Labskaus

Labskaus ( German Labskaus , Dan . Labskovs ) is a traditional dish of finely chopped meat ( corned beef ) and vegetables. The usual food of sailors of Northern Europe during the sailing fleet .

Labskaus
Hamburg - style Labskaus with fried eggs , pickled cucumber and rollmops

The first mention of Labskaus dates back to 1701. The name of the dish comes from the Norwegian “easy to swallow”. According to legend, the sailors tormented by scurvy could not chew solid foods ^[1] . There is also an opinion about the origin of the word from the Latvian Labs kausis or Lithuanian labas káuszas - a pot of food ^[2] . From Labskaus ( English scouse ) comes the colloquial name of the inhabitants of Liverpool and the surrounding area - scause .

To prepare a classic Labskaus, corned beef is boiled in water and together with pickled beets, pickled cucumbers and onions (sometimes bacon) and passed through a meat grinder . The resulting mass is stewed in lard, then brought to a boil in cucumber brine or broth . At the end, mashed boiled potatoes are added. Labskaus is served with roller coasters , fried eggs and pickled cucumbers .

Labskaus, prepared with the addition of beets and other additional ingredients, can be found on the menus of many restaurants in Schleswig-Holstein and the neighboring regions of Denmark , in Bremen , Hamburg and northern Lower Saxony . There are regional differences: in Mecklenburg , neither herring nor pickled vegetables are added to labskaus; in Denmark, corned beef is replaced with fresh beef or pork .