When most people think of the Hindenburg they
think of this but I have two questions: One, why was this giant piece of Nazi propaganda
because that's actually what it was, floating over New Jersey in the first place and two what did they eat? Well I'm going to answer the first question a little bit later but the answer to the second question is really fancy food like pears condé with chocolate sauce. So thank you to Trade coffee for sponsoring this video as we dine on the Hindenburg this time on Tasting History. So first off if this topic is interesting to you then might I suggest this book, it's Dan Grossman's book on the Hindenberg, it's wonderfully illustrated. He knows absolutely everything about the subject and it's just really well done so I'll put a link to that and his website in the description. So the largest rigid airship ever constructed the Hindenburg, named after Germany's president Paul Von Hindenburg, had just over one year of flying under its belt when filled with 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen it exploded over an airfield in Lakehurst New Jersey on May 6th 1937 but in that short time it played host to some of the most wealthy and powerful people in the entire world, and the man who was in charge of feeding all of these wealthy and powerful people was 25-year-old Xaver Maier. The menus he created were meant to convey the flavors of Germany but often in a French style which was the fancy
style that his customers were accustomed to. One such menu given to passengers when they booked
a flight featured dishes such as beef broth with marrow dumplings, Rhine salmon a la Graf Zeppelin, roast gosling la Meuniere, and a dessert of pears condé with chocolate suace. And that last one sounded so delicious that's the one that I decided to make. Now before he worked on zeppelins Maier was a chef at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, and at that time they were still cooking from the recipes of Auguste Escoffier so I went to find Escoffier's recipe for pears condé, and at first it seemed rather simple. "Poires Condé: Very small pears which are carefully peeled and shaped are most suitable for this preparation. Those of medium size should be cut in half. Cook them in vanilla flavored syrup then proceed as
for Abricots Condé, recipe 4510." So then you have to flip through and find the recipe for Abricots Condé which starts out "On a round dish prepare a border of vanilla-flavored Prepared Rice for sweet dishes (recipe 4470)." So then you have to flip to recipe 4470 and after a while it turns out you actually have to find five different recipes to make this one dish, but I suppose that's how he hit 5,000 recipes in his cookbook whereas mine I think has 65. I do have signed copies available, links in the description. Suffice it to say this turned out to be a really complex dessert and it's actually best made over the span of two days so you might want to grab yourself a nice cup of coffee to keep you going from today's sponsor Trade. Trade is a coffee delivery service that makes it simple to to find new and exciting craft coffees that are curated to your tastes and your coffee drinking habits. I have to say I've loved every single coffee that they've sent me especially this Old World Venezia roast from Klatch Coffee which is one of over 55 local roasters that Trade works with. This one is bold yet smooth, just like me. ;) And since they work with local roasters Trade can make sure that the coffee is freshly roasted when it arrives on your doorstep. And with the holidays upon us Trade makes a wonderful gift for the coffee lover in your life either via a subscription or a holiday gift box. They have 6 limited time gift boxes that include various samples and sizes of all types of coffee. There's even one that comes with coffee and flavored syrups. I got chocolate-chili and caramel vanilla. So whether it's for you or as a gift go to drinktrade.com/maxmiller and get a free bag of coffee with any trade subscription. That's drinktrade.com/maxmiller to get your coffee that
will keep you going as you make this rather complicated dessert. Now to save a little bit of time I've taken the five recipes and condensed it all down into one which is essentially this video but the first thing we need to do is actually make not the pears, but the rice. It's essentially a vanilla rice pudding. So for this what you'll need is: one heaping cup or 250 grams of Carolina rice. He calls for Carolina rice because it plumps up really nice but it's kind of hard to find so you can use any good long grain risotto-worthy rice. 1 and 1/2 cups or 300 grams of sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 liter of whole milk, 6 egg yolks, a half vanilla pod or 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla paste, and 3 and 1/2 tablespoon or 50 grams of butter. First rinse the rice and then add it to some boiling water for about 3 minutes, and then pour it out and rinse it again in warm water. Then in a wide pan add the milk, sugar, salt, and butter
