Twenty Pounds of Potatoes

The familiar smell of sauerbraten and kartoffelklöße fills the kitchen during holidays, summertime, and even routine Tuesday dinners. For Nancy Hamilton, these recipes have been in her family for a lifetime and remain closely tied to her German heritage. From their preparation at casual gatherings to holiday celebrations, the recipes remind her of spending time with her family.

“On Thanksgiving and Christmas, we would all get together, and my grandmother, her sisters, and my aunts would make sauerbraten, a German shell version of pot roast, and kartoffelklöße, a special potato dumpling that would take hours to prepare,” Hamilton said.

According to Hamilton, preparing these dishes was a group effort that required time, strength, and laughter. “For the holidays when we would make the kartoffelklöße, we would all take turns grating the 20 pounds of raw and cooked potatoes the recipe required,” Hamilton said. “We all took turns as our arms got tired from grating.” It was everyone in the kitchen, talking, laughing, enjoying each other's presence, and just appreciating family.”

While the recipes prepared were not always the same, the element of communal cooking and conviviality persisted into other seasons. “In the summertime my grandmother would make a cold cucumber salad,” Hamilton said. “Sauerkraut was an everyday dish that we would have with hot dogs, specifically at cookouts. It was something we had on the side and we all loved it.”

For dessert, Hamilton recalls the German coffee cake, kuchen, her Aunt Elsie prepared. “She used to make all different flavors of it,” Hamilton said. “There would be apples, plum or Streusel. In fact, throughout the year she would take orders all week long for her kuchen, getting up at 2 a.m. to finish the orders she had received that week.”

Hamilton’s grandparents migrated to America from Germany, so these recipes remind her not only of special family memories, but also of her German heritage. “My grandmother taught us how to cook these German dishes, so these recipes are really important because they connect me to my German heritage and my grandparents,” Hamilton said. “They bring me back to the family traditions and the German food I still value today.”

Today, Hamilton continues to preserve and prepare these recipes through a blend of modern adaptations and traditional techniques. “The recipes themselves have not changed significantly over time. Instead, they have been updated or simplified,” Hamilton said. “For instance, our sauerkraut used to be made using a ham bone, but this generation often makes it using chopped, fried bacon. It is quicker and just as delicious. But when my siblings and I make the dumplings, we still use the special metal graters that my grandparents brought from Germany.”

Ultimately, for Hamilton, these recipes represent more than the German dishes themselves. They reflect the heritage, family, and traditions that continue to shape family gatherings today. “It is our ancestry,” Hamilton said. “It is important, and it is what created us and made us who we are today.”