Tim Mälzer

🇩🇪 Germany · German cuisine · b. 1971

Germany's most popular celebrity chef and an outspoken voice for German home cooking.

Biography

Tim Mälzer is a Hamburg-born chef, restaurateur and TV personality who is, by most accounts, Germany's most popular celebrity chef. After training in classical hotel kitchens in Germany and working under Jamie Oliver at Monte's in London, he opened the Bullerei in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel in 2009, which became one of the city's defining restaurants.

His long-running cookery shows — 'Schmeckt nicht, gibt's nicht,' 'Tim Mälzer kocht!' and 'Kitchen Impossible' — are some of the most-watched food programmes on German public television. His cookbooks have sold millions of copies and his style is rooted in unpretentious, ingredient-led cooking that draws on German regional traditions, Italian home cooking and modern international influences.

'Kitchen Impossible' (sending him and a guest chef to recreate dishes blind across the world) has become one of the most-discussed food shows in continental Europe.

Cooking Philosophy

Robust, unpretentious cooking — modern German with international influences. Mälzer is cheerfully sceptical of fine-dining pretension and argues that the goal of cooking is to make food people actually want to eat at home: hearty, flavourful, easy to reproduce.

Restaurants

Bullerei
Hamburg
Mälzer's flagship since 2009; lively all-day restaurant in the Schanzenviertel.
Off Club
Hamburg
Smaller bistro project.

Awards & Recognition

Bambi Award
German Television Award (Kitchen Impossible)
Bertelsmann Cookbook of the Year (multiple)

Iconic Dishes

Modern German home cookingInternational family mealsHamburg-style fish dishes

Cookbooks

Schmeckt nicht, gibt's nicht
Born to Cook
Heimat
Greenbox

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Signature Recipes Inspired by Tim

Original recipes we created as homages to Tim's cooking style and signature dishes. Not direct reproductions of any copyrighted material — these are our interpretations of the traditionsTim has worked with throughout their career.

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Modern Sauerbraten — Tim Mälzer-Inspired

Three-day red wine and vinegar marinated beef braise with gingerbread-thickened sauce and red cabbage — Germany's Sunday roast, modernised.

30m prep · 180m cook · ⭐ 4.8

Recipes in Tim's Style

These recipes from our database reflect the german cooking tradition that Tim works in. They are not direct reproductions of Tim's copyrighted recipes, but traditional dishes inspired by the same culinary heritage.

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German Beef Sauerbraten

30 prep · 180 cook · ⭐ 4.7

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Wiener Schnitzel – Classic Viennese Breaded Veal Cutlet

20 prep · 15 cook · ⭐ 4.8

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Soft German Pretzels – Laugenbrezel

90 prep · 15 cook · ⭐ 4.7

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Black Forest Cake – Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

60 prep · 30 cook · ⭐ 4.9

Frequently Asked Questions about Tim Mälzer

What is Kitchen Impossible?

'Kitchen Impossible' is the German cookery show in which Tim Mälzer and a guest chef are flown to remote restaurants around the world and asked to recreate a regional dish blind — without recipes, ingredients lists or even being told what the dish is. It has become one of the most popular food shows in continental Europe.