GlutiIs it gluten-free?
The regional dishes discussed one by one on the city pages, listed here alphabetically. Each entry carries a verdict, what is in it and the city with the full section.
180 entries
What the verdict says
- Contains gluten
- An ingredient with gluten belongs to the dish and cannot be left out. Only a dish made expressly gluten-free helps here.
- Depends on the preparation
- The recipe works without gluten, the kitchen decides. This is where the questions in the text pay off.
- Gluten-free by nature
- There is no grain in the ingredients.
The verdict describes the recipe, not the kitchen. Even a dish that is gluten-free by nature meets gluten through a pan, a fryer, a board or a side. So ask about those too.
Gluti offers guidance and is not a medical device. Its information does not replace medical advice.
A
Ahle WurschtDepends on the preparation
An air-dried sausage made from pork worked straight after slaughter, carrying a protected geographical indication as “Nordhessische Ahle Wurscht”. The protection covers origin and method: the slaughtering, cutting, processing and maturing all have to happen in …
More on this:Kassel
Ähzezupp(thick pea soup)Depends on the preparation
A thick pea soup with pork, root vegetables and potatoes. The peas and potatoes thicken it themselves, but in many places it is thickened with a roux.
More on this:Cologne
ÄlplermagronenContains gluten
A bake of pasta, potatoes, cheese and cream with fried onions and apple sauce. The pasta is made from wheat, and the fried onions are often dusted with flour.
More on this:Zurich
Apfelstrudel(apple strudel)Contains gluten
Pastry stretched paper-thin around apples, cinnamon and raisins, often with breadcrumbs toasted in butter in the filling. Pastry and crumbs are made from wheat.
More on this:Vienna
B
Badisches SchäufeleDepends on the preparation
Unlike the Franconian one it is not roasted but cured, smoked and boiled, and it comes with potato salad. With the meat it depends on the curing mix, because the German food code generally allows cereal products and starch in meat products.
Basler BrunsliDepends on the preparation
A Christmas biscuit of ground almonds, sugar, chocolate and egg white, often with cinnamon and kirsch. The classic recipe uses no flour, but some recipes add a little, and it is usually baked alongside other biscuits.
More on this:Basel
Basler LäckerliContains gluten
A firm spiced honey biscuit with almonds, hazelnuts, candied peel and kirsch under a sugar glaze. The dough contains wheat flour.
More on this:Basel
Basler Mehlsuppe(Basel flour soup)Contains gluten
Flour is roasted dark in butter or fat, then topped up with stock and simmered, often with onions and with grated cheese on top. The flour is the dish.
More on this:Basel
Bayerische Creme(Bavarian cream)Gluten-free by nature
A turned-out cream of milk, egg yolk, gelatine and cream, one of the few classic Bavarian desserts without grain. The fruit sauce is usually thickened with cornflour, occasionally with custard or sauce powder.
More on this:Munich
Bergische Kaffeetafel(Bergisch coffee table)Contains gluten
The region’s big afternoon spread: waffles with hot cherries and cream, raisin bread (Rosinenstuten), dark rye bread, rusks, with butter, quark, apple or sugar beet syrup spread, rice pudding and coffee from the Dröppelminna, a pewter pot with a little tap. …
More on this:Wuppertal
Berliner PfannkuchenContains gluten
Wheat yeast dough, deep-fried in fat that other pastries run through as well, so there is nothing to be rescued here. The language trap matters more: order Pfannkuchen in Berlin and you get this filled deep-fried pastry, while the flat pancake from the pan is …
More on this:Berlin
Berner Haselnusslebkuchen(Bernese hazelnut gingerbread)Contains gluten
A gingerbread with plenty of ground hazelnuts, often decorated with a bear in sugar icing. Most recipes add flour.
More on this:Bern
Berner Platte(Bernese platter)Depends on the preparation
A large platter of different meats and sausages, with sauerkraut, beans and potatoes. Meat, sauerkraut, beans and potatoes contain no cereal in themselves.
More on this:Bern
Berner Züpfe(Bernese plaited loaf)Contains gluten
The Zopf, a plaited butter loaf served on Sundays and at breakfast. It is baked from wheat flour.
More on this:Bern
BethmännchenContains gluten
Marzipan, almonds, icing sugar, egg, often rose water, and characteristically three almond halves pressed into the sides. Because marzipan sounds safe, this one is a trap: the common recipes have thirty to forty grams of wheat flour in the dough.
More on this:Frankfurt
BibiliskäsGluten-free by nature
Quark with herbs, onions, salt and pepper, served with Brägele or boiled potatoes. There is no cereal in it.
More on this:Freiburg
Birchermüesli(Bircher muesli)Contains gluten
Oat flakes soaked overnight, with grated apple, yoghurt or milk, nuts and fruit. Ordinary oat flakes are contaminated with cereals containing gluten.
More on this:Zurich
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck(pears, beans and bacon)Depends on the preparation
Green beans, cooking pears, bacon and potatoes in stock. No cereal is called for, the thickening is the open question: some recipes stir flour into the stock, others only cornflour.
More on this:Hamburg
Blaue or Saure ZipfelDepends on the preparation
Raw bratwurst poached in a broth of vinegar, wine and onions, with no flour, no thickener and no shared pan. Some kitchens use meat or vegetable stock instead of wine, and instant stock often contains gluten-bearing ingredients.
Bosna(Salzburg sausage roll)Contains gluten
Salzburg’s own sausage snack, a grilled bratwurst in a long white roll with onions, parsley and a spiced sauce with curry. The roll is made from wheat flour, and without asking you do not know what is in the sausage and the sauce either.
