Hacker News Reader

Comment by Biologist123 | Hacker News Reader

Some time ago, I prepared Beef Wellington for German friends and served it pink in the middle. They were most uncomfortable with it. I was surprised in light of the high consumption of raw pork locally.

View on HN

I would estimate it’s like <10% of Germans who eat raw pork (“mett”, I wonder if the word is etymologically related to meat). In younger generations even fewer that eat it. There also may be a regional factor to it.

Mettigel is the stereotypical “70ies dinner party” dish that grosses people out.

And for regular meats, steaks, etc. people like to eat it rather well-done. If I want to get a steak done medium I order medium-rare here. People will order medium and complain to the chef if it’s actually medium. The whole spectrum of is shifted to the well done side.

I’ve been to two weddings (aged 35ish couples, all northerners, one location in Warsaw though) where they had Mettigel (and that was eaten a lot), and our local REWE (SH) prepares a few kg daily of fresh Mett, I don’t think that would be worth it for < 10%.

Also, the (skewing rather young) /r/de subreddit tends to look very favorably on Mettigel.

I would be surprised to see raw pig meat interested of raw beef in Poland. Steak tartare is a very popular dish, while raw pork is not really eaten widely.

It was a German couple, but she is of Polish descent and has family in Poland still. And I’d bet money on the broom being the one requiring the Mettigel anyway ;)

Schleswig Holstein, probably the polar opposite to baden Württemberg where I live

I work for an SME in the mechanical engineering sector and when someone from the mechanics dept. has their birthday it's not unusual for them to sponsor a few kilos of Mett, Onions and bread rolls - it's all gone by the end of the day.

Wasn't any different in the institute at university, I think we're seeing differences in our bubbles.

> a few kilos of Mett, Onions and bread rolls - it's all gone by the end of the day.

Is it good?

Be sure to top it with onions, salt and freshly ground pepper.

Edit: It's popular enough for there to be vegan Mett in Germany (also best with thinly sliced onions, salt and pepper) which comes extremely close to the pork version. [0]

[0] (German) https://www.ruegenwalder.de/produkte/veganes-muehlen-mett-fe...

Good point re root of meat. Although it appears there is a joint root to both. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Mett

I can't confirm your findings, either personally or through other means. According to this poll [1] only 29% of men reported to not eat "Mett".

[1] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/947071/umfrag...

IME other Germans like to have their burgers well well well well well, really really dead, done.

Any reason why? Someone else mentioned they also murder their steaks...

Might as well not even eat meat if you're going to incinerate it.

They might like the taste of caramelised meat.

I also like my steak well done although we also eat sushi and proschutto.

> They might like the taste of caramelised meat.

So do I, that’s why my burgers are caramelized on the outside, but that doesn’t really relate to what it looks like on the inside.

Prosciutto amico mio, grazie!

As a Brit I'm a bit skeptical about anything below a well done burger. We were taught that you should always fully cook ground beef as the mincing process can mix in pathogens from the surface of the meat. I suppose this doesn't apply if the beef is safe to make tartar with or maybe if you sear the outside of the cut you're going to mince before mincing it.

That said a number of mid-range burger chains offer rare burgers here, and in such cases I tend to go medium which typically nets results on the less overcooked end of well done anyway.

New regulations came in a few years ago to cover that. Hopefully anywhere serving rare burgers is diligent about their supply chain and kitchen processes.

https://catersafeconsultants.co.uk/new-regulations-rare-burg...

https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/f...

I would never eat a not fully cooked ground beef product from a random burger store. That's just common sense, ask your mother.

I am fairly comfortable with medium rare but I remember seeing a video of Beef Wellington recipe and I was not super comfortable with it being pink either. Since it has a pastry around it, imo pastry soaking pink juices makes it a bit harder to sell

Reply on news.ycombinator.com