LL-L: "Delectables" LOWLANDS-L, 28.FEB.2000 (03) [E]

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From: Kent Randau [kentr at tripnet.se]
Subject: LL-L: "Delectables" LOWLANDS-L, 26.FEB.2000 (08) [E]

>From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
>Subject: Delectables
>
>Dear Lowlanders,
>
>One of *the* North German dishes is "Labskaus."  There are many variants.  To
>give you a rough idea, here is one of the recipes, somewhat abbreviated:
>
>Fry small cubes of corned beef and onion in butter to a golden brown.
>Boil peeled and cubed potatoes in water with salt and peppercorns until done.
>Mix all together with cubed pickles (= pickled cucumber) and season to taste
>with salt, vinegar, and mustard.
>
>Like many people, I associate this dish with the _Waterkant_ (the German
>coast).  I had been given the impression that it originated as a
>Norwegian dish
>and had been taken to the German coast by seafarers, perhaps as
>early as during
>the Hanseatic era.  However, in the _Herkunftsduden_ I now read that
>it is known
>only since the 19th century, namely in *Dutch*, referring to a seafarers'
>one-pot meal (originally including fish) and appears to be a loan from English
>_lobscouse_ whose origin is unknown.  I have never come across the
>English word
>before, but I did found it on the Web mentioned in connection with old-time
>sailors' lives, without any recipes being given.  Does any of you have more
>information about it?  Is there any Norwegian and/or Scots connection at all?

I don't think I have posted to the list before. (But I find it
interesting to read though) And for once I might have some useful
input:

I'm from Sweden (partly of Finnish origin) and I also have Norwegian
relatives in the Stavanger area. They once cooked for me and my
family what they called "Lappskojs". I can't tell for sure about the
vinegar and the pickles, and I believe the corned beef was replaced
by sausage...

But anyway, "Lapp" in Swedish and Norwegian means "Sami", the
finno-ugric semi nomadic people of the Nordic countries. I am not
sure what "skojs" part means or even how the Norwegians would spell
it.

If something is "skoj" or "skojigt" in Swedish, it means that
something is fun. The verb skoja means "to joke". And a "skojare"
could mean a "confidence trickster". "För skojs skull" = "For a
laugh". And so on... But I don't think it is used in the same way in
Norwegian.

Best Regards
Kent Randau

----------

From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Delectables

Thank you very much for your input, Kent, and welcome to the club of
contributors!

It is a very interesting twist you presented there.  If it panned out, it would
confirm the earlier story I heard, namely that _Labskaus_ was brought by
seafarers from Norway (and it became a standard, international seafarer's dish
mixing various preserved foods (salted meat and pickles) with those that keep
well (potatoes, onions).)  I don't assume that there was a certain recipe.  I
rather assume that _Labskaus_ was a generic name for something like "seafarers'
hash".  (After all, it's a type of hash.)

If there is indeed this connection, might we not just as well suspect the
etymology _Lapps kost_ 'Lapp's/Saame's fare'.  I assume Danish, Norwegian and
Swedish _kost_ 'fare' came from Low Saxon (Low German) _kost_, which has the
alternative umlauted form _köst_.  In many Low Saxon dialects, /t/ is omitted
after /s/, thus the pronunciation _kos_ ~ _kös_.  Could the form _køs_ ~ _kaus_
(< _kös_) have been used in certain Norwegian dialects at one time?  This is
speculation, of course.

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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