More on this:Salzburg
BrägeleGluten-free by nature
Baden’s word for fried potatoes. Potatoes, onions and bacon contain no cereal, but in an inn kitchen they often share the pan with breaded food.
Brathendl(roast chicken)Depends on the preparation
Chicken, oil, butter and herbs would be gluten-free, but kitchens use a ready-made spice preparation, often with breadcrumbs or wheat starch. Add the roasting juices and potato salad made with stock.
More on this:Munich
Bremer KlabenContains gluten
A heavy Christmas bake of yeast dough with raisins and candied peel, similar to a stollen. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Bremen
Brettljause(cold platter)Depends on the preparation
A wooden board with cold roast meat, smoked pork, bacon, cheese, horseradish and Verhackert, a spread of finely chopped bacon. The meat and cheese often contain no cereal, the sausages and spreads not always.
More on this:Graz
BuletteContains gluten
The Berlin meatball, and its binder is bread: a soaked bread roll, or breadcrumbs instead. Both are wheat, so at a snack stand a Bulette practically always contains gluten, and it often ends up crumbled into other dishes.
More on this:Berlin
C
CervelatDepends on the preparation
The quintessential Swiss sausage, grilled or as a sausage salad. Whether it contains cereal binders depends on the maker, and grilled sausage almost always comes with bread.
More on this:Zurich
CroquetasContains gluten
Croquettes made from a béchamel with wheat flour, breaded and fried. The flour is in them twice, in the filling and in the coating.
More on this:Mallorca
CurrywurstDepends on the preparation
Fried sausage with curry sauce, in Berlin usually a skinless Brühwurst (scalded sausage), at some stands one with a casing. A Brühwurst may contain starch and vegetable protein, which then has to appear in the product name, for instance “mit Stärke” (with …
More on this:Berlin
Currywurst mit Pommes(sausage with curry sauce and chips)Depends on the preparation
The critical parts are not the potato and the meat but the sausage, the sauce and the fat. The kind of sausage tells you nothing, because the German food code generally allows cereals, starch and vegetable protein in meat products, wheat protein included.
More on this:Essen
D
Dampfnudeln(steamed yeast dumplings)Contains gluten
Yeast dumplings made from wheat flour, cooked in a closed pot until a salty crust forms underneath, served with wine sauce or potato soup. Flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Mannheim
DiebchenDepends on the preparation
Potato dumplings with a piece of sausage in the middle, with a soured-cream or bacon sauce. The dumpling needs binding, and that can be potato starch, or semolina, or flour.
More on this:Kassel
Döner KebabDepends on the preparation
The flatbread is the obvious part, the spit is the more interesting one. Under the German guidelines for meat and meat products, Döner Kebab contains only meat, salt and spices and, where applicable, egg, onion, oil, milk and yoghurt; binders such as …
More on this:Berlin
Dresdner ChriststollenContains gluten
Flour is the foundation of the recipe here, and a traditional version without grain does not exist. It is shaped and baked on a heavily floured surface, and when it is cut the crumbs fly across the counter.
More on this:Dresden
Dresdner EierscheckeContains gluten
A tray cake of flour base, quark layer and the Schecke topping. The Dresden version binds the top layer with vanilla custard instead of flour, but custard powder from a patisserie can contain wheat starch or wheat flour, and the base remains a flour dough.
More on this:Dresden
Düsseldorfer SenfrostbratenDepends on the preparation
A beef steak finished under heat with a thick paste of mustard and onions. Breadcrumbs in the crust are one route, wheat flour in the mustard the other, and it is often browned on the same tray as the breaded items.
More on this:Düsseldorf
Düsseldorfer SenfsuppeContains gluten
Leek, onion, cream, two kinds of mustard, and unsafe all the same: it is thickened with a wheat flour roux, and Altbier, bread and vegetable stock come with it, the stock possibly containing wheat or barley malt. Even a version without flour is no help to you.
More on this:Düsseldorf
E
Eisbein mit Erbspüree und Sauerkraut(cured pork knuckle with pea purée and sauerkraut)Depends on the preparation
The good news among the classics: not one of the ingredients contains grain, only the preparation brings it in. Four things to ask about: ready-made powder in the pea purée, instant powder in the stock, flour in the sauce, and whether the sauerkraut is …
More on this:Berlin
EnsaïmadaContains gluten
Mallorca’s famous pastry, a spiral of yeast dough baked with lard and dusted with icing sugar, sometimes filled. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Mallorca
Essener Brot(Essene bread)Contains gluten
The name has nothing to do with the city but with the Essenes of ancient Judaism. It is a wholemeal bread of sprouted rye, spelt or wheat.
More on this:Essen
F
Fasnachtskiechli(carnival fritters)Contains gluten
Dough stretched paper-thin, fried in fat and dusted with icing sugar. The dough is made from wheat flour, and the fat is often shared with other baking.
More on this:Basel
Fastenwähe(Lenten pastry)Contains gluten
A flat yeast pastry with caraway, cut into a pattern, sold in the weeks before Fasnacht. The dough is made from wheat flour.
More on this:Basel
Filderkraut and sauerkrautDepends on the preparation
pointed cabbage from the Filder plateau, braised or fermented: the ingredient is unproblematic, the preparation is not always. Some cooks thicken warm cabbage with an Einmach of flour and fat or start it with stock powder, and it often comes out of the same …
More on this:Stuttgart
Finkenwerder ScholleDepends on the preparation
Plaice with crisply rendered bacon and onions, on menus as Maischolle from May. Everything depends on how the fish goes into the pan: usually floured, sometimes with breadcrumbs, and there are flourless versions too.
