Hamburger Aalsuppe

Hamburger Aalsuppe belongs to the Elbe, to the port city, and to the larder. It is a sweet-sour broth with smoked bone, vegetables, dried fruit, herbs, little Klöße, dumplings, and, these days, eel. The joke is the name. In Hamburg speech, Aal was long heard as all, everything, and the soup was exactly that: what the kitchen had, made into one pot.

The north understands this soup. The south has no reason to. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Hamburg makes it with smoke, vinegar, fruit, and green herbs; further inland a cook hears eel soup and expects fish first. Hamburg starts with the bone. Weggeworfen wird nichts. The bone and rind give the broth what no cube can give it.

The step that decides the soup is the eel. Poach it gently at the end, never boil it with the ham bone. Hard boiling turns eel woolly and muddies the broth; a quiet simmer keeps the flesh whole and lets the sweet-sour soup stay clear. Nicht aus dem Glas, not from the jar, and not from a stock cube either. Build the broth, then season it sharp and sweet until it wakes up.

Make it the day before if you like, but keep the eel and dumplings for serving day. Das braucht seine Zeit, but it isn't precious. It is Hamburg in a bowl: smoky, sour, sweet, green at the edge, and practical as a dockworker's lunch.