"Times are difficult. Many industries suffer from the lockdowns. But while for retail there is still the possibility of compensating at least a part by online sales or restaurants with the exception of house offers might keep up with Ach and Krach over water, it looks like hotels completely reckless. Tourist travel is prohibited, business travellers are barely present and those who specialize in seminars should think about a change of concept at the latest. The “Waldknechtshof” in Baiersbronner Ortsteil Klosterreichbach shows that you can also try to develop creative ideas as a hotel in this situation. When we travelled to the Black Forests Gourmet Metropole in the past few years, I am also more often stuck with the “Waldknechtshof” in search of accommodation options, which with its historical ambience, after all the house is over 250 years old, pleasantly out of the usual hotels in the area. Since Klosterreichbach was just a little further away from our restaurant destinations, we decided to choose alternatives. Now, however, there was a contact as the forced closing time was bridged with virtual kitchen parties. And why not cook online with others, drink and spend an amusing evening? Going away or meeting with friends doesn't go, and at some point the TV program is no longer interesting enough. So we meet Saturday night on time at 6:00 p.m. to the zoom meeting. Two days before we received the package with the ingredients that are cooked this evening. Although some components are prepared, such as marinades or the basic funds for sauce and sabayon, but meat and fish are delivered raw and vacuumed (and of course well cooled), as are some already inlaid radish balls and orange slices. Otherwise, there is a bag with vegetables, herbs and citrus fruits that still have to be completely processed. Since this is a French evening, there is also a wine package containing a champagne, a white wine and two red wines. These come from the wine trade “Tour du Vin” and the owner, Laurent Bieth, will moderate the wines. So we have to do it with a 3 in 1 offer: kitchen party, cooking class and wine tasting. The participants of the evening mainly come from the South German area, apparently many regular guests, but that doesn't matter for the format. The mood is solved, here are like-minded and enjoyable, and with the champagne, an excellent pure Pinot Noir champagne from Demeter cultivation of Champagne Fleury, it starts a lot more relaxed anyway. Gernot Marquardt, the owner, takes over the greetings and again and again the moderation. Champagne Fleury Blanc de Noirs The kitchen in the “Waldknechtshof” is responsible for Andreas Diefenthal, member of Euro Toques. He is responsible for both the “Meierei” restaurant, with fine, creative cuisine and the bistro “Hofscheuer”, which is more dedicated to the more classic, bourgeois dishes. For our menu today we move exactly between these two poles. The first handles are dedicated to the dessert for which the grießflammeri is boiled with tonka bean, raisins and orange nabrieb. At this point, Hanover and the first controversy will speak because the instructions are very quick. Should the grits already be in the milk with the other ingredients or only then? The tonka bean completely rubbed or only partially? It's good that there's still champagne in the glass. There are these questions and little misfortunes about the incident. The hotel manager Maurice Götz moderates the individual handles from the kitchen and ensures that everyone will come along. And where necessary, he lets Andreas Diefenthal turn a gear back. Once the Flameri has been transported to the villages and stored in the refrigerator, the appetizer continues. For this, salmon pieces are pickled in a finished soyamarinade. Parallel to this, salmon sections are processed to the Tatar with smash, scarf, apple pieces and lime. A small chicken wasabi is stirred into a cream with Schmand and then all is dressed together with the radish balls, radishes and radish sprouts. A beautiful Asian entrance. Variation from Asian marinated fjord salmon with three kinds of radish A real surprise is the Chardonnay from the Girard winery from Languedoc. The wine was on the yeast for 10 months and was developed in a 500l barrel, which gives it a clear fullness and a lot of melting. In view of the price of just around 10 euros a great wine value. In parallel, we also try the champagne, which is also very excellent with the salmon. 2019 Domaine Girard Chardonnay Elevé sur les fines For the main course a capital piece of beef fillet will be prepared appropriately. But first it goes to the grape, for which you can peel potatoes of the trendy firm-boiling variety Annabelle and cut into fine slices. Shawl and garlic are sweated in butter, filled with milk and cream. The potatoes cook in them together with grated nutmeg and are then sprinkled with cheese in a run-up form and baked in the oven. In the meantime, carrots are pinned and gedified with shallots, orange juice and honey. Now it's about meat. For this, it is rolled in rosemary and thyme, sharply fried and cooked in the oven at low temperature to the end. If the precise preparation of such a noble piece of meat is a delicate matter, the preparation of the sauce Béarnaise, a modification of the sauce Hollandaise, is also a very demanding task. When frying and picking up the sauce in the water bath, it is no longer easy to follow the instructions on the laptop. Both tempo from the “Waldknechtshof” kitchen and volume in your own kitchen are real challenges here. Nevertheless, the result can be seen. The meat is, what surprises me most, perfect at the point, the sauce fluffy as it should be and just as delicious as the gratin as well as the bite-resistant carrots. A classic as well as delicious main course, which requires a lot of handling, but as a result also knows to convince. We are already moving here in the very demanding, kitchen-technical segment. Chateaubriand on creamy potato burr, with honey glazed carrots and sauce Béarnaise To the main course there are two red wines which are tasted in parallel. The rather young Bordeaux from the Saint Émilion from the Château Croix Beauséjour is pleasantly soft, without noticeable tannins and with fine fruit, while the “Les Mégalithes” of the Domaine Bertrand Bergé from the Appelation Fitou in the Corbières, the southwest of France, emphasizes with Carignan and Grenache more the spicy, crusty notes. Both wines are truly not light weights with 14.5%, but not very soft, but above all full and strong. At the table, the preferences go to the chateaubriand, which then probably speaks more for the selection. 2018 Château Croix Beauséjour, Montagne Saint Émilion 2018 Domaine Bertrand Bergé, Les Mégalithes For the dessert there are no more many handles needed, but they also have it in themselves. The grießflammeri only has to be transported from the mold to the plate on which the prepared spice oranges have already been placed. Together with the Sabayon still to be created, the whole is then congratulated in the oven. Our plates are too big for this, so we do not need to bake the sabayon. Besides, I'm not a friend of warm fruit. So the flame with brown sugar comes under the grill for a short time and during this time the Grand Marnier Sabayon is beaten up. For this purpose, the supplied brew must be broken up with egg yolk and sugar in the water bath. Similar to the Béarnaise, it is important here to meet the right time at which the egg yolk blends foamyly with the liquid but does not become too hot. Unless one stands on sweet scrambled eggs – but it is not recommended for this dish. But here it works well and the overall result can be seen again and tastes very good. Grieß Flammeri with marinated spice oranges and Grand Marnier Sabayon congratulates Now that the last steps are taken, it goes up slowly at 2 pm and the participants, hosts and moderators say goodbye to each other. This was a fun, though quite busy evening. Because different from the numerous Take Away menus we had worried during the Lockdown time, this is not just about warming up finished components, but about proper cooking. Of advantage is sure if you have a helping hand to the side. Perhaps it would be a good idea to inform the participants in advance what steps can be taken in advance, i.e. to create a mise en place. This would slightly simplify the further processes and take the pressure of the pace. However, given limited recreational opportunities, this was also a successful change. I very much like the fact that on the various theme evenings there is always a suitable wine tour, whether from a winery or from the friendly wine trade by Laurent Bieth. The prices for the menu and beverage package vary according to ingredients. In our case, there were 58 euros per person for the menu and 90 euros for the drinks, which is very fair in view of the quality and the fact that a champagne was also included. So, who has fun cooking and wineing, whom Netflix Co. at some point is no longer enough and who once again likes society, this online format could actually be a rewarding alternative. Report as always on my blog:[here link]"