More on this:Hamburg
Flammkuchen(tarte flambée)Contains gluten
A thin wheat-flour dough topped with soured cream, onions and bacon, baked in a hot oven. Flour is the foundation here, not the topping.
FleischwurstDepends on the preparation
The “Worscht” in “Weck, Worscht un Woi”, that is a roll, a ring of Fleischwurst and wine, the classic Mainz snack. The sausage is a scalded sausage, and the German food code generally allows cereals, starch and vegetable protein in meat products.
More on this:Mainz
Flönz as Kölscher KaviarDepends on the preparation
Rhenish black pudding, cold, in slices, with onion rings and mustard, served with a Röggelchen of rye and wheat flour. Leave the roll out.
More on this:Cologne
FlurgönderDepends on the preparation
Raw, smoked Schwartenmagen (brawn) in the shape of a bladder, cooked in hot water. The name comes from the processions through the fields on Ascension Day and Corpus Christi, after which it is traditionally served.
More on this:Fulda
Franconian MehlklößeContains gluten
A different dish from the potato dumpling, and the name says it: the dough is flour, egg and salt, sometimes with bread rolls or semolina. There is nothing to clarify here.
More on this:Würzburg
Franconian potato dumplingsDepends on the preparation
They are made from raw and cooked potatoes in varying proportions, plus something to bind them: potato starch, semolina or flour. Potato starch would be gluten-free, wheat semolina would not, and when a kitchen says “Knödelmehl”, in southern Germany that often …
More on this:Würzburg
Frankfurter KranzContains gluten
A base of Madeira-type or sponge mixture made with wheat flour, buttercream and brittle. The tin is dusted with flour as well, so the cake meets it twice.
More on this:Frankfurt
Frankfurter WürstchenDepends on the preparation
Under the German food code they are made from pork, and beef is ruled out. That says nothing about cereals, because the same food code generally allows cereals, starch and vegetable protein in meat products.
More on this:Frankfurt
Fränkischer Karpfen(Franconian carp)Depends on the preparation
Mirror carp from the Aischgrund, in season from September to April. Gebackener Karpfen is turned in flour and is therefore out, while Karpfen blau is poached in a vinegar broth.
More on this:Nuremberg
Fränkischer SauerbratenContains gluten
Franconian recipes classically thicken the sauce with Saucenlebkuchen, others use a roux, some use both. Lebkuchen dough is made from wheat or rye flour, so the sauce contains gluten even without a spoonful of flour.
Fränkisches SchäufeleDepends on the preparation
Pork shoulder with the bone and the rind, hours in the oven. The meat draws in the liquid it sits in: the roasting tin is topped up with stock, often with dark beer as well, and the crackling is basted with it.
More on this:Nuremberg
G
Gaisburger MarschContains gluten
a stew of meat, potatoes, Spätzle and broth, classically cooked separately and only brought together in the bowl, with hot broth poured over. The gluten comes from the Spätzle, from the onions on top (freshly fried they can do without flour, but they are often …
More on this:Stuttgart
Gató d'ametlla(almond cake)Depends on the preparation
Mallorcan almond cake, often served with almond ice cream. The classic recipe uses almonds, eggs and sugar, without flour.
More on this:Mallorca
Geriebener Kartoffelkuchen(grated potato cake)Depends on the preparation
Grated raw potatoes bound with egg, with bacon depending on the house, baked in the oven or fried in the pan. The basic form contains no grain, but the recipes differ.
More on this:Marburg
GermknödelContains gluten
A large yeast dumpling with plum jam, poppy seeds and melted butter. The dough is made from wheat flour.
More on this:Vienna
Gerupfter and Backstakäs mit MusikDepends on the preparation
Franconian snack cheeses: Gerupfter made from soft cheese, butter, onion and paprika, Backstakäs with onions, vinegar and oil. Nothing is thickened or breaded, but widespread recipes stir in a splash of beer, and beer contains gluten.
More on this:Nuremberg
Grüne Klöße(green potato dumplings)Depends on the preparation
They come not from Dresden but from Thuringia and the Vogtland, yet appear on regional menus here, often simply as Klöße. Only the original recipe needs no flour; outside Thuringia, flour, semolina or breadcrumbs in the dumpling mixture are documented, and …
More on this:Dresden
Grüne SoßeGluten-free by nature
Seven herbs, namely borage, chervil, cress, parsley, salad burnet, sorrel and chives, stirred into soured cream, sour cream, oil and mustard, with boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. The herb mix is protected as “Frankfurter Grüne Soße”, so the set of herbs …
More on this:Frankfurt
Grüne Soße nordhessischer Art(cold herb sauce)Depends on the preparation
A cold herb sauce of smetana-style cream, quark, eggs, mustard and herbs, there without cress and chervil, and depending on the house with dill or lemon balm. Cold, it is not thickened, but it also comes ready-made: ask about the mustard, the vinegar and any …
More on this:Marburg
Grünkohl mit Kochwurst und Kasseler(kale with cooked sausage and cured pork)Depends on the preparation
Many recipes stir oat groats or oat flakes into the kale, and oats are only suitable for you when they are explicitly declared gluten-free. The sausage is often a groats sausage itself: depending on the maker, Grützwurst contains roughly 7 to 16 per cent oat …
More on this:Hamburg
Grünkohl mit Pinkel und Bregenwurst(kale with Pinkel and Bregenwurst sausages)Contains gluten
Many recipes stir oat groats or oat flakes into the kale, and oats are only suitable for you when they are explicitly declared gluten-free. Pinkel is a groats sausage made with oat or barley groats, and barley is gluten.
