Himmel und Erde

Himmel und Erde sits strongest in the Rhineland and Westphalia, where winter keeps its bargain with the cellar: potatoes from the ground, apples from the tree, onions from the sack, and blood sausage from the butcher, where rind, fat, and blood are not waste. In Cologne they call it Himmel un Ääd, heaven and earth, and they put Flönz, the local blood sausage, on top with fried onions. In Westphalia the apple may stay sharper and chunkier, and bacon sometimes joins the pan. Further north, some cooks keep the apple compote separate so the mash stays pale. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders.

The dish is not difficult. It is unforgiving about water. I cook the apples separately and dry the floury potatoes in the hot empty pot before I mash them, because apple brings enough moisture of its own and wet potatoes turn the whole thing slack. Fold the apple through the mash, don't beat it into paste. You want pale potato, soft apple, a little sweet, a little sharp.

The blood sausage decides the plate at the end. Dust the slices lightly with flour and fry them in a steady pan, not a furious one, because blood sausage is already cooked and soft; too much heat bursts it before the edge can brown. The onions take their time too, dark gold, not black. Weggeworfen wird nichts, even the onion fat goes over the mash.

This is Hausmannskost, honest home cooking, and it belongs on a Wednesday as much as a Sunday. Check the salt last, with the sausage on the plate, because the butcher has already salted for you. Schön ist, was schmeckt.