Labskaus is a culinary specialty from Northern Germany

Northern Germany

- Geography :The key terrain features of North Germany are the marshes along the coastline of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, and the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the ground moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs, and Luch...

 and in particular from the cities of Bremen, Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

, and Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

. The main ingredients are salted meat or corned beef

Corned beef

Corned beef is a type of salt-cured beef products present in many beef-eating cultures. The English term is used interchangeably in modernity to refer to three distinct types of cured beef:...

, potatoes, and onion

Onion

The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...

. Some recipes put beetroot

Beetroot

The beetroot, also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet or informally simply as beet, is one of the many cultivated varieties of beets and arguably the most commonly encountered variety in North America, Central America and Britain.-Consumption:The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are...

, pickled gherkin

Gherkin

The gherkin is a fruit similar in form and nutritional value to a cucumber. Gherkins and cucumbers belong to the same species , but are from different cultivar groups....

, or even herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

 into it, while others have these ingredients as side orders.

Background

The word Labskaus (English lobscouse

Scouse (food)

Scouse is a type of lamb or beef stew. The word comes from lobscouse or lapskaus, Norwegian for "stew" and refers to a meat based stew commonly eaten by sailors throughout Northern Europe, which became popular in seaports such as Liverpool.-Origin of the term:In the 18th and 19th centuries...

) (originally lob's course) or lapskaus, comes from Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 for "stew" and refers to a meat based stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

 commonly eaten by sailors throughout Northern Europe, which became popular in seaports such as Liverpool. The origin of this English word is uncertain , but it may be related to "loblolly", a word from an obscure Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

shire dialect

Dialect

The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 where "lob" is probably an onomatopoeic description of bubbling. Another possible source for the name could be Latvian Labs kausis, meaning 'good bowl' or hotpot, or Lithuanian labas káuszas, meaning the same. The dish became a favorite of sailors

Sailors

Sailors is the plural form of Sailor, or mariner.Sailors may also refer to:*Sailors , a 1964 Swedish film*Ken Sailors , American basketball playerSports teams*Erie Sailors, baseball teams in Pennsylvania, USA...

 and seamen during the time of the great ships and is now commonly served in restaurants on Germany's

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Northern coast.
The meal is traditionally prepared by boiling the beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

 in broth and then mincing it with the beetroot, onions, boiled potatoes and herring (some recipes use ham

Ham

Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...

). Finally the base is fried in lard

Lard

Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...

.

Countless variations of the dish exist. For example in Bremen, just about 100 km away from Hamburg, Labskaus usually is a preparation of fried corned beef

Corned beef

Corned beef is a type of salt-cured beef products present in many beef-eating cultures. The English term is used interchangeably in modernity to refer to three distinct types of cured beef:...

, onions and mashed potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es with the beetroot and a Rollmops

Rollmops

Rollmops are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape around slices of onion, pickled gherkin, or green olive with pimento. Rollmops can be served held together with one or two small wooden skewers....

 being served as a side dish.

Variations of the dish are also to be found in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, generally without the use of herring. In Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 the dish is similar to the Bremen version, but some times with added gravy

Gravy

Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...

. In Sweden, "Lapskojs" is a stew made with beef and mashed potatoes. In Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, the word "lapskaus" more often refers to a variation of beef stew often made with gravy, or in some cases other types of stew, more or less similar to the Liverpudlian scouse

Scouse (food)

Scouse is a type of lamb or beef stew. The word comes from lobscouse or lapskaus, Norwegian for "stew" and refers to a meat based stew commonly eaten by sailors throughout Northern Europe, which became popular in seaports such as Liverpool.-Origin of the term:In the 18th and 19th centuries...

. When gravy is added, this dish is sometimes also called "brun lapskaus" (brown lapskaus). Another often encountered Norwegian variety is "lys lapskaus" (light lapskaus), which is a stew made with vegetables, pork meat or pork sausages, and a béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce

Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...

. A simpler "Norwegian Farmers' Stew" Lapskaus can be found with potatoes, chunks of ham, onions, salt and pepper. Yet another version is called "suppelapskaus" (soup lapskaus), where the gravy has been substituted by a light beef stock

Stock (food)

Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.- Preparation :Stock is made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following...

. Because of the alleged prevalence of the various dishes in that area, a part of Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, once occupied by a Norwegian immigrant community, gained the name Lapskaus Boulevard

Lapskaus Boulevard

Lapskaus Boulevard is the nickname of 8th Avenue, located in a historically Norwegian working class neighborhood in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York....

.