Halve Hahn (Röggelchen with Gouda)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Bread knife
• •Cheese knife
• •Small bowl for onion soaking
• •Brotzeitbrett or flat plate

Instructions

1. 1

   Temper the Gouda

   Take the Gouda out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before you build the Halve Hahn. It should still be cool, not sweaty, but the fat needs to soften a little or the cheese tastes waxy and dull instead of nutty. Cut it into four thick slabs, about 5mm, because a thin slice gets lost against rye and mustard.

   Buy a piece and cut it yourself. Pre-sliced Gouda is usually too thin for this, and the whole dish is cheese on rye, so the cheese has to stand up.
2. 2

   Tame the onion

   Slice the onion into thin rings and taste one. If it bites too hard, soak the rings in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat them dry. The water pulls off the raw sulphur burn but keeps the crunch, so the onion sharpens the cheese instead of bullying it.

3. 3

   Butter the rye

   Split the Röggelchen and butter the cut faces right to the edge. The butter is not decoration. It seals the rye crumb, so the mustard and gherkin stay bright without soaking the roll into paste. If the roll is a day old, toast the cut side lightly and let it cool before buttering. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

   A Röggelchen is a small rye roll, often baked as a double roll. Use a firm rye roll if you can't get one; a soft white roll turns this into plain cheese bread.
4. 4

   Build and serve

   Spread a thin layer of mustard on each buttered bottom half, lay the Gouda on top, then add onion rings and gherkin slices. For the Brauhaus finish, add a pinch of paprika, a few caraway seeds, and a little black pepper. Set the second buttered half beside it instead of crushing it down, because this is open-faced food and the rye should keep its bite. Serve at once with a Kölsch in a narrow Stange glass. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use mid-aged Gouda, not very young and not very old. Young Gouda is mild to the point of disappearing; old Gouda can be too salty and crumbly for the clean Brauhaus bite.
• •Drain the gherkins well before they touch the bread. The pickle is there for sharpness, not for soaking the rye.
• •Butter first, mustard second. Reverse the order and the mustard sinks into the crumb before the cheese gets there.
• •Serve with Kölsch if you want it in its proper register. Outside Cologne, a dry pale beer will do the job, but don't announce that in a Brauhaus.

Advance Preparation

• •Cut the Gouda up to one day ahead and wrap it tightly. Bring it out 15 minutes before serving so the fat softens and the flavour opens.
• •Slice the onion and gherkins up to two hours ahead. Keep the onion cold and dry it well before building, because wet onion makes the rye slack.
• •Do not assemble ahead. Mustard, onion, and pickle will soften the bread, and the whole point is the bite of rye against cheese.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 190g)