Gschwellti(jacket potatoes)Gluten-free by nature
Potatoes boiled in their skins, with cheese and butter. A simple dish with no cereal at all.
More on this:Bern
Gulasch(goulash)Depends on the preparation
Beef with plenty of onions and paprika, braised for a long time. A good goulash gets its body from the onions alone, but many kitchens thicken it with flour.
More on this:Vienna
H
Halve HahnContains gluten
No chicken, despite the name, but a halved rye roll called Röggelchen, with sliced cheese, mustard and onions. The roll is rye and usually wheat too, and some mustards are thickened with wheat flour.
More on this:Düsseldorf
Halver HahnContains gluten
Not half a chicken, but a Röggelchen (a small rye and wheat roll) with medium-matured Gouda, butter, onion and mustard. The gluten is in the roll, because Röggelchen are baked from rye and wheat flour.
More on this:Cologne
Hamburger Aalsuppe(Hamburg eel soup)Contains gluten
A sweet and sour soup with dried fruit, soup vegetables and smoked meat. The stock itself is cereal-free, the other components often are not: flour dumplings, called Klüten here, and a roux for thickening are both usual, and in old versions the eel is cooked …
More on this:Hamburg
Hämchen met suure Kappes(cured pork knuckle with sauerkraut)Depends on the preparation
Cured knuckle simmered in stock, with sauerkraut, mashed or boiled potatoes and mustard, no breading and no fryer. The knuckle takes on the stock it cooks in, though, and there is mustard with wheat flour and mustard with barley malt.
More on this:Cologne
Handkäs mit MusikGluten-free by nature
A sour-milk cheese with the “Musik” of onions, vinegar, oil and pepper. Neither contains cereal.
Heidensterz(buckwheat Sterz)Depends on the preparation
Buckwheat flour cooked in water or broth and broken up with fat into small crumbs, often eaten with soup or coffee. Buckwheat is naturally gluten-free, but Sterz is also made from wheat flour or maize, and buckwheat flour can be contaminated.
More on this:Graz
Heidschnuckenbraten(roast heath lamb)Depends on the preparation
Roast meat from the moorland sheep of the Lüneburg Heath, usually with a dark sauce. The meat is fine, the sauce often is not.
More on this:Hanover
Hessischer Speckkuchen(bacon tart on yeast dough)Contains gluten
A tray-baked tart of wheat yeast dough with bacon, eggs, caraway and pepper. On top of the flour in the dough comes the flour for rolling it out, and the topping cannot be lifted off.
More on this:Marburg
Himmel un ÄädDepends on the preparation
Mashed potato with apple, fried black pudding and fried onions. Cologne recipes turn the black pudding in flour, and shop-bought fried onions almost always contain wheat flour.
More on this:Cologne
Himmel un Ähd(heaven and earth)Depends on the preparation
Mashed potato, apple sauce, braised onions and crisply fried Blutwurst (black pudding). The slices are usually turned in wheat flour before frying, and some kinds of black pudding contain bread or groats, though Rhenish Flönz contains no grain.
More on this:DüsseldorfEssen
K
Käferbohnensalat(runner bean salad)Gluten-free by nature
Large cooked runner beans with onions, vinegar, salt and pumpkin seed oil. The ingredients are naturally gluten-free.
More on this:Graz
KaiserschmarrnContains gluten
A thick, torn pancake of flour, eggs and milk, with icing sugar and often a plum compote. The batter is made from wheat flour, so here the flour is the dish.
More on this:Vienna
Kalbsleber Berliner Art(calf’s liver Berlin style)Depends on the preparation
A lesson in invisible flour: the slices of liver are turned in flour before frying, and the onion and apple rings are dusted with flour as well and fried in the same fat. The streaky bacon in the garnish needs a label of its own.
More on this:Berlin
Kartoffelknödel(potato dumplings)Depends on the preparation
Made from potatoes, starch, salt and egg, it is gluten-free. Four traps remain: toasted bread cubes in the middle, flour, semolina or soaked bread roll in the dough, the cooking water with bread dumplings in it, and the dumpling from a ready mix or frozen …
More on this:Munich
Kartoffelsalat mit Kraut(potato salad with white cabbage)Depends on the preparation
Potatoes boiled the day before, with white cabbage, onion, stock, vinegar and oil. The risk sits in the dressing, not in the salad: instant stocks and stock cubes often contain wheat, and some kitchens pull the dressing together with flour as well.
More on this:Marburg
Käsefondue(cheese fondue)Depends on the preparation
Melted cheese with white wine and often kirsch, into which cubes of bread are dipped. It is usually thickened with cornflour, but sometimes with wheat flour, and the bread is the dish.
More on this:Zurich
KäsekrainerDepends on the preparation
The sausage from the sausage stand, with small pieces of cheese in the filling. The sausage itself often contains no cereal, but not every one, and it almost always comes with bread or a roll.
More on this:Vienna
Kaspressknödel(pressed cheese dumplings)Contains gluten
Dumplings of cubed bread rolls, cheese, eggs and milk, pressed flat and fried in fat, served in soup or with salad. The rolls are made from wheat.
More on this:Salzburg
KasselerDepends on the preparation
Cured and smoked pork. Whether the name comes from the city is disputed.