and also scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod in and toss the actual pot in as well. Then set it on the stove and bring it to a boil and once it starts boiling remove the vanilla pod, and add in the rice stirring it around to make sure it's it's evenly distributed. Then let it return to a boil and as soon as it does set the lid on the pan and set it in the oven at 325° F 160°C for he says 25 to 30 minutes, I found that that is not long enough at least for mine. It took about 40 minutes cuz you do want it to get most of the liquid up into the rice. Once it's ready take it out of the oven and working quickly add in the egg yolk and stir it with a fork. You want to be gentle with it because you don't want the rice grains to break up. Then let it cool to room temperature, it'll start to thicken as it does, and then put it in the fridge and let it chill preferably overnight. Also overnight he wants you to take some candied fruit cut up small, and soak or macerate it in Kirschwasser. Kirschwasser is a brandy made from morello cherries and while it does have a slight cherry flavor, it's not sweet at all. Now he doesn't say exactly what fruit to use in this, I think all versions of the dish kind of do different things but you can use any candied fruit but later on we're going to need candied cherries so you can use those here as well. So that is all of day one and before we get to day two I want to tell you a little bit about your ride on the Hindenburg. So I think we need to address the elephant in the room, and that would be the tail fins of the Hindenburg. As I said this ship was basically a giant floating piece of Nazi propaganda. Following its fly over of the Olympics in 1936 it became the talk of the international community, and Germany used it as a way to show that it had bounced back from its defeat in World War I. Germany had produced the world's largest airship and at 245 meters it floated along at around 78 mph delivering passengers from Frankfurt Germany to New Jersey in just 67 hours. That was half the time that the typical luxury liner of the day like the Queen Mary could get you there but the Queen Mary held over 2,000 passengers whereas the Hindenburg, even after in 1937 they added more places for people to sleep, held about 70. And even with a one-way ticket price of a thousand Reichsmark which is about $9,000 in today's money it just wasn't enough people to actually make the zeppelin turn a profit but because it was a symbol of German ingenuity the German government helped to prop it up, and gave it money just so they could keep this huge piece of Nazi propaganda floating over cities like Boston and New York. But since it didn't need to turn a profit and it was really there just to impress wealthy foreigners a ride on the Hindenburg was really top draw. "If you experienced it, it felt like
being in a dream, like a flying first class hotel. A five-star hotel. Everyone on board felt the same
way." And it really was in many ways but not all because a five-star earthbound Hotel doesn't need to worry about how much things weigh whereas on an airship you really have to worry about that. For passengers this was most evident in their cabins. They were Spartan in decor and rather than a king-sized mahogany bed with canopy on the Hindenburg even the millionaires slept in
little more than cots made of aluminum in bunk bed setup. The original rooms on the ship were all on the interior and so you had no windows and while you did have a plastic water basin with
running hot and cold water for showers or using the toilet it was all done communally. There were like six passenger toilets, seven on the entire ship. In 1937 they did add nine more cabins on B deck which did have window access but you were still sharing a toilet with a Rockefeller. Now even though you might not have a window in your room it was more than made up for by the massive slanted windows that ran the length of both sides of a A deck. Gazing out the windows was one of the highlights of a voyage on the ship because unlike an airplane that flew at 30,000 ft high and so
looking down you could just see little tiny things the Hindenburg would glide along between 600 and
700 feet above the ground, so not only could you see the landscape passing by just under you but as you cross the North Atlantic you could be so close to things like icebergs that you could almost reach
out and touch them, you shouldn't but you almost felt like you could. And perhaps the most exciting view was passing by the city skylines where you might be level with the top of the Empire State
Building. And since it was floating there was never any serious turbulence and the only sound was the distant murmur of the four Daimler Benz's diesel engines. Now should you get bored just staring out of a window for hours at a time there were other things on board to keep you busy. "It was hard sometimes to realize during the trip that one was not on an ocean liner but instead high in the air. The spacious social hall, dining hall, writing saloon, and even the diminutive bar and smoking room -
all conveyed the illusion of a seafaring craft." Yes people in the 1930s were avid letter writers
and so they had an entire room just dedicated to the craft, and should you actually want to post a letter from the Hindenburg they had a Hindenburg stamp, and the mail would be sent as soon as you landed. Now if letter writing isn't your bag the the starboard lounge on A deck might be more your speed decorated in a contemporary style which frankly reminds me of a hospital waiting room, the
main wall of the lounge depicted a large map of the world, marked with the roots of history's great explorers. In the corner was a piano but as weight was such a concern it was custom built by the Blüthner Piano Company, and was made of a lightweight aluminum and copper alloy weighing only 356 pounds which isn't that heavy considering it's a piano. Now this was the 1930s and so people couldn't
