book shares some of the time-tested recipes created by the restaurant’s founder, Herman Berghoff over a century ago. They’ve been modernized a bit to reduce calories and prep times, but the flavors that have made The Berghoff Cafés such a success aren’t compromised in the slightest. … All in all, The Berghoff Café Cookbook is handy to have on your shelf when you’re looking for simple, satisfying recipes and meal ideas that are anything but average.” ––My Gourmet Connection http://www.mygourmetconnection.com/food-finds/editors-picks/the-berghoff-cafe-cookbook.php

“This cookbook deliciously underscores the three principles on which most café food is built: reuse, recycle, and reinvent. For example, potatoes can evolve into Lyonnaise Potatoes, Potato Soup, and countless other exciting dishes. Even the chocolate chip cookie can be tweaked and is limited only by your imagination. This is a superb collection. The recipes are accessible and fairly simple to prepare. I tested three recipes and all were superb” ––Tucson Citizen http://tucsoncitizen.com/cooking/2009/10/05/berghoff-cafe-chicago-favorite/

“The Berghoff Café Cookbook by Carlyn Berghoff is a collection of comfort food/simple recipes served at the well-known Chicago cafés. In addition to current customer favorites, the book shares some of the time-tested recipes created by the restaurant’s founder, Herman Berghoff over a century ago. They’ve been modernized a bit to reduce calories and prep times, but the flavors that have made The Berghoff Cafés such a success aren’t compromised in the slightest.” ––Bless Their Hearts Mom http://blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com/2009/10/recipe-weekend-happy-oktoberfest.html

“The 85 delicious recipes plus creative variations in The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook represent the full range of Berghoff Cafe food, from soups, salads, and sandwiches to pizzas and desserts. Color photography and interesting historical and cooking-related sidebars complete the book. The delicious recipes are easy to prepare, look good on the plate, and deliver the flavors befitting a Chicago institution.” ––Food Reference http://www.foodreference.com/html/b909-berghoff-cafe.html

“The Berghoff Café: Berghoff Family Recipes for Simple, Satisfying Food is a new a cookbook based on the popular restaurant in Chicago. … This is the prefect book for anyone on budget as it stresses reusing ingredients to make hearty, healthful, and tempting meals.” ––Dolce Dolce http://www.dolcedolce.com/?cat=25

“The Berghoff Cafe, now in its fourth generation of family ownership, is a Chicago tradition.  In The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook, author (and great-granddaughter of the founde)r Carlyn Berghoff offers recipes for beloved Berghoff dishes that have been faithful servants to a hungry clientele over the course of a century.  Respecting the foundation on which the cuisine was built, but welcoming the contemporary, Carlyn adapts the recipes, eliminating laborious steps taken by generations that had time on their hands, and reducing calories to please a more health-conscious generation.  “If it’s prepared the way my grandmother cooked it, it is very labor intensive and often high in fat.  I like the flavors and simplicity, but not the work and the calories.”  This is comfort food at its best. ” ––In Mamas Kitchen http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/Book_Reviews/family_cookbooks/Berg_Cafe.html

“There are precious few cookbooks with great sandwich recipes, but The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook by Carlyn Berghoff fits the bill. The cookbook comes from a storied eatery in Chicago and the chapter on sandwiches is aptly titled “Something of Substance.”" ––Daily Herald http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=323046&src=141

“Since 1898, the Berghoff family has been operating its eponymous restaurant, a Chicago legend. More recently, founder Herman’s great-granddaughter Carlyn opened the Berghoff Café at the same location. She has also assembled many of their customer favorites in The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook: Berghoff Family Recipes for Simple, Satisfying Food. These easy-to-prepare meals are often modern versions of some of the dishes served decades ago.” ––Metro Times http://www.metrotimes.com/food/story.asp?id=14382