More on this:Kassel
KnippContains gluten
Bremen’s groats sausage made from pork, bacon and oat groats, fried in slices in a pan and served with fried potatoes and gherkin. The groats are not a trace but a main ingredient, and oats are only suitable for you when they are explicitly declared …
More on this:Bremen
KochkäseGluten-free by nature
A cheese cooked down from quark with bicarbonate and butter, often with caraway. No cereal belongs in it.
More on this:Fulda
Königsberger Klopse(meatballs in a pale caper sauce)Contains gluten
Gluten sits in three places: the soaked roll in the mixture, the roux in the caper sauce, and the stock they are poached in, which often comes from a fond, a stock cube or instant powder containing wheat. Ask about all three separately, because a roll-free …
More on this:Berlin
Krautstrudel(cabbage strudel)Contains gluten
Strudel pastry around a filling of braised cabbage, often with bacon and caraway. The pastry is made from wheat flour.
More on this:Graz
KreppelContains gluten
What Mainz calls the doughnut known elsewhere in Germany as a Berliner or Krapfen: a yeast dough made from wheat flour, fried in fat and filled. At carnival they are everywhere.
More on this:Mainz
Kürbiskernöl(pumpkin seed oil)Gluten-free by nature
A dark green oil cold-pressed from the roasted seeds of the Styrian oil pumpkin. It is naturally gluten-free and goes on salad, soup, scrambled eggs and even vanilla ice cream.
More on this:Graz
L
LabskausDepends on the preparation
Mashed potatoes with corned beef, beetroot and gherkins. The basic ingredients contain no cereal, the tin and the bottle do: cured meat can contain wheat starch, and Worcestershire sauce used for seasoning classically contains malt vinegar made from barley.
Lachs nach Basler Art(Basel-style salmon)Depends on the preparation
Salmon with onions fried in butter. The fish used to come from the Rhine.
More on this:Basel
Lange RoteDepends on the preparation
Freiburg’s sausage from the minster market, around 35 centimetres long, in a split roll with onions. The sausage itself is usually fine, but the German food code generally allows cereals and starch in meat products, so ask for the ingredient list.
More on this:Freiburg
LeberkäseDepends on the preparation
A finely minced meat loaf baked in a block, and despite the name usually without liver or cheese. The German food code generally allows cereals and starch in meat products, so ask for the ingredient list.
More on this:Augsburg
Leipziger Allerlei(Leipzig mixed vegetables)Contains gluten
A vegetable dish of peas, carrots, asparagus and morels, in its classic version with crayfish, little bread or semolina dumplings and a crayfish butter sauce that is often thickened with flour. The dumplings and the sauce bring the gluten.
More on this:Leipzig
Leipziger LercheContains gluten
A small pastry of shortcrust with a filling of marzipan, almonds and often a cherry, with a lattice of dough on top. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Leipzig
Leipziger RäbchenContains gluten
Prunes filled with marzipan, dipped in batter and fried in fat. The batter and the frying fat rule them out for you, even if the filling were gluten-free.
More on this:Leipzig
Lentils with Spätzle and Saitenwürstle(thin boiled sausages)Contains gluten
lentils contain no gluten but grow mixed in with oats or barley; ask for lentils declared gluten-free. Classically the lentils are thickened with an Einbrenne of flour and fat, so they are only gluten-free if the kitchen cooks them separately without flour or …
M
MässmoggeDepends on the preparation
Boiled sugar sweets with a hazelnut cream filling, sold at the autumn fair. Sugar and hazelnuts contain no gluten, but the filling varies from maker to maker.
More on this:Basel
Matjes nach Hausfrauenart(Matjes fillets in a creamy sauce)Depends on the preparation
Matjes fillets in a soured cream sauce with apple, onion and gherkin. The fresh ingredients contain no cereal, a bought-in sauce can, because ready-made sauces are often thickened with starch.
More on this:Hamburg
MaultaschenContains gluten
pasta parcels made from durum wheat semolina, flour or spelt, the filling bound with soaked bread rolls, the vegetarian one included. Spooning the filling out still means eating white bread, and starch from the dough floats in the broth.
MeefischliContains gluten
Small fish from the Main, fried whole and eaten with head and bones. They are usually rolled in fine breadcrumbs, sometimes in flour, sometimes in a mix of the two.
More on this:Würzburg
Meringue mit Rahm(meringue with cream)Depends on the preparation
Baked egg white and sugar with whipped cream, a dessert from the Bernese Oberland. Egg white, sugar and cream contain no gluten in themselves.
More on this:Bern
Mozartkugel(Mozart ball)Depends on the preparation
A chocolate of marzipan, often with pistachio, and nougat, coated in dark chocolate. The basic ingredients contain no cereal, but recipes and production differ from one maker to the next.
More on this:Salzburg
Münchner SchnitzelContains gluten
Spread with sweet mustard and creamed horseradish, coated in flour, egg and bread or pretzel crumbs, and fried in clarified butter that has already had breaded food in it. Settle the horseradish too: traditional Semmelmeerrettich is thickened with breadcrumbs.
More on this:Munich
Muscheln rheinische Art(mussels Rhineland style)Depends on the preparation
Mussels in a stock of white wine, onions, soup vegetables, bouillon and spices. Mussels and wine are grain-free, the bouillon often is not, because instant vegetable stock frequently contains wheat or barley malt, and many kitchens deglaze with beer as well.
More on this:Düsseldorf
N
Nordhessische Ahle Wurscht(air-dried raw sausage)Depends on the preparation
Air-dried raw sausage, seasoned with salt, pepper and regional ingredients. What goes in is each butcher's own decision, so ask for the manufacturer's ingredient list.
