Ingredients
Base
- 800 gfloury potatoes
- 400 gcorned beef or salt beef
- 2onions, finely chopped
- 3 tbsplard or butter
- 200 gpickled beetroot, finely diced
- 3gherkins, finely diced
- 100 mlbeetroot pickling liquid
- 150 mlbeef stock
- black pepper
- salt
To serve
- 4fried eggs
- 4rollmops or matjes herring
- extra gherkins
- extra beetroot
Directions
- Boil the potatoes until soft and mash them roughly, leaving some texture.
- Do not make it smooth. Labskaus is a rough mash, and worked to a purée it turns gluey and looks worse than it already does.
- Chop or mince the corned beef finely.
- Fry the onions in the lard until soft and golden.
- Add the beef and warm it through, breaking it up.
- Stir in the mashed potato, the diced beetroot and gherkin, the pickling liquid and enough stock to loosen it.
- The pickling liquid is what makes it. It gives the sharpness that cuts the fat and it is also what turns the whole thing pink.
- It is meant to be pink and it is meant to look like something already eaten. That appearance is the standing joke about the dish and Hamburg is entirely unbothered by it.
- Season with plenty of black pepper and check the salt, remembering the beef is already salty.
- Cook it for another 10 minutes, stirring, until hot through and thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
- Fry an egg per person, keeping the yolk soft.
- Serve a mound of labskaus topped with a fried egg, with a rollmop, gherkins and beetroot arranged around it.
- The soft yolk is broken into the mash at the table and stirred through, which is part of eating it.
- It is sailors’ food, built from the salt meat, preserved beetroot and pickles that kept on a long voyage, and it belongs to Hamburg, Bremen and the north German ports.
- The name travelled with the ships: Liverpool sailors gave the word to lobscouse, and that is where Scousers get their name.
Technique
- Everything in it was chosen because it kept at sea, which is the whole logic of the dish.
- Some northern versions leave the beetroot out entirely and stay grey rather than pink.
- It is served with a beer and it is not a delicate dish in any respect.
Substitutions
- Tinned corned beef, which is what most households use.
- Matjes herring in place of rollmops.
Variations
- Without beetroot, as made in some Baltic ports.
- With the herring chopped through the mash rather than served alongside.
- The Norwegian and Swedish lapskaus and lapskojs, which are stews rather than mashes.
History
A sailors’ dish of the northern ports made from salted meat and pickles that survived long voyages; Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck all claim it.
Frequently asked questions
What is Labskaus?
Labskaus is a main from Germany: mash of corned beef, potato and beetroot with herring, gherkin and fried egg. A sailors’ dish of the northern ports made from salted meat and pickles that survived long voyages; Hamburg, Bremen and Lübeck all claim it.
How long does Labskaus take to make?
Labskaus takes 20 min of preparation and 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Labskaus?
Yes, within limits. Tinned corned beef, which is what most households use. Matjes herring in place of rollmops.
What is the most important thing to get right in Labskaus?
Do not make it smooth. Labskaus is a rough mash, and worked to a purée it turns gluey and looks worse than it already does.
