Chef Klaus
Bibbelsches Bohnesupp
The Saarland bean soup that waits until the beans are tender before the vinegar goes in, with bacon fat and potato doing the work properly.
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Hoorische mit Speckrahmsoße
Created by
The Saarland dumpling that earns its name from the grater: rough raw potato threads, wrung dry, poached gently, then covered with bacon cream.
Side Dishes
German
Comfort Food
Weeknight
Budget Friendly
40 min
Active Time
30 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield4 servings
Hoorische belong to the Saarland table, with one foot over in the Palatinate, and they sit where potato thrift sits best: beside sauerkraut, beside a roast, or alone on a weeknight with Speckrahmsoße, bacon cream sauce. The name means hairy ones, from the raw grated potato strands that roughen the outside. Pretty is not the point. Holding together is the point.
Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. In Saarland the raw potato does the talking, grated coarse and wrung hard; in parts of the Palatinate cooks lean more on cooked potato, flour, or egg and argue the name from village to village. I keep them Saarland: raw potato for bite, cooked floury potato for body, just enough starch and egg to bind. No packet. Nicht aus dem Glas.
The single technique is this: wring the raw potato bone-dry, then let the starch settle in the bowl and put that starch back into the dough. Water makes the dumpling swell, split, and shed itself into the pot; potato starch makes it hold. Das braucht seine Zeit, and it saves the dish.
Poach them in water that trembles, not boils. A hard boil knocks the rough dumplings apart before the starch has set. First one test dumpling, then the rest. Erst verstehen, dann kochen.
Hoorische are rooted in Saarland and the neighboring Palatinate, potato regions shaped after the eighteenth-century spread of the crop in German-speaking lands, including Frederick the Great's 1756 potato orders in Prussia and similar state pressure elsewhere to make potatoes common food. The dumpling's name comes from the regional dialect for hairy, a plain reference to the grated raw potato threads on the surface. Saarland versions usually keep the raw potato prominent and serve the dumplings with Speckrahmsoße or sauerkraut, while Palatinate versions often overlap with other Grumbeerknepp, potato dumplings, and vary more with cooked potato and flour.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
floury potatoes
Quantity
1.2kg
600g boiled and riced, 600g peeled raw and grated
egg
Quantity
1 large
potato starch
Quantity
80g
plus more if the test dumpling needs it
fine salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons
divided
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
smoked bacon or Speck
Quantity
150g
diced
onion
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
cream
Quantity
200ml
milk
Quantity
100ml
chives (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| floury potatoes600g boiled and riced, 600g peeled raw and grated | 1.2kg |
| egg | 1 large |
| potato starchplus more if the test dumpling needs it | 80g |
| fine saltdivided | 2 teaspoons |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 teaspoon |
| black pepper | to taste |
| smoked bacon or Speckdiced | 150g |
| onionfinely diced | 1 small |
| cream | 200ml |
| milk | 100ml |
| chives (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Box grater or food processor with coarse grating disc
- •Clean tea towel or potato cloth
- •Potato ricer
- •Wide pot for poaching
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Boil half
Peel 600g of the potatoes, cut them evenly, and boil them in salted water until they fall apart when pressed. Floury potato is the right kind because it dries and rices light; waxy potato stays slick and makes the dough heavy. Drain well, rice while hot, then spread the potato out so the wet heat leaves it.
- 2
Grate raw potato
Peel the remaining 600g potatoes and grate them on the coarse side of a box grater into a bowl of cold water. The water keeps the potato from browning while you work, but it must not stay in the dough. Drain the grated potato into a cloth set over a bowl.
- 3
Wring it dry
Twist the cloth hard and wring the raw potato until it feels almost dry and clumps in your hand. Let the squeezed liquid sit for 5 minutes, then pour off the brown water and keep the white starch settled at the bottom. Put that starch back with the grated potato. Water breaks the dumpling; its own starch holds it.
- 4
Mix the dough
Mix the riced cooked potato, wrung raw potato, rescued starch, egg, potato starch, 1 teaspoon salt, nutmeg, and a little black pepper by hand until it just comes together. Don't knead it like bread. The more you work potato, the more starch you wake up, and then the dough turns sticky and stubborn.
If the mixture feels wet, wait two minutes before adding more starch. Potato starch drinks slowly, and adding too much at once gives you a tight dumpling. - 5
Shape and test
With wet hands, shape 12 oval dumplings, about the size of a small egg. Bring a wide pot of salted water to a bare tremble and cook one test dumpling first. If it holds, you're right. If it feathers at the edges or cracks, work 1 tablespoon more potato starch into the rest before you cook the lot.
- 6
Poach gently
Slide in the dumplings and keep the water below a boil for 18 to 22 minutes, until they float and feel springy when lifted with a spoon. Runter mit der Temperatur. A rolling boil is not strength here; it is just noise, and it knocks the hairy surface off before the middle has set.
- 7
Make bacon cream
While the dumplings poach, cook the diced Speck in a wide pan until the fat runs and the edges brown. Add the onion and cook it in that fat until soft, because the bacon has already paid for the sauce. Weggeworfen wird nichts. Pour in the cream and milk, simmer until lightly thickened, then season with pepper and only enough salt at the end, since Speck brings its own.
- 8
Serve at once
Lift the Hoorische with a slotted spoon and let the water drain off before they meet the sauce. Spoon the Speckrahmsoße over them, scatter chives if you're using them, and serve with sauerkraut or a sharp green salad. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Use floury potatoes, not salad potatoes. Hoorische need a potato that breaks down and shares its starch; a waxy one stays polite and useless here.
- •The cloth matters. A thin tea towel or potato sack lets you twist hard enough to pull out the water. Paper towels tear, and then you're picking potato out of the sink.
- •Cook one test dumpling. This is not nervousness, it's discipline. One broken dumpling teaches you more cheaply than twelve broken dumplings.
- •Sauerkraut belongs beside this plate. The dumplings and cream are soft and rich; the kraut brings acid and keeps the meal awake.
Advance Preparation
- •Boil and rice the cooked half of the potatoes up to 1 day ahead, then cover and chill them. Cold riced potato makes the dough easier to judge.
- •Shape the dumplings up to 2 hours ahead and keep them on a starch-dusted tray under a cloth. Do not leave them overnight; raw potato darkens and weeps.
- •Leftover cooked Hoorische can be sliced and fried in bacon fat the next day until browned at the edges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 435g)
Calories
660 calories
Total Fat
34 g
Saturated Fat
17 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
120 mg
Sodium
1740 mg
Total Carbohydrates
71 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
17 g
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