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 Berghoff Family Cookbook

From Our Table to Yours, Celebrating a Century of Entertaining

by Carlyn Berghoff, Jan Berghoff, Nancy Ross Ryan

Price: $29.99
ISBN-13: 978-0-7407-6362-5
ISBN-10: 0-7407-6362-8
Format: Hardcover
Size: 8 x 10 in.
Page Count: 288 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

“Overall, The Berghoff Family Cookbook is a really great find, and I am so glad I had to opportunity to try it out. This exceeded my expectations by a mile, and I really am looking forward to trying out more of their recipes. If the rest of the recipes are as enjoyable and authentic as those I have tried so far, then this will be a serious contender for my keeper shelf for sure. Highly recommended.” ––Lavender Blue http://heatherfeather-lavenderblue.blogspot.com/2009/08/cookbook-review-berghoff-family.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.

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.

At long last, fans of the famous Berghoff Restaurant in Chicago have what they’ve been waiting for: The Berghoff Family Cookbook: From Our Table to Yours, Celebrating a Century of Entertaining (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $29.95, September 2007) by Carlyn Berghoff and Jan Berghoff with Nancy Ross Ryan.

Even people who have never enjoyed the schnitzel or the strudel at the Berghoff will love reading the history of the Berghoff family, a fixture in Chicago for more than 100 years. And everyone will love the traditional Berghoff recipes—including the never-before-published recipe for Creamed Spinach—as well as favorites from fourth-generation Carlyn Berghoff’s Artistic Events catering company.

Nine chapters filled with 150 recipes and a final chapter on making entertainment easy provide all that’s needed to entertain family and friends. After all, the Berghoffs have been entertaining for more than a century and continue to make family events a big part of their lives. Now Carlyn and Jan share tips that make entertaining simple, including foolproof formulas for setting up a bar: How to figure how many glasses, napkins, and beverages for the number of guests—even how to calculate how much ice is needed. Menus for meals from a buffet supper to a picnic are created from recipes in the book.

With the book’s simple recipes adapted to the home kitchen, anyone can now cook and serve all the famous Berghoff dishes—the traditional Creamed Spinach, Wiener Schnitzel, Apple Strudel (the secret is in the crumbs), and Black Forest Cake. You’ll also discover recipes that have made Carlyn’s Artistic Events famous for the last 20 years: Pesto Cheesecake, Shrimp Martini, and divine little Sacher Torte Cakes. Beautiful color food images in every chapter were photographed on location at the Berghoff.

In conversational and reassuring style, Carlyn and Jan take the worries out of entertaining, making it so easy you can now have fun at your own party. Cheers!

Makes 5 cups/Serves 8

One of the dishes that made Berghoff’s famous, Creamed Spinach was put on the menu around 1945 by our Swiss then-executive chef Karl Hertenstein, and has been there ever since. Up until now, the recipe, although simple, has been our secret. We made everything “from scratch” in Berghoff’s kitchen—except the Creamed Spinach. Because spinach is so bulky when fresh and shrinks to almost nothing when cooked, we have always made our enormous daily quantity from frozen spinach. Frozen spinach is minimally processed: quickly blanched, drained of excess water, then flash frozen. If you want to try making our recipe from fresh spinach, we have included a recipe. But we bet that, side by side, you can’t taste the difference.

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons chicken base, or 1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (2 1/2 cups)
Salt and ground white pepper, if desired
Ground nutmeg, for garnish
Crisp, cooked, crumbled bacon, for garnish

In a medium-size saucepan, heat the half-and-half, milk, chicken base, Tabasco, and seasonings to a simmer. Remove from the heat and keep warm.

In another medium-size saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk well to combine. Cook this mixture for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often. Slowly whisk the heated milk mixture into the butter mixture, a little at a time, whisking constantly until smooth. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until it thickens. The sauce will be very thick.

Stir in the spinach and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Serve while hot.

To serve: Place the hot creamed spinach in a bowl, sprinkled with an extra touch of ground nutmeg on top. Top each serving with 1 tablespoon of crisp, cooked, crumbled bacon, if desired.

Serves 8

If Grapes Rolled in Goat Cheese is one of Paul Larson’s biggest hits, this is his biggest claim to fame. Paul is the executive chef for Carlyn’s catering company, Artistic Events. When the mashed potato fad of the ’90s was in full swing, and fine dining restaurants were serving skin-on lumpy mashed potatoes, this was his answer. At family parties, we serve it in plastic martini glasses.

Mashed potatoes

4 large Idaho potatoes
1/2 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

White wine sauce

1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, softened
Ground white pepper

Shrimp

2 tablespoons olive oil
16 medium-size shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped, or lobster may be substituted
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives, for garnish

Make the mashed potatoes: Peel and dice the potatoes. Place in a medium-size saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to a simmer, and simmer until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain. Using an electric mixer, whip the potatoes to a thick puree with the half-and-half, butter, salt, and pepper. Set aside the potatoes in a warm place until ready to serve.

Make the sauce: In a 1-quart saucepan, heat the white wine over medium heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds to 1/3 cup. Add the heavy cream and continue to simmer until reduced again by half to about 1/2 cup. Remove from the heat and gently whisk in the butter, a little at a time, until thickened. Season with white pepper, and set aside in a warm place until ready to serve. This recipe makes about 1 cup of sauce. Make the shrimp: In a 10-inch skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the shrimp and sauté until tender and almost cooked through. Add the chopped garlic and sauté for another minute. Do not allow the garlic to brown or burn. Remove from the heat immediately.

Assemble the martinis: Divide the hot mashed potatoes among eight martini glasses. Place two cooked shrimp on top of the potatoes in each glass and drizzle each martini with 2 tablespoons of the wine sauce. Garnish with the chopped chives and serve immediately.