New foods, budget bites: Eater's guide to the Carmel Christkindlmarkt

The Carmel Christkindlmarkt has had a tumultuous year, complete with an organizational restructuring and a recently dismissed lawsuit. But that hasn't kept those sausages from hitting the grill.

The city's iconic winter market is open Wednesday through Sunday until Dec. 24, bringing a Bavarian medley of food, trinkets and holiday cheer to 10 Carter Green. I recently attended the market's preview night to scope out the culinary offerings for IndyStar's Christkindlmarkt eater's guide.

From new items to vegetarian options to budget picks, here's what you need to know about the food and drink selection at this year's Christkindlmarkt.

What's new?

Two food items debut at this year's market: handbröt and käsekuchen, both available at hut 40 at the southeast edge of the ice skating rink. Händbrot, literally "hand bread" in English, features yeast dough stuffed with various fillings — at Christkindlmarkt you can order ham and cheese or mushrooms and onions — and baked, yielding a sort of Bavarian hot pocket.

Käsekuchen is a German word meaning "cheese cake," which is exactly what you can expect. The version at hut 40 achieves a particularly airy texture thanks to the inclusion of ricotta-like quark and is served with sweetened berries and a puff of whipped cream. It's a perfectly respectable dessert, though you may wish to channel your cheese ambitions elsewhere.

Is the raclette worth the wait?

Speaking of cheese, you'll quickly notice the long lines forming around the Raclette Chalet (hut 28) and the Alpenlodge (hut 23) near the market's northeast entrance. Get close enough and you'll be blasted with the ever-polarizing fragrance of raclette, a semi-hard cheese broiled under heat lamps and scraped onto boiled potatoes, bread and ham sandwiches.

Imported Swiss Raclette cheese pours down on a toasted baguette before it goes out to a customer at the Christkindlmarkt Christmas market in Carmel on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.

Raclette is famously funky, not quite fungal but with plenty of tang. You can find it served over boiled potatoes at Alpenlodge ($15) for the full, borderline overwhelming sensory experience or in a smaller dose with ham on the jambon cru ($18) at Raclette Chalet.

I'd say you can just trust your nose when it comes to raclette, but that odor can be deceiving. Personally, I think raclette smells pretty dreadful, but that's never stopped me from eating it. Occasionally I begin to believe I might even enjoy it.

What if I don't eat meat?

Seemingly everywhere you look at Christkindlmarkt, there's a sausage sputtering on grill grates or a slab of schnitzel bubbling in the fryer. But you can still find meatless options whether or not you rock with intensely funky cheese.

The potato pancakes ($8 with applesauce or sour cream) at Kartoffelpuffer Küche by the northeast entrance have all the crisp, oily beauty you seek in a fried spud. For a heartier option, the käsespätzle at hut 51 south of the Christmas tree douses the quintessential German egg noodle in silky cheese with crisp fried onions. And last winter saw the debut of knödel and champignon (hut 32 on the far east side), which pairs springy mushrooms in gravy with a cloud-like potato dumpling and cooked cabbage for $14. Vegan market-goers should clarify with individual vendors whether any animal products are used in the preparation of ostensibly meatless dishes.

There's also fischbröten (south of the Glühwein pyramid, $17), a battered and fried fish sandwich for the pescetarian crowd. And in case you've already googled fischbröten to see what the traditional German version looks like, rest assured the version at Christkindlmarkt comes scale-free.

What is there to drink?

You'll find hot chocolate at six different huts spread throughout the market ($8 to $12 per cup), some available alongside German donut holes called schmalzkuchen (hut 48, south of pavilion), apple strudel (hut 16 north of skating rink) or the syrup-filled sandwich cookie called stroopwafel (hut 50, south of Christmas tree).

If you're looking for adult libations, six different stands including the central Glühwein pyramid offer cups (or novelty boots) of the steaming, spiced wine for around $10. You can get yours spiked with rum and briefly lit on fire at the Feuerzenganbowle hut south of the tree for $14. And if, like me, you believe cracking open a cold one knows no season, you can find assorted German beers for around $7 per can at six different huts around the premises.

However, after three years of research, I still think you can't beat a cup of hot cocoa — though if you have the cash, adding a shot of liquor for $6 at hut 34 in the southwest corner doesn't hurt.

I'm on a budget. What should I get?

The Wurst Haus serves up curry wurst alongside traditional brats at the Christkindlmarkt Christmas market in Carmel on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023.

Depending on your budget and/or your appetite for smoked meat and melted cheese, the term "affordable" can mean different things at Christkindlmarkt. Turns out, the life-size snow globe in the middle of Carmel isn't the place you go for the hottest deals.

In my experience the way to stretch your dollar at Christkindlmarkt is to track down the heftiest portions, knowing they'll all likely cost at least $15. Alpenlodge's raclette-smothered potatoes ($15) are very filling, perhaps due to the effects of that seemingly climate-altering cheese smell on one's appetite. Elsewhere in the vegetarian category, the knödel and champignons ($14) stand out for their sheer vegetal bulk, and the käsespätzle ($14), while not massive, is deeply satisfying.

And then there's the sausage medley at the north-central Wurst Haus, which I maintain is the best bargain you'll find on meat at $12 to $15 per wurst. While I fully sympathize with the frugal folks who might scoff at the Carmel Christkindlmarkt, I typically find that my cynicism is at least partially alleviated by the snap of a good sausage.

Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at [email protected]. You can follow him on Twitter/X @BradleyHohulin and stay up to date with Indy dining news by signing up for the Indylicious newsletter.