Labskaus - A Sailor's Stew

Labskaus is considered the signature dish of Hamburg Germany. A mixture of canned corn beef, potatoes, onions, and beets are fried into a glowing pink mush and served with fried egg, herring and pickles. It tastes better than it looks and can be found on the menu of restaurants all over Hamburg. In general it could be considered the signature dish of the entire Schleswig-Holstein area of Northern Germany, as Bremen and Lübeck also claim labskaus as one of their specialties.
There are similar dishes with similar sounding names all around the Baltic Sea. Lapskaus in Norway, lapskojs is Sweden, and skipperlabskovs in Denmark. The nickname "scouser" used for people from Liverpool comes from their local dish lobscouse, and corned beef hash in the States, especially red flannel hash from New England could definitely claim an origin in labskaus. The strange thing about labskaus is that it has no meaning in any of the languages where the dish is popular. Most etymologists believe the name comes from the Lithuanian labas kaušas and Latvian labs kauss which mean "good ladleful" or "good bowl", but neither of these countries have a similar dish as far as I know.

A Visit to Hamburg

Remember about 20 years ago before the "War on Urban Culture" began? Before the blueprint of what being urban, cool, and hip was distilled, marketed and replicated in every major city in the Western World? When a taco shop existed because it was in an Hispanic neighbourhood, and donut shops were where homeless people and drug dealers hung out? I'm not going to go on about urban gentrification and how it's impossible to find a place to live downtown anymore, other than to say, somehow the whole bullshit scene has skipped over Hamburg,Germany. Yes there are some cool trendy spots, but every city always had cool trendy spots. It's about balance and variety, and Hamburg manages to achieve this.

Rundstück Warm - A Hamburg Specialty

Hot Turkey Sandwich

Old School Diner

Rundstück warm is a local dish from Hamburg, Germany. Slices of roast pork are layered on top of a rundstück, a type of crusty bun similar to a kaiser roll, and gravy is poured on top making a

delicious mess. Some people say it is the original hamburger, but I think dishes like the hot turkey sandwiches, and beef manhatten that you get in traditional diners is the rundstück warm's direct decendant.

It's actually not very easy to find a rundstück warm in Hamburg. Oberhafenkantine has it on the menu, and Altes Mädchen does a slightly upscale version that mostly sticks to the original idea. So the best thing to do is to make it yourself.

Let's Make a Rundstück Warm

Take a few slices of juicy roast pork, preferably with crackling

Slice a rundstück, kaiser roll, or Danish møllehjul bun in half

Make a delicious gravy thickened slightly with a roux

Put the whole thing together and don't forget the sour pickles, their essential
Delicious!