My All-Time Favorite ALDI Find Is Back—Not for Long
It's a Midwestern specialty.
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There are a few sure signs of summer: Ending the day all sweaty with whitish streaks of sunscreen all over your legs and shoulders. Friends and neighbors sharing their excess homegrown produce. And, for faithful ALDI shoppers, the return of favorite seasonal products.
For me, that means the one thing I love most above all other ALDI offerings is back on the shelf—for how long it’s hard to say. It’s not summer without it if you’re a fan of this highly polarizing food.
What I Love About ALDI's Braunschweiger
A dense meat spread rich with pork liver is not what most people would associate with summer, but Braunschweiger is best when the days are long and cooking aspirations are low. I just adore ALDI’s Deutsche Küche Braunschweiger, which quietly shows up on the deli shelves a few times a year. It’s deep pink and sold in a tube, like a small log of bologna, but bologna it is not.
I think of Braunschweiger as a working-class pâté. As a Midwesterner who grew up in areas heavily rooted in German heritage, I’ve seen Braunschweiger at old-school grocery stores my whole life. I’ve even made it myself (using Amy Thielen’s recipe from The New Midwestern Table) and bought it at specialty butcher shops, but ALDI’s version remains my top pick. It is to Braunschweiger what Heinz is to ketchup.
Love it or hate it, Braunschweiger is not easy to forget. It’s perhaps the least kid-friendly food out there; I hated it as a kid, but my dad liked having it around. He’d concoct these weird open-face sandwiches with it on rye bread, then top them with Guggisberg baby Swiss cheese and broil them. The smell was pungent and adult, signifying what it meant to be a boring grownup with horrible taste.
Of course, I now covet Braunschweiger myself. I’m not sure what happened or when, but I thank ALDI for helping carry on our family tradition of enjoying processed meat spreads on weird bread.
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How I Eat ALDI's Braunschweiger
ALDI sometimes carries Braunschweiger in other months, but I love it in the summer because it’s excellent with tomatoes. This is how my grandmother ate it. The bright freshness of the tomatoes contrasts so beautifully with the heaviness of the Braunschweiger; it’s one of the most harmonious food pairings in all of time and space.
If I can snag a loaf of ALDI’s shingle-like Deutsche Küche pumpernickel bread (also sporadically available), I toast it twice before smearing an even layer of Braunschweiger all the way to the edges. Next, I top it with whole-grain mustard, thin slices of ripe homegrown tomatoes, and Swiss cheese before broiling it. Then I let the whole works cool for a few minutes, because I’ve burned my mouth on this concoction before (the tomato gets deceptively hot under the cheese). The entire process takes a good 20 minutes. It’s not a quick lunch, but it is utterly delightful.
Other Braunschweiger fans have less exacting, more approachable methods. Some people cut round slabs of it and put it on a sandwich cold, the same way you’d make a liverwurst sandwich. A very Midwestern approach is mixing it with cream cheese to make Braunschweiger dip to serve with Saltines or other crackers. I’ve also used it to encase pills for my dog, and I’ve read about others doing this on online forums. Great minds think alike!
Read More: Why ALDI Is My Trader Joe’s
How To Store Braunschweiger
If you are the lone eater of Braunschweiger in your household, one of ALDI’s big tubes will last you ages—it may, in fact, go bad before you can polish it off. I recommend lopping the tube in two and freezing half. It’s still worth eating after the tomatoes have gone away. It’s just not quite as heavenly.
Read the original article on Simply Recipes.