“The Berghoff Café Cookbook by Carlyn Berghoff is a collection of soul-satisfying, simple recipes served at the well-known Chicago café. In addition to current customer favorites, the book shares some of the time-tested recipes created by the restaurant’s founder, Herman Berghoff over a century ago. They’ve been modernized a bit to reduce calories and prep times, but the flavors that have made The Berghoff Café such a success aren’t compromised in the slightest.” ––My Gourmet Connection http://www.mygourmetconnection.com/food-finds/editors-picks/the-berghoff-cafe-cookbook.php

“Overall this is a great book.  It contains easy and wholesome recipes that are amazing. This book totally reminds me of the comfort foods that I grew up with in the midwest.  If you are looking for easy comfort food with a midwestern twist this book is for you. ” ––Savory Reviews http://www.savoryreviews.com/2009/08/19/book-review-the-bergoff-cafe-cookbook/

“What’s old is now new, and still delicious? Carlyn Berghoff, fourth generation Chicago restaurateur, caterer and mother of three, just released her second cookbook filled with favorite recipes from the famous Berghoff cafe. The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook: Berghoff Family Recipes for Simple, Satisfying Food features classic recipes with a modern twist.” ––Southtown Star http://www.southtownstar.com/lifestyles/lifefood/1758909,091009bookshelf.article

“This is simple, homey, family-friendly food with little twists here and there to keep it interesting. A fun book to review it is perfect for anyone who likes the classics but wants to try some good variations, has a picky family or friends to feed, or likes the nostalgia that cafe food like this brings.” ––Kahakai Kitchen http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2009/09/cookbook-review-berghoff-cafe-cookbook.html

“Taking tried-and-true Berghoff family recipes, including some from her great-grandfather, [Carlyn Berghoff] adds up-to-date twists to many of them, creating dishes that retain the great flavors but have fewer calories and are less time-consuming to make. “I call these traditions with a twist,” says Berghoff about such dishes as her Sausage Wellingtons, a bratwurst baked in a brown mustard brushed pastry crust that is take on the bratwursts her great-grandfather used to serve. “Updating the recipes was great fun. As I really dug into the menu that my mom had that dated back to 1914, I was amazed at how many food items still existed today in some form. Most importantly, I really loved seeing how amazing my great-grandfather was at cross-utilizing products - how green he was in today’s terms.”" ––Herald Palladium http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/09/09/features/826678.txt

“I really enjoyed The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook and I encourage you to pick up a copy when it appears in stores in your area. It is a really nice book. I know I will be trying out many more of the recipes, especially some of those unique sounding soups and salads. Recommended. “  ––Lavender Blue http://heatherfeather-lavenderblue.blogspot.com/2009/08/cookbook-review-and-now-for-bite-at.html

The café food is built upon three principles that work in the restaurant as well as at home: reuse, recycle, and reinvent. The Berghoffs reuse their basics and waste nothing, so potatoes become Mashed Potatoes, Lyonnaise Potatoes, hash browns, Potato Salad, oven-roasted potatoes, potato pancakes, Potato Soup, french fries, and Smoked Sausage and Potato Pizza. They also recycle perfectly wholesome cooked foods so Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast stars in the Turkey Reuben, but there’s also enough left for the Turkey Okra and Rice Soup and more. And the Berghoff Café pizzas are great examples of how they reinvent dishes. The crusts have added seasonings and herbs, and are spread with olive oil and mustard or olive oil and garlic, for added crispness and flavor. Then they top them with their signature ingredients creating Brat, Kraut, and Onion Pizza with Swiss Cheese and Caraway Crust.

The eighty recipes plus variations in The Berghoff Café Cookbook represent the full range of Berghoff Café food. There are recipes from Great-grandfather Herman’s café, updated for today’s cook so they require less time and have fewer calories, alongside selections from today’s café menu and customers’ very favorite soups, salads, sandwiches, pizzas, and desserts. The recipes you’ll find in this book are easy to prepare, look great on the plate, and are a pleasure to eat.