More on this:Marburg
Nürnberger LebkuchenContains gluten
The classic dough contains cereal flour, and it is baked on an Oblate, a wafer of flour and water that is eaten with it. With Elisenlebkuchen nuts are the basis, at least 25 per cent, which does not make the mixture flour-free: the German guidelines for fine …
More on this:Nuremberg
Nürnberger RostbratwürsteDepends on the preparation
Small grilled pork sausages seasoned with marjoram. Cereals are not traditionally part of them, but that is not a guarantee, because the protected name mainly governs cuts of meat, fat content and size; ask to see the ingredient list, loose goods included.
More on this:Nuremberg
O
Obatzda(soft cheese spread)Depends on the preparation
Cheese, butter, onion, paprika powder and caraway contain no gluten, but many recipes add a splash of beer, and it is often served straight on the bread board. Ask about beer, a ready-made preparation and a clean plate of its own.
More on this:Munich
Ofenschlupfer(bread and apple bake)Contains gluten
A bake of stale bread rolls or plaited yeast bread, apples, eggs and milk. The bread is not an extra here, it is the base.
More on this:Ulm
Onion tartContains gluten
Served with the Federweißer in autumn. The base is a yeast dough made from wheat flour, and flour can go into the topping too.
P
Pa amb oli(bread with oil)Contains gluten
Bread rubbed with tomato and drizzled with olive oil, with cheese, ham or olives. The bread is the dish.
More on this:Mallorca
PaellaDepends on the preparation
Rice with saffron, stock and seafood or meat, originally from Valencia but on almost every menu in Mallorca. Rice is gluten-free, ready-made stock can contain wheat.
More on this:Mallorca
PanhasDepends on the preparation
A mixture of sausage stock, meat and flour that sets firm, is cut into slices and fried in a pan. Buckwheat flour is the traditional choice, and buckwheat is naturally gluten-free.
Pannfisch(pan-fried fish)Depends on the preparation
Fried pieces of fish with fried potatoes in a mustard sauce. The fish is floured or breaded, and the mustard sauce is classically thickened with a roux.
More on this:Hamburg
Patatas bravasDepends on the preparation
Fried potato cubes with a spicy sauce. The potatoes themselves are gluten-free, but they often share a fryer with croquetas and calamares, and some bravas sauce is thickened with flour.
More on this:Mallorca
Pfälzer Leberknödel(liver dumplings)Contains gluten
Dumplings made from liver, meat, onions, egg and soaked bread rolls, often with sauerkraut and mashed potato. The roll is the binding and belongs to the recipe; the dumpling does not work without it.
More on this:Mannheim
Pfälzer Saumagen(stuffed pig’s stomach)Depends on the preparation
A pig’s stomach filled with pork, sausage meat, potatoes and often carrots, cooked and served in slices, often fried. The basic recipe uses no cereal, but many home recipes add soaked bread rolls to the filling, and with the sausage meat it depends on the …
More on this:Mannheim
PfefferpotthastContains gluten
A Westphalian stew of beef and the same amount of onions, heavily peppered. It is classically thickened with grated stale bread or breadcrumbs, and that is not a trace but a main ingredient.
Pinzgauer Kasnocken(cheese dumplings)Contains gluten
Small dumplings of flour, eggs and water or milk, melted in the pan with a strong cheese from the Pinzgau and topped with fried onions. The dough is made from wheat flour, so here the flour is the dish.
More on this:Salzburg
PloatzContains gluten
A tray bake on a bread dough, with a sweet or savoury topping. Whether that dough is rye or wheat makes no difference to you, both contain gluten.
More on this:Fulda
Plootz, see Ploatz
Q
QuarkkeulchenContains gluten
Little cakes fried in the pan, made from boiled potatoes and quark and bound with egg and flour. Do not confuse them with Quarkklöße, which contain grated bread roll and semolina, and ask about the frying fat they share with breaded food.
Quellkartoffeln un Siebkäs(boiled potatoes with seasoned quark)Gluten-free by nature
Boiled potatoes with seasoned quark, plus onion, caraway and herbs, no dough and no grain. What is left to clear up: bought-in quark preparations can be thickened, the cooking water may have held pasta, and in North Hessia these potatoes are the standard side …
More on this:Marburg
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RacletteGluten-free by nature
Melted cheese over potatoes, with gherkins and pickled onions. Cheese, potatoes and the sides contain no cereal in themselves.
More on this:Zurich
Reibekuchen(potato pancakes)Depends on the preparation
Flat fritters of grated potatoes and onions, fried in fat. Flour belongs to the basic recipe, because flour, salt and egg go in once the liquid has been pressed out, and while the Rhenish method does return the starch, it does not replace the flour.
Reibekuchen mit Apfelkraut(potato fritters with apple spread)Depends on the preparation
The fritters of potato, onion and egg are almost always bound, usually with flour, sometimes with oats or breadcrumbs, and ordinary oats are no good for you. And even without a binder, fritters, chips and cutlets go through the same fryer.
More on this:Düsseldorf
Rheinischer HeringsstippDepends on the preparation
Salt herring or Matjes in cream and Schmand (a thick soured cream) with onions, apple and horseradish. Check pre-marinated herring and jarred horseradish for wheat in the ingredient list.
More on this:Düsseldorf
Rheinischer Sauerbraten(marinated pot roast)Contains gluten
Today usually beef, classically horse meat, marinated for days in red wine and vinegar. The dark sauce is thickened with crumbled Printen spiced biscuits made from wheat flour, often with gravy thickener as well, and flour and dumplings come with it.
