This recipe comes from Heidi Frank. Both of her grandmothers were cooks in wealthy households for a time and one of her aunts was an excellent cook well-known in her village for her sausages and preßwurst. Fortunately for us, she was able to cook with them and wrote down the steps to making some of their specialties.


LIPTAUER
(from Heidi Frank)

Ingredients:
  • 1 lb. (2 cups) Farmer's cheese
  • 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 Tbsp. sweet Hungarian paprika
  • black pepper, freshly ground
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. dry mustard
  • 1 Tbsp. capers, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. cornichon, finely chopped
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 3 Tbsp. chives, finely chopped
Preparation:

With the back of a spoon, break apart the Farmer's cheese.
Mix in remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
This can be done by hand or with a mixer.
Spoon into a serving dish, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours.
Serve with rye bread, crackers, or crudités.

Notes:

If you are unable to find Farmer's cheese, dry curd cottage cheese or regular cottage cheese can be substituted. Cream the cottage cheese to break the curds.

This can also be made with Sheeps' cheese, but none of my relatives ever use anything other than topfen, which is most similar in taste to Farmer's cheese.

This recipe can vary greatly depending on the cook. It can be made with chopped caraway seeds, hot Hungarian paprika, spicy mustard, finely chopped onions, crème fraîche, anchovy paste, or without butter.

Here is a follow-up suggestion from BB member Tim Hermesdorf: Since "dry curd cottage cheese" may be hard to come by, here is an easy way to make it. Take regular small curd cottage cheese and put it in a colander. Using cool water rinse all the whey off. That is it.