Chef Klaus
Dithmarscher Mehlbeutel
The North Sea flour pudding that eats two ways at one table: first savoury with Kohlwurst and mustard, then sweet with cherry Grütze.
Culinary Explorer
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Birnen, Bohnen und Speck
Created by
Schleswig-Holstein's sweet-salt bean pot, where small cooking pears go in whole beside Speck, smoked bacon, and the one rule is simple: keep the simmer low so the pears hold.
Soups & Stews
German
Make Ahead
One Pot
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 35 min total
Yield4 servings
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck belongs to Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and the flat northern country where beans, small cooking pears, and smoked pork meet at the same time. Late summer starts it, stored pears carry it further into the cold months. In Low German you hear Beer'n, Boh'n un Speck, and in Schleswig-Holstein Brooken Sööt, broken sweet, because the sweetness is cut by smoke and salt. This is the northern table. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The argument starts before the water boils. Some families keep the broth clear and serve potatoes on the side; others put potatoes straight into the pot and let the starch thicken the liquor. Hamburg likes the pears whole with the stems still on, Lower Saxony may cut larger pears because the fruit there often arrives bigger. I keep them whole. The pear should look like a pear when it reaches the bowl.
The one technique is the order. Speck, smoked bacon, goes in first because the rind and fat make the broth you cannot buy. Beans and potatoes go in next because they need salt and smoke in their skins. The pears go in last at a low tremble, not a boil, so they take up the smoke and stay intact. Boil it hard and you get dull beans, burst pears, and a pot that looks tired before supper.
A piece of bacon, a heap of beans, fruit too hard to eat raw, and the cooking liquor kept in the bowl. That is good northern thrift. Das braucht seine Zeit, but it doesn't need fuss.
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck is rooted in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and Lower Saxony, and its season was set by the overlap of green beans and hard Kochbirnen from late August into September. In the 19th century, Hamburg's Vierlande and the Elbmarschen were market-garden districts supplying the city with vegetables and fruit, which helps explain why the dish stayed urban as well as rural. Under Low German names such as Beer'n, Boh'n un Speck, Brooken Sööt, and in Hamburg Gröner Hein, it keeps a regional split: Schleswig-Holstein often favors a clear sweet-salt broth with whole pears, while Lower Saxon versions more often put potatoes into the pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
smoked streaky bacon or smoked pork belly
Quantity
500g
rind on, in one piece
cold water
Quantity
1.4L
black peppercorns
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lightly crushed
green beans
Quantity
1kg
trimmed and cut into 5cm lengths
small waxy potatoes
Quantity
600g
peeled and halved
Kochbirnen (firm cooking pears)
Quantity
8 small
washed, stems left on, blossom ends trimmed
Bohnenkraut (summer savory)
Quantity
1 bunch
tied with kitchen string
salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| smoked streaky bacon or smoked pork bellyrind on, in one piece | 500g |
| cold water | 1.4L |
| black peppercornslightly crushed | 1 teaspoon |
| green beanstrimmed and cut into 5cm lengths | 1kg |
| small waxy potatoespeeled and halved | 600g |
| Kochbirnen (firm cooking pears)washed, stems left on, blossom ends trimmed | 8 small |
| Bohnenkraut (summer savory)tied with kitchen string | 1 bunch |
| salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5L lidded pot or Dutch oven
- •Kitchen string
- •Slotted spoon
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Start the Speck
Put the Speck, smoked bacon, rind and all, into a heavy pot with the cold water and peppercorns. Bring it slowly to a low simmer, skim if you need to, and cook for 35 minutes. Starting cold pulls smoke, salt, and gelatin from the rind into the water; dropping bacon into boiling water tightens the meat and leaves the broth mean. This broth is the sauce. Nicht aus dem Glas.
- 2
Prepare the vegetables
Trim the beans and cut them into thumb-length pieces, then peel and halve the potatoes. Tie the Bohnenkraut, summer savory, with string so it gives flavour and comes out cleanly later. Rub the pears clean, leave the stems on, and trim only the blossom ends. A Kochbirne, a hard cooking pear, is built for the pot; a ripe dessert pear collapses before the beans are ready.
If you cannot get Kochbirnen, use small underripe Conference or Bosc pears and shorten their cooking time. The pear must be hard enough to resist the spoon at the start. - 3
Add beans
Add the potatoes, beans, and tied savory to the bacon broth, tucking them around the meat. Keep the pot at a tremble, not a boil, and cook for 10 minutes. The beans need time in the smoky liquor before the pears sweeten it, and the potatoes need a head start or they'll still be firm when the pears are done.
- 4
Set in pears
Nestle the pears stem-up among the beans, cover the pot partly, and simmer gently for 12 to 18 minutes, turning them once with care. This is the dish. Low heat lets the pears soften from the outside inward and drink the smoke; hard boiling splits the skins, dulls the beans, and turns the broth cloudy. Runter mit der Temperatur.
If the pears are tender before the potatoes, lift them out with a slotted spoon and hold them in a bowl. Put them back at the end so they stay whole. - 5
Slice and season
Lift out the bacon, cut it into thick slices, and return it to the pot. Remove the savory bundle. Taste the broth before you salt it, because smoked bacon decides its own salt level and tells you late. Add black pepper, then the parsley. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss, the last taste matters.
- 6
Serve in broth
Set one or two pears, a spoonful of beans and potatoes, and slices of bacon into each deep bowl, then ladle the smoky pear broth around them. The broth is not cooking water; it carries the bacon rind, the bean flavour, and the pear sweetness. Weggeworfen wird nichts. Eat it with dark rye if the table is hungry.
Chef Tips
- •Buy the pears hard. Kochbirnen, small cooking pears, are best because they soften slowly and hold their shape; a ripe eating pear turns the pot into pear sauce before the beans are ready.
- •Use smoked bacon with rind. The rind gives body to the broth, and the fat carries the smoke through the beans. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
- •Do not salt early. Speck releases salt at its own pace, and a broth that tastes mild after 20 minutes can be sharp after an hour.
- •Bohnenkraut, summer savory, belongs here. It is not decoration; it cuts the sweetness of the pears and keeps the beans tasting like beans.
Advance Preparation
- •The bacon can be simmered one day ahead and chilled in its broth. Keep the broth; it is the base of the dish, not waste.
- •The finished stew keeps well for one day. Cool the pears in the broth, then reheat gently at a tremble so the fruit stays whole.
- •Add the parsley only after reheating. Green things cooked twice turn dull, and this pot already has enough patience in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 900g)
Calories
820 calories
Total Fat
51 g
Saturated Fat
18 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
31 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
2300 mg
Total Carbohydrates
68 g
Dietary Fiber
14 g
Sugars
25 g
Protein
26 g
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