Hey, I actually don't eat the sauerkraut. I got a thing with sour stuff. I don't eat sweet n sour, I don't eat anything with vinegar in it, nothing with sour cream, nothing with cottage cheese. Also not a fan of cheeses. No milk cream in my sauces please. Just anything that comes from a cow's udders disgusts me... unless it's mild white cheese that's melted in the oven. I don't eat white cheese other than on pizza/lasagna/other italian dishes. Cheese basically needs to be grilled, which takes out a component of the taste that all non grilled cheeses have. I hate mature cheeses, whether grilled or not. Semi-mature mild white cheese can be acceptable if mixed with something like gouda or mozzarella, but then it needs to be grilled. Which is kinda weird because I love beef. But anyway, thanks for listening to my TED talk about me, I was gonna say:
Sauerkraut and other dishes like it I think have to do with conservation methods more than palette. If you grew up in a place where that method of conservation was widespread, you'll likely have fond memories and it's kinda embedded into your holidays. Sauerkraut and red cabbage is like that on christmas. Potatoes, carrots, carrot/kohlrabi stew are common side dishes, and then the "main course" is either stockfish, oven-baked atlantic cod, smoked matured lamb ribs, or straight pork ribs. I mean traditionally. So most people eat one of those on Christmas eve. Stockfish and smoked matured lamb ribs are very typical norwegian foods with a characteristic taste that you get used to, and end up loving. But they're not good good like a pizza is. Neither is sauerkraut. Nor sourcream, mature cheese, or indeed any other conserved food I say. Not at surface level anyway. From a newborn baby's perspective, they all require you to get used to them, and then its being used to them + emotions you connect to the foods through experiences that make the food good. Not the taste itself in a puristic way. I'm not saying this is how things are, I'm just saying I think this is a thing.
This is not German, but if you never had "boeuf bourguignon" then you need to have it. I'm not sure how to put this. You need to follow the recipe down to the cut of the animal you use (rib roast). If you do, you are in for one of the most savoury dishes I can think of. It is probably my favorite dish out of every dish, ever. No, make that second. My favorite dish, that i could eat daily for the rest of my life, is actually bacalao. The dryfish you use in bacalao is more of a love it or hate it kinda thing, but boeuf bourguignon is like french bolognese or something lol. Just utterly good tasting, even the young ones will agree.
I never thought those words to myself internally, but that's both a shrewd and interesting observation I agree with. I could've named Shepherd's pie but actually wasn't sure whether that's american. Isn't there a similar pie dish that's american? with meat inside? but you don't put mashed potatoes on, you use pie dough and probably other stuff as well.
edit: found it. this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_pie
this looks like something i'd love to eat the day after a drunken night out.