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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Schales
Created by
The Saarland oven cousin of Dibbelabbes, raw potato grated fine, squeezed dry, seasoned with bacon and onion, then baked until the top sets and the middle cuts clean.
Side Dishes
German
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
Budget Friendly
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 15 min cook•1 hr 55 min total
Yield6 servings
Schales belongs to the Saarland table, especially when potatoes are the meal and not the thing beside the meal. It is weeknight food, harvest food, winter food from the stored sack in the cellar, baked in a heavy Reine, a roasting pan, until it cuts like a savoury potato cake.
The argument is local and useful. Dibbelabbes goes into a pot or pan and gets stirred, scraped, and browned into rough pieces. Schales goes into the oven and is left alone so the top sets and the inside cooks firm. Same larder, different discipline. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders, and in the Saarland even the next village has an opinion.
The single rule is this: squeeze the grated raw potato hard, then season it before it goes grey. Too much liquid gives you a wet slab that never sets; too little fat gives you a dry one that tastes punished. Bacon, onion, egg, and a little flour bind what the potato starch has already started. Weggeworfen wird nichts, the bacon fat goes into the pan because that is flavour and insurance against sticking.
Bake it long enough that the edges pull away and the top is golden with small crisp ridges. Let it stand ten minutes before cutting, or the starch is still loose and the slices slump. Das braucht seine Zeit. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Schales and Dibbelabbes belong to the Saarland and nearby Hunsrück potato belt, where grated raw potatoes, onions, and small amounts of cured pork fed rural and mining households cheaply through the cold months. The potato became a German staple during the 18th century, helped by official campaigns such as Frederick II's Prussian potato orders of the 1750s, though Saarland cooks made the crop their own in dialect dishes like these. The split between Schales and Dibbelabbes is method, not ingredient: Schales is baked firm in the oven, while Dibbelabbes is cooked and torn in the pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
floury potatoes
Quantity
1.5kg
peeled
onions
Quantity
2 medium
finely grated or minced
smoked streaky bacon
Quantity
200g
diced
eggs
Quantity
2
plain flour
Quantity
3 tablespoons
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
parsley or chives (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
lard or bacon fat
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the pan
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| floury potatoespeeled | 1.5kg |
| onionsfinely grated or minced | 2 medium |
| smoked streaky bacondiced | 200g |
| eggs | 2 |
| plain flour | 3 tablespoons |
| salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 teaspoon |
| parsley or chives (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
| lard or bacon fatfor the pan | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Box grater or food processor with fine grating disc
- •Clean kitchen cloth for squeezing potatoes
- •Heavy roasting pan or enamel Reine, about 30x22cm
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oven
Set the oven to 190C and put a heavy roasting pan, the Reine, nearby. Schales needs steady heat and a broad pan; a deep dish keeps the centre wet while the edges darken too far.
- 2
Render the bacon
Cook the diced bacon in a dry pan until the fat runs and the edges colour, then lift out the bacon and keep the fat. The fat goes into the Schales and onto the pan, because smoked pork is doing the seasoning and the sticking insurance at the same time.
If the bacon is very lean, add a spoon of lard. A dry Schales is not thrift, it's bad arithmetic. - 3
Grate and squeeze
Grate the potatoes on the fine side of a box grater or with the fine disc of a food processor, then gather them in a clean cloth and squeeze hard over a bowl. Let the liquid sit for a minute, pour off the brown water, and keep the white starch at the bottom; that starch belongs back in the bowl because it helps the Schales set.
- 4
Mix the batter
Mix the squeezed potato with the saved starch, onion, bacon, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and herbs if using. Work quickly once the potato is grated, because raw potato darkens in the air and the salt starts pulling out more water. The mixture should be thick and spoonable, not pourable.
- 5
Fill the Reine
Grease the hot pan with bacon fat or lard, then spread the potato mixture in an even layer about 4cm deep. Level it with the back of a spoon but don't press it flat like concrete; small ridges brown and give the top something crisp to bite.
- 6
Bake until set
Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the top is golden brown, the edges pull slightly from the pan, and a knife pushed into the centre meets firm resistance instead of wet batter. If the top colours too fast, runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature, to 170C and give the centre time to catch up.
- 7
Rest and slice
Let the Schales stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Resting lets the potato starch settle, so the slices hold instead of slumping. Cut into squares or wedges and serve with apple compote, green salad, or a spoon of sour cream. Nicht aus dem Glas if you can help it, applesauce is ten minutes with apples and a pot.
Chef Tips
- •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled. Waxy potatoes hold too much shape and too much water, and Schales needs starch to bind itself.
- •Keep the white starch from the squeezed potato liquid. Pour away the brown water and scrape the starch back in; it is the quiet binder, already paid for.
- •A cast-iron or enamel Reine gives the best crust. Thin glass bakes politely and slowly, which is not what this dish asked for.
- •Serve it with tart apple compote or a sharp green salad. The potato and bacon want acid beside them, not another heavy thing.
Advance Preparation
- •Cook the bacon and dice the onions up to a day ahead, then refrigerate them covered.
- •Do not grate the potatoes ahead. Raw grated potato darkens and weeps, and then you spend dinner fixing a problem you made at lunch.
- •Baked Schales reheats well. Cut cold slices and brown them in a pan with a little bacon fat until the cut sides crisp.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
410 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
51 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
12 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Saarland & Pfalz: Dumplings, Schwenker & the French Edge
Browse the full collection
Chef Klaus
Dampfnudeln mit Grumbeersupp
The Pfalz puts the Dampfnudel on potato soup, not only under vanilla sauce: yeast dough, a tight lid, and the salty crust that tells you the pan was left alone.
Chef Klaus
Dibbelabbes
The Saarland pan potato cake that lives by one rule: squeeze the grated potatoes dry, then fry them slow enough to brown before they burn.
Chef Klaus
Gefillde
The Saarland filled potato dumpling: floury potatoes, a proper savoury middle, sauerkraut underneath, and bacon cream over the top. The filling is the point.