LL-L: "Language politics" LOWLANDS-L, 28.FEB.2000 (07) [E/German]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.FEB.2000 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Delectables

Dear Lowlanders,

At a German language website about the history of the potato in the British
Isles (Über die Kartoffel in England, Wales, Schottland und in Irland,
http://literatur.freepage.de/cgi-bin/feets/freepage_ext/41030x030A/rewrite/potato-klaus/elftes.htm)
I found the following regarding _Labskaus_ and _Lobscouse_:

<quote>
"Der Kartoffelanbau war zu jener Zeit im Südwesten der britischen Inseln stärker
verbreitet als in Irland. Von hier wurden Kartoffeln nach Dublin (jährlich zwei
Schiffsladungen), nach Nordfrankreich (Dünkirchen 1712), aber auch bis nach
Portugal (1765) und Gibraltar exportiert. Hier entstand der auch von vielen
Hamburgern so geschätzte Labskaus, nur daß er in England als »Lobs couse«, als
»Tölpel-Gericht«, seine Herkunft aus der (spanischen) Seefahrt nicht verleugnete
und aus der Kombination aus Lobster und Kartoffeln ein Arme-Leute-Essen war (und
ist?)."
</quote>

My translation:
"At that time, potato growing was more widespread in the southwest of the
British Isles than in Ireland. From there, potatoes were exported to Dublin (two
shiploads per year), to Northern France (Dunkerque 1712), but also all the way
to Portugal (1765) and Gibraltar.  This [which one? Gibraltar?] is where
_Labskaus_ was created, highly esteemed among many people in Hamburg. In
England, however, as "Lobs couse," as "duffer fare," it remained true to its
origin in (Spanish) seafaring and, as a combination of lobster and potatoes, was
(and is?) poor people's fare."

What is he/she saying?  Did Lobscouse originate on the Iberian Peninsula?  What
is it about the name?

Also, my online search came up with an English (? American?) "Lobscouse" recipe,
in a collection of odd recipes at the site of Charlotte Public Schools, Michigan
(http://scnc.cps.k12.mi.us/maindishes.htm):

<quote>
Lobscouse

4 cups cubed beef, bottom round if available
1/2 c. salt pork
4 c. potatoes, cubed
2 c. onions, sliced
Water to cover
4 c. cooked corned beef

Put first four ingredients into pot, with enough water to cover food.
Cover pot and bring to a boil, then move
back from fire to simmer 1 hour or until beef is done. Add corned beef
and cook another 1/2 hour.
</quote>

Labskaus is traditionally popular in Hamborg/Hamburg, a large port city
(reportedly the largest one in the world until World War II).   (Oddly, it was
never served in *my* home, perhaps because my partents were first-generation
Hamburgers with roots farther east, and they therefore did not have many of the
local traditions.  So the dish is as strange to me as it is to the majority on
Lowlands-L.)  _Labskaus_ tends to be associated with seafaring and with the
lower socioeconomic classes.  However, probably somewhat "snazzed-up" for the
more discriminating palate, it made its way into the kitchen of the upper middle
class and upward.  It is featured in a collection of recipes of
Hamborg/Hamburg's _gut bürgerliche Küche_ ("fine bourgeois cuisine") of past
times (until about 1900):

Dörner, Claus Silvester, and Ilse Sibylle Dörner; _Das Hamburg Kochbuch: Die
fein bürgerliche Küche der Nasestadt_, Husum (Germany): Husum Verlag, (1984)
1993, ISBN 3-88042-651-1

Here is my (less wordy) English version (with my comments in brackets [ ]):

Pp. 316-317

LABSKAUS

(4 servings)

750 g [a bit more than 1.5 lb] corned beef, 2 bay leaves, 2 cloves, 1 kg [ca. 2
lb] potatoes, 5 large onions, 1-2 tablespoon lard, freshly ground white pepper,
salt, pickled beet, 4 salt pickles [i.e., deli kosher pickles--without
vinegar!--are pretty darn close North American equivalents], 4 [salt- or
vinegar-] pickled herring filets (Matjes, Bismarck or Rollmops), 4 fried eggs
(sunny side up)

Boil meat, one of the onions, the bay leaves, and the cloves in plenty of water
for one hour.
Peel and cube the potatoes and cook them in unsalted water till done.
Peel and cube the rest of the onions. Sauté them in hot lard till translucent.
Then pour some [of the meat's] brine onto them, and cook for another 15 minutes
so they are perfectly done.
Cut the meat into chunks, and pass it through the grinder at its coarsest
setting.
Mix the cooked potatoes, the ground meat and the onions, and mash and mix them
all together.
Add plenty of pepper.
Add some of the meat's brine and keep mixing.  You want to end up with a thick,
stiff mash.
Add salt only if needed, i.e., if the salt from the pickled meat and the brine
do not suffice. [Huh?!  I thought by now we have about three times our weekly
salt allowance.]
Serve each portion with salt pickles, pickled herring filet and slices of
pickled red beets, and place a fried egg on top of the mash.

(Probably, brine-pickled herring was used on board the old sailing ships.
Nowadays [i.e., ca. 1900] people prefer Bismarck herring or _Rollmops_ [i.e.,
vinegar-pickled filets]. Vinegar-pickled cucumbers are a cheap [sic.]
subtitute.  Only salt-pickled cucumbers create the true flavor.  In those olden
days, the fried egg was for the captain's portion only.)

Nu laat Ju dat lecker (?) smecken!

Regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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