This article contains spoilers for 'James Marsden's German Dish Up' on No Taste Like Home
On new TV programme No Taste Like Home, host Antoni Porowski and a celebrity guest trace the origins of the celebrity’s favourite family recipe, and find out more about their family history.
In this week’s episode, Antoni and actor James Marsden begin their journey in Austin in Texas, visiting James’ mother Kathleen. She makes them chicken fried steak, or beef fried in buttermilk, a family recipe that was one of James’ favourite dishes as a child.
Kathleen says that she learned the recipe from her mother. The only other thing she knows about her family history is that her ancestor Adolph Scholz was a German immigrant who’s famous for opening a beer garden in San Antonio, known as the Palmgarten because it was decorated with palms.
James says he wants to find out more about his family history: “As you get older, you get curious about it. Where did I come from? Where did we all come from? How far back do we go? How did your ancestors live, and what were they eating?”
To find out more, James and Antoni head to the classic Texas ranching region of Hill Country. Antoni tells James that while his maternal grandfather William Scholz was descended from the famous Adolph Scholz, his grandmother Kathleen was also of German heritage. Her ancestor, James’ 4x great grandfather Hermann Conring, emigrated to the USA from Germany in 1854 with his family, and opened a cattle ranch.
In the 1840s, a group of German noblemen tried to set up their own principality in Hill Country, bringing many German immigrants with them. They failed, but the immigrants were able to make a new home for themselves, and their influence is still felt in Texas today.
James and Antoni have a go at cattle herding. James says he’s experiencing déjà vu doing what his ancestors did: “There’s something about this and everything we’re doing here… I don’t feel out of place. This feels natural.”
James and Antoni also try some traditional Texas barbecue. This dish became popular in the 19th century as a fusion of two cultures – the German immigrants brought the meat from their cattle ranches, while formerly enslaved African-Americans brought the barbecuing techniques.
To find out more about Hermann Conring, James and Antoni head to Lower Saxony in northern Germany, where he was born. They learn that Hermann wasn’t a poor immigrant. He was a lawyer serving the rich and powerful in Germany, his wife’s family were landowners and his family had connections to the aristocracy. Why did he leave all this behind to come to America?
They visit the impressive Bückeburg Palace, where they meet Prince Heinrich Donatus of Schaumburg-Lippe, also known as Teddy, and get to try out an impressive aristocratic feast. But the fine cuisine has little connection to Germany cooking and the etiquette rules are difficult to learn, despite some tips from their hosts. Hermann might have been invited to dinners like this for one night, but he would never have belonged here.
In Hannover, Antoni shows James Hermann’s 1854 emigration record. It says that he was imprisoned in 1848 and 1853 “because of demagogic activities”.
James wants to find out what this means, so they go to Gaststätte Kaiser, one of Hannover’s oldest taverns. They meet a journalist who explains that in the 19th century, Germany was divided into different principalities. Following the French Revolution, ideas of liberal democracy and German unification spread. But these ideas were a threat to the ruling class. They could be the “demagogic activities” Hermann was accused of.
One surprising way people showed their support for a unified Germany was by cooking and eating traditional German dishes. James and Antoni try out one such meal – Rinderroulade, or beef roll.
In 1848, political tensions boiled over into a series of uprisings across Germany. But the revolution was crushed by the powerful. This could have been why Hermann was imprisoned, and why he ultimately left Germany.
“It’s great, it makes you feel proud,” James says. “His behaviour, his imprisonment, could come from pushing against the class system and wanting to find a different way of living.”
Next, James and Antoni want to find out more about James’ grandfather’s side of the family. To do that, they head south, to the mountains of Bavaria. This is where James’ 4x great grandfather Johann Dittler was born in 1819. He was a shoemaker. Making and repairing shoes would have been important at the time, particularly Haferlschuhe, the traditional hiking shoes used in the mountains.
They meet Bastian, a local chef, who explains that poor Bavarians like Johann would only have been able to afford offcuts and innards of meat. He demonstrates by making Innereien-Kroketten, or venison heart and tongue croquettes. James is unsure about “eating organs of animals”, but he’s won over by Bastian’s cooking.
James and Antoni finish their journey in a traditional German beer garden. You’re expected to bring something to share with others at the garden, so they make Bierbrot and Schnitzel, or breaded cutlets.
Johann Dittler emigrated to America in around 1850, and his granddaughter Eva went on to marry Adolph Scholz's son William. Schnitzel could be the origin of the chicken fried steak recipe that his descendants still eat today.
James says he’s thrilled with everything he’s learned: “It’s kind of blowing my mind, the whole thing. I appreciate you taking me on this journey, it’s been really special.”
James Marsden's episode of No Taste Like Home will air on Disney+ from Monday 24 February and on National Geographic at 10pm on Wednesday 19 March