be expected not to smoke even if they were in a giant balloon filled with hydrogen so they custom
built a smoking room down on B deck. You'd go down and request the use of the single electric lighter
from the steward and then enter the smoking room which was fitted with a double air loock and was
kept pressurized at a higher level than the rest of the ship to keep any leaking hydrogen out of that room. This is also where the bar was and so it's no surprise it was one of the most popular spots on the ship. One passenger recalled that "The smoking room is the rendezvous before and after meals. Presided over by Max, a steward, who makes excellent cocktails and watches everyone like a hawk to see that none inadvertently leaves with a lighted cigar or cigarette. The doors are so arranged that not more than one person can enter or leave at the same time." Then after your cocktail and cigarette it was time to eat. Now there was only one dining room on the ship, it was on A deck and it spanned the entire length of the port side about 47 feet long and 13 feet wide. The walls were decorated with paintings on silk wallpaper which depicted scenes from Graf Zeppelin's flights to South America, and the chairs made from ultra light tubular aluminum were upholstered in red. Three meals a day were served on fine blue and white porcelain China, crystal stemware and the best Sterling silver available. Then the tables were lined with white linen and decorated with fresh flowers. I find it a little odd that they were so concerned about weight and yet had sterling silver and crystal which weigh quite a bit but I guess they were deemed necessary. What was not deemed necessary were napkins because you only got one napkin, not per meal, per voyage. When you arrived on the airship you would receive an envelope with a white linen napkin in it, and that thing followed you around to all of your meals. Now with your single white napkin ready to go out came
the food. The ship carried more than 2 tons of food per crossing which included 400 pounds of fresh meat and poultry, 220 pounds of fish, 440 pounds of potatoes, 800 eggs and 40 gallons of milk among other things like live lobsters and being German 330 pounds of sausage and cold cuts. They also carried hundreds of bottles of German beer and wine. These seem to have been the most popular drinks
on board but they did have a fully stocked bar with a number of cocktails including a signature
cocktail called the LZ-129 frosted cocktail, LZ 129 Hindenburg being the full official name of the
ship. Though frankly as this cocktail seems to have just been equal parts gin and orange juice I kind of feel like the bartender was phoning it in on that one. Now that was one of the only things that you ever had to pay for were these cocktails because everything else was included, all the food all the other drink everything you didn't even need to carry around cash to tip because as a brochure that you'd get told you "The personnel on board is not permitted to accept tips at any time." At meals this personnel would include the chief steward and about six different servers. Each day from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. the servers would set out a breakfast of eggs, sausage and ham, assorted rolls and pastries coffee and tea. And at this meal the passengers would receive a menu letting them know what they were going to have for lunch and dinner. "The meals are delicious - luncheon consisted of soup,
fish, chicken breast with rice, peas, asparagus tips, ice cream, cake and coffee. Dinner: consummee, fish, tenderloin of beef on toast with mushrooms, potatoes, salad, Charlotte Rousse with coffee." This was the typical fare aboard the Hindenburg but since weight was such a concern you didn't order things off the menu you simply got everything but everybody only had one choice when they sat
down to a meal, everybody got the same thing but since there were so many foods available surely
there was something that you would like. Now the food tended to be very heavy with cream soups and dishes like venison cutlets beauval, Bavarian style fatted duckling served with a buttery cream
sauce, and vegetable dishes also served with a cream sauce. And then at lunch, and this was always finished with a showstopping dessert like the one that we're making today and usually at dinner it was something a little simpler like a fruit and cheese plate. Now the dishes were so heavy that Americans at the time often complained that they couldn't stomach all that heavy cream sauce. How things have changed. And so one of the German representatives of the company, or an American representative of the company, suggested that at the bottom of the menu that they got at breakfast they should include the note "we would be happy to prepare an omelette for you if there is nothing on the menu that appeals to you." And whether it was an omelette or one of these fancy desserts, or anything else it was all prepared in the kitchen on electric stoves and ovens because they didn't want any gas appliances because they were more likely to cause a fire. And a fire aboard a hydrogen filled zeppelin is the nightmare scenario, a nightmare scenario that came true on May 6th 1937. The last voyage of the Hindenburg began like many others leaving from Frankfurt Germany on May 3rd with 36 passengers and 61 crew. It was headed to America but as soon as it got out over
