By Sylvia Jost
Simply delicious, this Alexander Herrmann!
“In his current book “…and a pinch of madness” (Plassen Verlag), Alexander Herrmann tells for the first time about his life – and about his kitchen. He takes the reader back to his beginnings in the tranquil Upper Franconian town of Wirsberg, where he started his unique career as a top chef and became one of the most popular TV chefs in Germany. What he describes in the book in an amusing and anecdotal way, he brings to the stage in his new live program just as charmingly and wittily.”
With these words the program “… with a pinch of madness” is described, which Alexander Herrmann also presented on Tuesday in the Admiralspalast. And THAT is the understatement of the year!
In order to describe the wit and esprit the two-star chef brings to the stage, a few new words are needed, but let’s try it with a single word: lots of FUN!
There’s someone on the stage who loves what he’s doing. And reports on this passion in wonderful stand-up comedy style. When you experience this presence of humor and lightness in front of you in the spotlight, it probably never occurs to anyone that Alexander Herrmann is actually a rather likeable, reserved guy off the stage.
In just under three hours, he spoils the stomachs of his guests in the audience – albeit with a laughing muscle. Of course, what the TV chef simmers on stage, sizzles (no, not fried, as the inclined viewer learns), cooks, rests and lets steep is of course only enough for the hollow tooth, i.e. for a few try-out guests the first rows.
But everyone gets the best tips, for example how to roast a steak perfectly pink on the inside. “An instruction that is GUARANTEED to succeed with EVERYONE,” promises Herrmann with his wonderfully Franconian charm.
“Omma” and the meatballs
His companion on stage films and broadcasts what the chef is doing at the station on the big screen. So everyone gets excited about what Herrmann shows step by step and explains in mouth-watering words.
To start with, there would be the meatballs (to translate for all Berliners: meatballs – and for all Hamburgers: meatballs).
He dedicates it to his grandmother, who died at the age of 104, and whose stories the audience never knows whether to cry with emotion or laugh unashamedly.
During the break, Alexander Herrmann takes photos with fans Photo: Sylvia Jost
Herrmann’s “grandmother” got so old because she drank the “centenarian drink” every day, he reveals: the doctor prescribed her a glass of red wine. And because this is so healthy, “Omma” decided to make two out of it. But: “It may be refilled…”
At least now the decision has been made: There will be unashamed laughter and “Omma” celebrated!
But now to the recipe:
► 1. Herrmann’s secret: Never add raw onions to the mixture, because they won’t cook through afterwards. “The onion is a secondary breather,” explains the chef, as if he were a born biology teacher. “If you eat raw onions, you should only lift the covers slowly with your foot in the morning – so that you don’t immediately fall into a coma again.” Therefore: onions for the meatballs… sorry, meatballs, sweat them briefly beforehand.
► 2. Herrmann’s secret: put enough bread or pretzels in the veal. “Best 1:1”, recommends the master. “It’s going to be nice and light and airy – and cheaper.” Ahh yes….
► 3. Herrmann’s secret: fry with plenty of butter at a low temperature! And then let it soak in it. “Ned in the brutal heat,” he warns. Then the protein would be destroyed, everything burned … and anyway …
The trauma of Ina Müller
He had the worst burnt meatballs in the backstage catering with late night talker Ina Müller, he says. What he didn’t know at the time: he was fooled by “Do you understand fun?”
How it happened that Ina Müller poured three shots into her beer in front of his eyes and the prominent guests made fun of him in the breaks with the sound supposedly switched off and how angry he was – after seven frustrated shots and almost two hours of involuntary ones Listening – was, he casually reveals.
And by the way, Alexander Herrmann knows how to whet his audience’s appetite for the next culinary highlight: the already announced perfect roast beef.
The perfect steak
► 1st Herrmannian secret: “Beef rump is perfect for this – and not as expensive as beef loin.”
► 2. Herrmann’s secret: “Season with salt and pepper beforehand? But of course! It penetrates better that way, the salt dissolves the protein and you can fry it better.”
► 3rd Herrmannian secret: olive oil for frying, because…. (Resolution see 5.)
► 4. Herrmann’s secret: Meat has no pores that would have to be closed by high heat when frying. “Müller-Wohlfahrt found out,” jokes the star chef. “Because Ribery had a muscle FIBERS tear, not a burst pore.” WHY: low heat when searing.
► 5. Herrmann’s secret: How do you recognize the perfect temperature? “If it doesn’t splash. Because from 160 degrees, meat is no longer in roasting mode, but in deep-frying mode.” That means: “If it splatters, take it out and put it away. If you roast the meat at 140/150 degrees, you can also use olive oil without worrying, says Herrmann.
► 5. Herrmann’s secret: Continue cooking the meat in the oven at 100 degrees top/bottom heat.
► 6. Herrmann’s secret: a digital meat thermometer to measure the core temperature of the meat. If it is 55 to 58 degrees, it is perfectly pink tender!
► 7. Herrmann’s secret: Roast the steak briefly in the pan, for example with rosemary and lots of butter. Set aside – voila!
Alexander Herrmann arranges his perfect steak Photo: private
Contrary to expectations, the highlight of the evening for the viewers is not the recipe, but how it is prepared.
So the last half hour turns into a laughing muscle masseur par excellence, as the star chef explains to a completely inexperienced gentleman (tax consultant Ulli from the audience, who has never touched anything in his wife’s kitchen apart from can openers) how he Prosecco sorbet prepared – without Herrmann seeing what the “magician’s apprentice” is making.
In the end, one thing is clear: anyone can cook (or prepare cherry prosecco sorbet) – if they season it with a “pinch of madness”.