Name: Labskaus
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Germany
Ingredients: 400 g corned beef or salt beef, cooked, or canned corned beef; 800 g potatoes, peeled and cubed; 1 large onion, chopped; 100 g pickled beetroot, diced, plus 2 tbsp of its brine; 2 tbsp butter; black pepper, to taste; 4 eggs, for frying; pickled beetroot slices, gherkins and rollmops, to serve

Labskaus started as a sailor's meal, built from whatever salted, pickled and long-keeping ingredients a ship's galley could carry: corned beef, potatoes and beetroot, mashed together into something that would survive weeks at sea.

The pink color is real, from beetroot brine worked into the mash, not a coloring agent. A fried egg on top and a plate of pickles and rollmops on the side are what turn it from a hash into the full Hamburg plate.

Part of our 20 best German recipes list.

method

Boil the potatoes in salted water until fully tender, about 15 to 18 minutes. Drain well.

Soften the onion in the butter over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, until translucent.

Grind or finely chop the corned beef. Mash it together with the cooked potatoes, softened onion, diced pickled beetroot and the beetroot brine, until you have a coarse, well-combined, pink-tinged mash.

Heat the mash through in a pan over low heat, stirring, for 5 minutes, and season with black pepper.

Fry the eggs separately, keeping the yolks runny.

Serve the mash topped with a fried egg per person, with pickled beetroot slices, gherkins and rollmops arranged on the side.

chef's tips

The pink color comes from real beetroot brine mixed through the mash, not food coloring. It should tint the whole dish, not just streak through it.
This began as a sailor's dish, built from salted, long-keeping ingredients that survived weeks at sea without refrigeration, which explains the corned beef and pickles.
A runny egg yolk is meant to break into the mash and act as a sauce, the same role it plays in Indonesian nasi goreng and plenty of other working-class rice and potato dishes worldwide.
Rollmops, pickled herring rolled around a filling, are a traditional side here, not a garnish from a different meal. Serve them alongside, not folded into the mash.