What is Kuchen Anyway
The Perennial Debate (well at least with my Mother) Growing up, every Christmas we made a German Christmas bread with dried fruit and nuts that came from my paternal grandfather’s family, which was named “Christmas Kuchen.” We always called it Kuchen for short. Apparently at some point, one of the neighbors down the road told my mom that it was not the correct name. It was properly called Stollen. From that my Mom weaved quite a tale about how Kuchen means cake, and what we make is a bread, therefore it could not have been called Kuchen. Maybe my grandmother was mistaken about the name…or something…my Mom would speculate. While it is true that: the Christmas bread is sold as Stollen anywhere you look (in America); that Kuchen translates to cake; and our Christmas Kuchen was raised with yeast and made in standard bread-pans, it is not the case that an incorrect name was passed down with the family recipe. Every so often, I have some some light research into the naming of the family r