More on this:DüsseldorfCologneEssen
Rievkooche met Rübenkraut(potato fritters with sugar beet syrup)Depends on the preparation
Fritters of grated potato with egg, onion and a binder, usually flour or rolled oats. They are fried in plenty of fat on the same griddle that breaded food was on earlier, and a brewpub kitchen runs a fryer for everything as well.
More on this:Cologne
Rippchen mit KrautDepends on the preparation
A cured pork chop which, unlike Kasseler, is not necessarily smoked. The meat and the sauerkraut are usually fine.
More on this:Frankfurt
RöstiGluten-free by nature
Grated potatoes fried golden in butter or fat. In itself, rösti contains no cereal.
More on this:Zurich
Rote Grütze(thick red berry pudding)Depends on the preparation
Red berries and sour cherries, cooked down thick, with milk or vanilla sauce. Traditionally it is thickened with starch, semolina or sago: sago is fine, the starch here is usually cornflour or potato starch, the semolina normally wheat semolina.
More on this:Hamburg
Rübstiel, see Stielmus
Rübstiel, see Stielmus
S
SachertorteContains gluten
The city’s best-known cake, a chocolate sponge with apricot jam and a chocolate glaze. The sponge contains wheat flour.
More on this:Vienna
Sächsischer SauerbratenContains gluten
The meat is fine, the risk sits in the sauce: flour, cornflour, a roux and Soßenpfefferkuchen, which Pulsnitz makes for exactly that purpose, are all documented. Ask separately about flour, about sauce thickener and about Pfefferkuchen, because a no to only …
Sächsischer Soßenpfefferkuchen(gingerbread made for sauces)Contains gluten
Pulsnitz Pfefferkuchen is made from rye and wheat flour, and one variety is expressly intended for cooking. It goes into dark braising sauces and brings gluten into dishes that read on the menu like nothing but meat and vegetables.
More on this:Dresden
Saibling(char)Depends on the preparation
Fish from the lakes around Salzburg, like the Reinanke (whitefish), often fried whole or grilled. The fish itself is naturally gluten-free.
More on this:Salzburg
Salzburger Nockerl(Salzburg soufflé)Contains gluten
Light, oven-baked beaten egg white with sugar, egg yolk and vanilla, shaped into three peaks and often served on a fruit sauce. The classic recipe contains a little flour.
More on this:Salzburg
Sauerbraten with raw potato dumplingsDepends on the preparation
The meat is fine, the sauce is usually thickened with flour. And a dumpling made from raw potatoes needs binding: usually that is potato starch and therefore gluten-free, sometimes semolina or flour, and there are often toasted bread cubes in the middle.
More on this:Fulda
SchäufeleDepends on the preparation
Roast pork shoulder, named after the shape of the bone. Meat suggests no cereal, and that is exactly the trap: classically it is basted with or braised in dark beer, and beer made from barley contains gluten.
More on this:Würzburg
SchmandkuchenContains gluten
A yeast dough on a tray, spread with soured cream and sprinkled with sugar. Flour is the foundation here, not the topping.
More on this:Kassel
Schmirchelskuche, see Ploatz
SchupfnudelnContains gluten
Finger-thick noodles made from potato dough, fried in a pan, often with sauerkraut. The dough needs binding, and that is almost always wheat flour.
More on this:Augsburg
SchwartenmagenDepends on the preparation
It is set with rind and aspic, not with flour, and many ingredient lists contain nothing made from cereals. It only becomes reliable with that list in your hand, though, because the German food code generally allows cereal products and starch in meat products.
More on this:Fulda
Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte(Black Forest gateau)Contains gluten
Chocolate sponge made from wheat flour, cream, cherries and kirsch. The kirsch is no problem, the sponge is.
More on this:Freiburg
Schweinsbraten, Haxe and Krustenbraten(roast pork, knuckle, crackling roast)Depends on the preparation
All three are on almost every Munich pub menu and are topped up with dark beer or basted with beer stock, so the gluten ends up in the meat and not only in the gravy. Ask about the roasting juices, not just the gravy.
More on this:Munich
SobrassadaDepends on the preparation
A soft, spreadable cured sausage of pork, pork fat, paprika and salt. The protected “Sobrassada de Mallorca” contains no cereal, but other products can contain starch.
More on this:Mallorca
Soleier(brined eggs)Gluten-free by nature
Hard-boiled eggs with the shell cracked all over, steeped in a spiced brine, classically in a jar on the pub counter and with no grain ingredient. The egg itself is uncomplicated, the pub counter is not: rolls and Buletten are lying there, and the egg is …
More on this:Berlin
Spargel mit Soße Hollandaise(asparagus with hollandaise)Depends on the preparation
In spring the asparagus comes from the surrounding countryside and is on almost every menu. The asparagus itself is gluten-free, and so is a hollandaise made from egg yolk, butter and lemon.
More on this:Hanover
Spätzle and KässpätzleContains gluten
egg noodles made from flour, egg and often durum wheat semolina; spelt is no way out, it is a type of wheat. Kässpätzle come with fried onions on top, and shop-bought ones contain wheat flour.
SpundekäsGluten-free by nature
Originally from Rheinhessen, but common in Palatinate wine taverns too: a cream of soft cheese or quark, often with butter or cream, plus onions, paprika and, depending on the place, garlic. There is no cereal in it.
