Christy Carlson Romano and Brendan Rooney make German Christmas treats in this week's ‘Bucket List Bistro’
With Christmas fast approaching us, the newest episode of Taste of Fox’s web series ‘Bucket List Bistro’ takes us to Germany. Well not really to Germany, but Christy Carlson Romano of ‘Kim Possible’ fame will cook German dishes. The show features Romano and her family (often her husband Brendan Rooney) as she creates international dishes and recipes from her “travel bucket list.”
In the upcoming episode of the show, Romano and Rooney will create three iconic German dishes -- Lebkuchen, a honey-sweetened German cake molded cookie or bar cookie that is similar to gingerbread that has become part of Germany's Christmas traditions; Schnitzel, which is a thin slice of meat fried in fat; and Käsespätzle, a traditional German dish in which a hot spätzle and grated cheese are layered alternately and are finally decorated with fried onions.
In the promo for the episode, we see Rooney explaining Christkindlesmarkt, a Christmas market that is held annually in Nuremberg, Germany. It is one of the largest Christmas attractions in Nuremberg -- or for that matter in all of Germany -- and it receives almost two million visitors a year. Every year the Christmas market begins on the Friday preceding the first Sunday in Advent and ends on December 24.
We see Rooney and Romano making the aforementioned Lebkuchen. According to food historians, this kind of honey cake originates back to the 13th century and was created by monks residing in Franconia, Germany. There are many types of Lebkuchen, but they all contain spices, honey, and groundnuts. Some types of this cake are also dipped in chocolate, while others have chopped candied citrus peel in them.
Romano says that the whole reason why Germany is on their bucket list is that the two of them really enjoy Christmas. Romano says that one of the reasons why they enjoy the festival so much is because their daughter was born on Christmas eve. As we see them mix the ingredients for the Lebkuchen, Romano remarks how this dish is so Christmassy, adding, “And who isn’t ready for this year to end?”
‘Bucket List Bistro’ is the first original series coming from Fox’s ‘Taste of Fox’ YouTube channel. The channel usually features clips and bonus features from the network’s culinary series like ‘Masterchef’ and ‘Hell’s Kitchen’. According to Fox, the show was inspired by Romano “being stuck working from home due to COVID-19 and being a parent of young children. Christy is constantly fantasizing about where she would like to go and visit once her girls can come along and this pandemic becomes a thing of the past.”
Watch new episodes of ‘Bucket List Bistro’ every other Thursday on Taste of FOX’s YouTube channel and Hulu at 5 pm ET/2 pm PT.