Remember Chancellor Kohl? The German Bundeskanzler famous for managing the reunification of communist East Germany and NATO ally West Germany? Apart from that he was also famous for treating his Heads-of-State visitors to a dish famous for the Rhineland Palatinate, the federal state of Germany where he originates from. Amongst the illustrious guests were King Juan Carlos of Spain and Maggie Thatcher, the Iron Lady, Gorbatshov and Ronald Reagan, all of which had to eat his famous course called “Saumagen”. It is a bit of a rustic dish, not dissimilar to the Scottish haggis, a pig’s stomach filled with pork meat and potatoes, cooked in the very Germanic Sauerkraut, also known as choucroute in France.
The subject came up amongst the wine nuts during a discussion about Riesling a year and a half ago back in Lima. My friend and fine wine dealer Firdaus Madon (Xtreme Blue) enquired about a Riesling called Saumagen coming from an estate called Koehler-Ruprecht in Kallstadt in the Palatinate, in southwestern Germany. The winemaker Bernd Philippi, whom Neil Pendock and I visited several years ago, is not unknown to South Africa as he is involved in making the famous Le Sommet from the Wellington estate of Mont Du Toit.
Nonetheless, we decided to prepare the Saumagen in Lima, which meant we had to find a butcher capable and willing to attempt this piece of art from Helmut Kohl’s “Heimat”. Not an easy task, as it took us more than 1 ½ years to get it together. In the meantime, it gave me time to collect some appropriate Rieslings from Germany to go with this very rich dish. The butcher was found, nobody less than Aldo Milozzi, the son of the most famous Argentine butchery in Lima. As you may have guessed, the Argentine know something about meat, hence our choice couldn’t have been better. He used a recipe by the late Hannelore Kohl, the Chancellor’s wife.
Unfortunately I was not able to source the Saumagen Riesling in Frankfurt, however, we treated ourselves to a dry Riesling Spaetlese from Schloss Vollrads and an off-dry Spaetlese from Kloster Eberbach, the monastery near Wiesbaden, where Umberto Eco’s book “The name of the rose” with Sean Connery in the lead role was filmed.
So we finally got together to celebrate Helmut’s favourite at the owner of one Peru’s finest private wine cellar, Pepo Arce. Pepo is not only a well-renowned geophysicist in Latin America, but also an even more renowned connoisseur of wine and fine dining. As the Saumagen arrived from the butchery, it was tossed into the Sauerkraut to warm up. Mash potatoes were served with it, and as you can imagine, Peru being the origin of the potatoes, it was a pretty amazing side dish, as Peru produces the most powerful flavours in its produce. The Saumagen as a whole is not a pretty sight when lying in the pot with the Sauerkraut, but cut into slices and served on a plate, even the French Gourmet Presidents Mitterrand and Chirac must have enjoyed it.
It is a bit of a shame that after his fall the old Bundeskanzler is bed-ridden and no longer in possession of his physical strength to enjoy the news of the export of his so very close to his heart dish to foreign shores. Cheers to Helmut!