the North Atlantic strong headwinds slowed its progress. Now this was not an issue for for safety or even comfort because the Hindenburg famously had no turbulence. "To all our passengers, the safety, comfort, freedom from sickness, and tranquility of motion are a revelation, and these features no doubt are the reason for the increasing popularity of travel by Airship. The one regret expressed by our passengers - with which we are familiar is that the voyage is over so soon." Only this voyage wasn't over so soon because of that wind slowing the ship's progress and so it was about 12 hours behind schedule getting into New Jersey. Now typically this wouldn't be a big deal except that
there were reporters waiting for the Hindenburg to arrive because this was kind of being treated as a
one-year anniversary of the ship coming to America. Also it needed to turn around and head back to
Europe right after it landed with some of the most wealthy and important people in both Germany and America, because they were headed to Europe for the coronation of King George VI which was on May 12th. So with the pressure on the Captain Max Pruss hurried the ship in its obligatory circle around Manhattan before heading on to New Jersey where he could land a full 12 hours behind schedule. The only issue was that there was a thunderstorm, and now typically a thunderstorm wasn't a problem. The Hindenburg had actually been struck by lightning on multiple occasions when it was up in the air. It had even burned off some of the the cloth that covered it. The only time that it was an issue was if they were venting hydrogen which they need to do when they land the ship so the manual strictly forbids landing the zeppelin during a thunderstorm. But with the eyes of the world on him, especially the eyes from Berlin, Captain Pruss was really needing to get this ship landed and get it back on schedule. Finally at 6:12 p.m. the commanding officer on the ground at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station radioed up saying "conditions now considered suitable for landing ground crew is ready." Unfortunately the ship killing time had kind of gone out of the away and was now 30 miles south of Lakehurst and so it didn't actually get to Lakehurst until 7:09 p.m. Then at 7:21 the crew dropped the moor lines to the ground crew 290 feet below. Then these lines would be attached to winches to pull the airship down to the ground so passengers could get off, but before it did that at 7:25 crew members in the tail fin heard a dull pop, and saw a spark and a flame above them. A fire had broken out while they were venting hydrogen and almost instantaneously one of the fuel cells
exploded. Now the ship was so large that only those in the back or those on the ground watching knew what had happened because most people just felt it kind of as as a rumble or a jolt. Even the captain thought maybe they had just lost or broke a line. In the crew mess a 14-year-old cabin boy Werner Franz
who was the youngest crew member aboard, he was securing dishes and silverware when it happened. "The first thing I noticed was a huge bang and a strong vibration in the ship." Within seconds the room tilted forward and he fell and he saw flames coming in through the ceiling above him. And then a water tank burst dousing him with water and kind of jolting him out of his shock, and he ran toward a service hatch that led directly out, it's where they brought food into the mess. And he leapt into it and "As it was in free fall I hung there. Then I jumped from a height of about 4 or 5 meters, ran under the ship and out the other side." The head chef Xaver Maier had seen the boy do this, and so he quickly followed him and again dropped to the ground virtually unharmed. He can actually be seen in a photo leaving the scene with the wreckage behind him ironically smoking a cigarette. Many others found escape through the windows on the port side where the restaurant was because the ship listed that way and so people could jump out to the ground. Now what's scary is all of this happened in a matter of about 15 seconds. It's thought that from the explosion to the point where you could get out of the ship alive you had 15 seconds to act. The speed of having to make these horrible
decisions of jumping out of the window is most evident in the story of a family who was aboard the ship. Hermann Doehner who managed a pharmaceutical company in Mexico city was traveling back with his family from Germany where they had been on holiday and it was him, his wife, Matilda and three of their children Irene, Walter, and Werner. Now Mrs. Doehner and the three children were actually on
that promenade next to the restaurant watching out of the windows and that's when they felt the
place shudder and then it lurched, and they were thrown against the back wall of the restaurant. As the ship began to settle she saw two crew members, two stewards jump out of the window, and she decided they needed to follow, and so she grabbed her children and ran toward the window. Fritz Deeg who was one of the stewards who had jumped out was on the ground shouting up to her to leap out of the window. So she grabs Walter who was 10 and throws him out of the window. He falls about 15 feet and Fritz catches him and tosses him aside so he doesn't get hit by falling wreckage. Then it was 8-year-old Werner's turn and he was already on fire, his hair and his clothes, hen she picked him up and threw him out but the ship kept moving and so he he got knocked around and fell back in