Steckerlfisch(fish on a stick)Depends on the preparation
Usually a whole mackerel, at the stall also trout or whitefish, left in brine and grilled over charcoal, neither floured nor breaded. The brine can come from a ready-made spice preparation containing wheat, some brush the fish with beer, and the bread roll …
More on this:Munich
Steirisches Backhendl(Styrian fried chicken)Contains gluten
Chicken pieces coated in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried in fat, often with a potato salad dressed with pumpkin seed oil. Flour is in it twice, in the first layer and in the crumbs.
More on this:Graz
Steirisches Wurzelfleisch(pork with root vegetables)Depends on the preparation
Boiled pork with root vegetables such as carrots, celeriac and parsley root, served with freshly grated horseradish and potatoes. Meat, vegetables and horseradish contain no cereal.
More on this:Graz
StielmusDepends on the preparation
A vegetable of the stalks and leaves of young turnips, braised and mixed with mashed potatoes. There is no fixed recipe, so flour is not a given here, but it is not ruled out either.
StruwenContains gluten
Small yeast pancakes with raisins, eaten in the Münsterland on Good Friday by tradition. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Münster
Swabian potato saladDepends on the preparation
lukewarm and without mayonnaise, dressed with hot stock, vinegar, oil, onions and often mustard. Wheat can be in the instant stock as a carrier, in the mustard and in the fried onions.
T
TafelspitzDepends on the preparation
Boiled beef in its broth, with apple horseradish, chive sauce and potatoes. The meat itself and a clear broth contain no cereal, as long as no stock powder goes in.
More on this:Vienna
TirggelContains gluten
A thin Zurich honey biscuit with a moulded picture, mostly around Christmas. The dough is made from wheat flour.
More on this:Zurich
TöttchenContains gluten
A sour ragout of veal and veal tongue, seasoned with mustard, a classic of the Münsterland pubs. The sauce is a roux, as the recipe the city of Münster hands out says too, and a thickened sauce cannot be rescued afterwards.
More on this:Münster
Trout from the RhönDepends on the preparation
The preparation decides. “Müllerin Art” means dusted in flour and fried in butter; “blau” means poached in vinegar water and needs no flour.
More on this:Fulda
TumbetDepends on the preparation
A bake of fried potatoes, aubergines, peppers and often courgettes with tomato sauce. Many recipes contain no cereal, but the aubergines are often dusted with flour before frying.
More on this:Mallorca
W
Weckewerk(pork speciality bound with bread rolls)Contains gluten
A cooked sausage from northern Hesse that has stale bread rolls worked into it. “Wecke” is the local word for a bread roll, so the name says it.
Weißwurst(white sausage)Depends on the preparation
A fine forcemeat of veal and pork back fat, nowadays often with pork as well, classically without flour. Wheat gets in through a ready-made spice preparation with breadcrumbs or wheat starch, and the Brezn (pretzel) with it is broken apart at the table.
WelfenspeiseDepends on the preparation
Hanover’s dessert, named after the Guelph dynasty: a vanilla cream at the bottom and a wine foam on top, white and yellow like the house colours. The cream is thickened with starch or custard powder, and custard powder can contain wheat starch.
More on this:Hanover
Westfälischer Knochenschinken(Westphalian ham on the bone)Depends on the preparation
Raw ham on the bone, traditionally made with nothing but a salt and saltpetre mixture, sugar and beech smoke. It only becomes reliable with the ingredient list, though, because the German food code generally allows cereal products and starch in meat products, …
Wickelklöße(rolled potato dumplings)Contains gluten
From the Erzgebirge and the Vogtland: potato dough with wheat flour, rolled out thin, spread with butter and breadcrumbs and rolled up, and a pure flour dough in the West Saxon version. Flour and crumbs belong to the recipe, so only an expressly gluten-free …
More on this:Dresden
Wiener SchnitzelContains gluten
A thin veal escalope, coated in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried in fat. Flour is in it twice, in the first layer and in the crumbs.
More on this:Vienna
WinzerbratwurstDepends on the preparation
The Würzburg sausage, which has white Franconian wine in it alongside meat and spices. The wine is harmless.
More on this:Würzburg
Z
Zibelechueche(onion tart)Contains gluten
The Bernese onion tart, a pastry base with onions, eggs and cream, especially around the Zibelemärit. The base is made from wheat flour.
More on this:Bern
Zürcher Geschnetzeltes(Zurich-style veal)Depends on the preparation
Thin strips of veal with mushrooms in a cream sauce, almost always with rösti. The meat is often dusted with flour before it is browned, and some kitchens thicken the sauce with flour.
More on this:Zurich
Zwetschgendatschi(plum tray bake)Contains gluten
A tray bake of yeast or shortcrust dough topped with plums, often with crumble. The dough is made from wheat flour, so flour is the foundation here.
More on this:Augsburg
ZwibbelsploatzContains gluten
Fulda’s onion tart, on that same bread dough. It used to be made on Fridays and taken to the bakery to be baked, and Fulda bakeries still sell it.
More on this:Fulda
Zwiebelblootz, see Onion tart
Zwiebelrostbraten(steak with fried onions)Depends on the preparation
the meat is not breaded, though some kitchens dust it with flour, and the onions are often turned in flour that later thickens the sauce. Ask about flour on the meat, flour on the onions, and ready-made stock or thickener in the sauce.
Zwiebelwähe und Käsewähe(onion tart and cheese tart)Contains gluten
A pastry base with a filling of eggs, milk or cream and onions or cheese. The base is made from wheat flour, and flour can go into the filling too.
More on this:Basel
Dish not listed?
The index grows with the city pages. Which questions help in a restaurant is in the guides, and what sits behind fryers, pizza ovens and toasters is in the article on cross-contamination.
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