Monday, December 11, 2017

The Ballad Of Labskaus



Well before times, there was once
a Captain named Labs,
the - as occurred back then
his wife took with him
on most of his travels,
because he loved to dine well.

Already on Sunday he said: Little,
cook something nice for me today!
And it immediately said Mrs. Labs:
Look, I think I have it.

Quick from the pickle barrel,
she took meat from the pig and beef
and smooth from the pickled
Herring, cucumber, bay leaf,
Onion and also beet
(that the whole thing would be reddish),
finally out of the big bag
a lot of ship's biscuit.

Water, cook and spin the crowd
through the wolf's hole constraints,
and serves the whole pop
then cooked up her Labs.

Once to special kindness
Mrs. Labs found another bag
Böckling, instead of the Matjesfische,
which mixed them into a mixture
and decorate it with fried eggs
and a Rollmops
and a clear sip next to it
makes the sh... smooth and even,
so he digests well
she said: Dear Labs, now chew it!

(chew = kau, hence Labskaus)

It´s a typical Northern dish, once my Mum ate it from a barf bag to shock tourists on the way to Helgoland on a rather small boat :-)
We have the beet root on the side, though, hence it does not look like puke altogether.
And this is the original Ingo found from an unknown poet:

Die Ballade vom Labskaus

Nun vor Zeiten einmals gab's
einen Käpt'n namens Labs,
der - wie damals vorgekommen-
seine Frau hat mitgenommen
auf die meisten seiner Reisen,
denn er liebte gut zu speisen.

Schon am Sonntag sprach er: Kleines,
koch mir heute ganz was Feines!
Und es sagte gleich Frau Labs:
Pass mal auf, ich glaub ich hab's.

Aus dem Pökelfass geschwind,
nahm sie Fleisch vom Schwein und Rind
und vom Eingelegten glatt
Hering, Gurke, Lorbeerblatt,
Zwiebel und auch Rote Rübe
(dass das Ganze rötlich bliebe),
schließlich aus dem großen Sack
eine Menge Schiffszwieback.

Wässert, kocht und dreht die Menge
durch des Wolfes Lochgezwänge,
und serviert den ganzen Paps
aufgekocht dann ihrem Labs.

Einmal zu besonderer Güte
fand Frau Labs noch eine Tüte
Böckling, statt der Matjesfische,
die sie ins Gemenge mischte
und verschönt's mit Spiegelei
und 'nen Rollmops auch dabei
und ein klarer Schluck daneben
macht die Schei.. glatt und eben,
doch damit er gut verdau's
sprach sie: Lieber Labs, nun kau 's!

4 comments:

Sami said...

Jose would love it, as he likes corned beef, but I wouldn't eat it, don't like the texture.

Iris Flavia said...

I read you can use minced (lean) beef instead of corned beef - we haven´t tried it, though.

If you care for the original receipe let me know.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I think your mum had a brilliant sense of humour Iris 😀

Iris Flavia said...

Grace, yes, she sure did :-)