Hello Israel

Reader Joe writes:

I saw that Rick Rogers has an entry on Rehruchen in his Kaffeehaus book. He mentions that “Rehruchen is always made with cake crumbs, never flour and is gently spiced.” I also found this on Wikipedia in Spanish and translated:

The Rehrücken Baden-Baden is a traditional dish of the region of Baden-Baden, Germany, (especially in theBlack Forest), consists of meat from the loin of venison (Rehrücken) lard with a slice of speck and wrapped insour cream all cooked it oven. Meat is well known for being ‘cooked’ in the oven with a simple steam pears halved while the interior is filled with marmalade of currants. It is usually served as an accompaniment of a traditional dish of spaetzle (pasta typical of southern Germany) and / or a potato baked in the oven.

What I find especially interesting about this is that even the meat preparation (at least in Baden-Baden) calls for fruit and/or preserves. The logic behind the filled versions of the cake seems quite a bit clearer now. This also backs up Tom’s claim that currant jam is actually the more traditional than either raspberry or apricot.

Nice to have more information trickling in about this enigmatic cake. Hopefully more is yet to come. The truth is out there!!