Nancy Ross Ryan served as the writer for The Berghoff Family Cookbook. She is the founder of Fresh Food Writing in Chicago, Illinois, and specializes in food writing and recipe development.

Serves 12

One bite of this coffee cake takes me back to my childhood. I ate this often at the café and even more often at my grandmother Carlyn’s home, where there was always a big pan of freshly baked coffee cake in the kitchen just waiting to be cut.

Batter
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 ¹⁄3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup milk, at room temperature
¾ cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

To prepare the batter: In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cream cheese, and butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs and the extracts, and continue to mix until creamy.

In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the electric mixer on low speed, stir the dry ingredients into the creamy mixture just until a dough forms. Add the milk and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the dried cherries by hand.

To prepare the streusel topping: In another medium-size bowl, combine all the streusel ingredients and mix to combine.

Grease and flour a 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Pour the cake batter into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the top of the cake batter evenly with the streusel topping. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Streusel Topping
²⁄3 cup brown sugar
²⁄3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sliced almonds

Let the pan cool on a rack to room temperature. Remove from the pan when cooled. To serve, slice (3 by 4) into twelve pieces and serve, or wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

Variations:
Substitute raisins or dried cranberries for the dried cherries.

Makes 12 medium-size or 24 small pretzels

Pretzels are one of the world’s oldest snacks. Great-grandfather Herman ate them in Germany as a boy and here in America as an adult. It was natural that they would find their way into the Berghoff bar. Traditionally, shaped pretzel dough is briefly boiled in water, just like bagels, before being baked. This brief boiling gives both pretzels and bagels shiny crusts and a very chewy texture. I omitted the step of boiling the shaped dough when I developed our pretzel recipe for the home kitchen, so this pretzel is easy to shape and bake. It has a nice soft crust, easy to bite, easy to chew. It is best baked and eaten on the same day. Pretzels are fun for kids and grown-ups alike to shape. We recommend eating these pretzels with any Berghoff beer or a frosty mug of Berghoff Root Beer.

4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ cups warm water
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, well beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel (coarse) salt, as needed

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Do not use a convection oven for this recipe.

To mix in a mixer: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt, and stir to mix; add the water, butter, and egg yolk, and mix on low until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead the dough at the lowest speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes, adding some or all of the remaining flour as needed. Cover with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

To mix by hand: In a 4-quart bowl, combine the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt, and whisk to mix; add the water, butter, and egg yolk and, using a large spoon, stir until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

Serves 8

Berghoff spaetzle are special because we use so many eggs and we cook our spaetzle in chicken broth for additional flavor. The traditional Old World recipe for spaetzle was to use one egg for every person to be served, plus one egg for good measure. Spaetzle dough is pushed through holes in a spaetzle maker into simmering broth below and cooked just until tender. You can also push the dough through a large colander set over the broth. You can mix spaetzle the quick way in a food processor, or the traditional way by mixing by hand in a large bowl. Either way, it’s important to let the dough rest for 30 minutes before cooking. You can save any of the leftover cooking broth, refrigerate it, and add it to soups and stews. Spaetzle can also be cooked in water. A cooked spaetzle looks like a tiny, short dumpling about the size of the top joint of your little finger.

9 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 tablespoon powdered chicken soup base, or 1 chicken bouillon cube, pulverized
¹⁄8 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 quarts chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon canola oil

To mix in the food processor: In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, place the eggs, chicken soup base, baking powder, salt, pepper, and flour. Process for 15 seconds. Remove the lid, scrape down the sides with a spatula, replace the lid, and process just until a smooth batter forms, about 15 additional seconds. Transfer the batter to a 1-quart pitcher with a lip. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

To mix in a bowl: In a 3-quart bowl, combine the eggs, chicken soup base, baking powder, salt, pepper, and 1 cup of the flour. Stir or whisk until the flour is absorbed and the batter is smooth. Add the second cup of flour in small batches and stir or whisk until the batter is smooth and thick. Repeat with the third cup of flour. Transfer to a 1-quart pitcher with a lip. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.