Labskaus

Labskaus is a beef or pork meat dish that is eaten in northern Germany, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and in the region around Liverpool (referred to there as Scouse ).

History

The first time mentioned in 1706 by the English author Ned Ward court to mariners and sailors originated in the time of sailing ships and was probably originally mainly of pork. Since sailing ships to every sailor salt meat belonged to the prescribed diet, but the sailors by aching teeth from scurvy often could not eat solid food, the portion was chopped and pureed. Since, moreover, suffered from the quality of food with increasing length of the trip, also was able to be concealed inferior material. In German literature, it is first mentioned in 1878 in a nautical dictionary. Here potatoes are included as Breizusatz to salt meat. Later, this type of preparation has been ( with bad teeth ) taken ashore by the shore of seafarers. There you could also use fresh beef.

The original recipe is not known. It is therefore debatable whether fish is a part of Labskaus. Even the original geographic origin is unclear. Some sources say that it is a court of English origin, but many suspect a North German or northern European origin.

Etymology

The origin of the word Labskaus is unknown. There are several interpretations, but all are attested only for the 19th century. With probably borrowed from the English origin of lobscouse, it may have been developed over lout 's course from dialectal lob 's course with the meaning " food of boors ." Another variation comes from the piece of meat flaps, belly flaps, flap piece of cattle and the addition of Kaus for low German " bowl, bowl". It appears to result also an origin from the Baltics: The expressions labs kausis in the Latvian or labas káuszas in the Lithuanian language are each " good bowl ." Helmut Hanke claims in his book sailor, death and the devil, Labskaus descended from Norwegian.

Variants

For the classic preparation of salted beef is boiled in a little water and inlaid with beets, pickles, onions and young herring (according to some recipes even bacon ) rotated through the meat grinder. The mass is then cooked in lard and cooked with cucumber water or the cooking broth. Finally, boiled and mashed potatoes are stirred. Labskaus is usually served garnished with pickled herring or herring Bismarck, fried egg and gherkin.

German Labskaus mainly consists of boiled potatoes, corned beef or salt beef, mashed both and to gereichtem young herring, onions, beetroot and fried egg. In the other countries there are different recipes. In addition to numerous recipe variations in detail, there are also major differences as in Mecklenburg Labskaus that contains neither fish nor cucumber and beetroot, that is closer to the presumed origin of the recipe, or the Danish Labskaus ( Skipperlabskovs ), in which the salt beef with fresh beef or pork replaced and only rolled but not further crushed. It is served on thin slices of rye bread. Norwegian Labskaus contains potatoes and cured meats and root vegetables rutabaga, echoing a thick potato soup.

The refined version with beets and other ingredients can be found on many menus sense of tradition and home-style restaurants in Schleswig -Holstein (including Danish border area), Bremen, Hamburg and northern Lower Saxony.