and on the second try she tossed him out, and he also made it to the ground. Then Mrs. Doehner turned to her 14-year-old daughter Irene who was in shock and asking where their father was because he was back in their cabin. She wouldn't jump so Mrs.Doehner tried to force her to but she was 14,she was just too heavy and the girl turned and ran back into the ship probably to find her father. Now you have to think again this is all happening in the span of seconds and Mrs. Doehner has to make the decision do I follow my daughter to almost certain death, or do I follow my two sons saving myself for them? And that's what she did. She leapt out, fell, she hurt herself as she did but she survived. Now against all odds Irene was found, again only a minute after the explosion rescuers
were running into the burning wreckage, and one of them found Irene. She was seated at a dining table and she was on fire, and he got her and took her out. And unfortunately she did die of her burns later that night. The father Hermann he was found much later and he also had died. Honestly when you watch the footage of the disaster it's hard to believe that anyone survived. Those on the ground, reporters and family alike, none of them expected that anyone could survive what they were watching. It's why Herbert Morrison's famous broadcast is just so emotional. "It's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke and flames now; and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast. Oh, the humanity, all the passengers screaming around here. I told you; it... I can't even talk to people, their friends are on there! Ah! It's... it... it's a... ah! I... I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest it's just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage.." But in the end 62 of the 97 people on board the Hindenburg did survive. What did not survive was the airships. The day after the Hindenburg disaster the Graf Zeppelin landed safely in Germany after flying from Brazil, and this was the last international passenger airship flight. They were used somewhat in World War II but after that they were all but gone, and today obviously not not filled with hydrogen, they're only used for the occasional advertising over football games, and while a ride on the Goodyear blimp might be fun I'm guessing that they don't feed you on fancy things like the pears condé with chocolate sauce that I need to finish making. So the recipe calls for small pears and that is what I used but these are really hard to find so you can use
the smallest pear that you can find, and just cut it in half but you want them to be firm. You don't want them to be fully ripe yet because they're going to soften as we cook them. What you do want to do is peel them, you can do this by scalding them and then putting them in cold water and the skin will come off or if you just have a few it's just faster to to hand peel them. Then make a syrup with 1 and 1/2 cups or 300 grams of sugar, 5 cups or 1.2 liter of water and 1/2 vanilla pod or 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla paste. Mix it all up and heat it over medium heat until it becomes a syrup, and then drop in the pears and simmer for 15 minutes. For Escoffier's chocolate sauce take take 250 grams
of semisweet chocolate, and add 1 and 3/4 cup or 400 milliliters of water and 1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar. If you don't have vanilla sugar you should get some because it's absolutely delicious but in a pinch you can just use some regular sugar. Then set that over medium heat and let the chocolate melt and simmer the sauce for 25 minutes, and then stir in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of butter. Let it melt and then take it off the heat. Then go get your rice out of the refrigerator and put it into
a mold of some sort or just dish it up, and then set some of that candied fruit that was macerated in the Kirschwasser on top of it, and then set your poached pears on top of that add several candied cherries. You can use either maraschino cherries or the really nice little dark cherries that they put in like a good oldfashioned or something like that, and then put the chocolate on top. And here we are pears condé with chocolate sauce. I mean none of this doesn't look appetizing so let me start with the pears, try a bit. Yeah it's nice and soft, actually you know what I'm going to get it all. I'm going to just get it all, here we go. [Chomp] Hmm. Hm! [Hums happily] Oh my god. God that is so good y'all. Wow it's a lot of work but oh the flavors. So you just want a little bit of chocolate sauce because the flavor of the pear is so light you don't want it overwhelmed by the chocolate. I think you could probably leave off the [macerated] fruit if you don't want that, I mean not the pears obviously you want that but so a little bit of chocolate and that pear and I'm going to just try the rice real quick. That's amazing. I mean it's essentially rice pudding but with a really strong vanilla flavor that makes it just- it tastes like luxury. It tastes like you're dining on the Hindenburg. Yeah and with the chocolate and that combined
fantastic. Honestly if you want you can just make the rice pudding, that is worthy of a dessert in and of itself if you you know want to do things a little faster. Also before I go I just wanted to thank everyone for watching this channel and subscribing, we just hit 2 million subscribers which is just mind boggling. I never expected that food history would would take off like it did. I'm just so glad that I found my audience and and y'all found me so thank you so much, and I'll see you next time on Tasting History.
