Chef Klaus
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck
Schleswig-Holstein's sweet-salt bean pot, where small cooking pears go in whole beside Speck, smoked bacon, and the one rule is simple: keep the simmer low so the pears hold.
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Schnüsch
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A northern garden stew for the first good vegetables, milk-pale and clean, with potatoes for body and the tender green things kept alive at the end.
Soups & Stews
German
Weeknight
One Pot
Budget Friendly
25 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 servings
Schnüsch belongs to Schleswig-Holstein and to summer, when the garden gives you a little of everything and none of it needs bullying. New potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, peas, beans, milk, butter. Pale food, not brown food. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
In Angeln and around Flensburg you see it as a milk stew, sometimes with Katenschinken, smoked ham, served beside it or laid over the bowl. Farther north, across the Danish line, the related snysk can be looser and more soup-like. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders, and here the north is speaking softly.
The technique is simple and easy to ruin: add the vegetables in order of stubbornness. Potatoes and carrots go first because they need time to soften and give the broth body. Kohlrabi follows. Beans need enough cooking to lose their raw squeak. Peas go last because they turn dull and tired if you make them wait. The milk must never boil hard, because a rolling boil splits the sauce and turns a clean garden stew into curds and apology.
Keep the trimmings honest. Pea pods, parsley stems, kohlrabi leaves if they're fresh, they can scent the first water and then leave the pot. Weggeworfen wird nichts, but the bowl stays tidy. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Schnüsch is recorded as a regional summer dish of Schleswig-Holstein, especially Angeln, the peninsula between the Schlei and Flensburg Fjord where German and Danish food words have long crossed the border. Its Danish relative, snysk, points to that shared border kitchen: garden vegetables, milk, and a little smoked pork when the larder allowed it. The dish belongs to the season of early vegetables, after the potato had become ordinary in northern German kitchens in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, not to the winter kraut pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
new potatoes or waxy potatoes
Quantity
600g
peeled if needed and cut into bite-size pieces
carrots
Quantity
250g
sliced thickly
kohlrabi
Quantity
250g
peeled and diced
green beans
Quantity
200g
trimmed and cut into short lengths
fresh or frozen peas
Quantity
150g
vegetable stock or light ham stock
Quantity
750ml
whole milk
Quantity
250ml
cream
Quantity
100ml
butter
Quantity
40g
plain flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
parsley
Quantity
1 small bunch
leaves chopped and stems reserved
salt, white pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
to taste
Katenschinken or other German smoked ham (optional)
Quantity
150g
thinly sliced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| new potatoes or waxy potatoespeeled if needed and cut into bite-size pieces | 600g |
| carrotssliced thickly | 250g |
| kohlrabipeeled and diced | 250g |
| green beanstrimmed and cut into short lengths | 200g |
| fresh or frozen peas | 150g |
| vegetable stock or light ham stock | 750ml |
| whole milk | 250ml |
| cream | 100ml |
| butter | 40g |
| plain flour | 1 tablespoon |
| parsleyleaves chopped and stems reserved | 1 small bunch |
| salt, white pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg | to taste |
| Katenschinken or other German smoked ham (optional)thinly sliced | 150g |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4 litre soup pot
- •Small whisk
- •Ladle
Instructions
- 1
Scent the stock
Bring the stock to a gentle simmer with the parsley stems and any clean pea pods or fresh kohlrabi leaves you have. Ten minutes is enough; you want a green garden note, not a swamp. Strain it, because the trimmings have done their work and the stew should stay clean.
- 2
Start the roots
Add the potatoes and carrots to the simmering stock with a good pinch of salt and cook for about 10 minutes. They go first because they are the slow ones, and the potato starch begins to give the broth body before the milk arrives.
- 3
Add the middle vegetables
Stir in the kohlrabi and cook for 6 minutes, then add the green beans and cook until the potatoes are just tender and the beans no longer taste raw, about 7 to 8 minutes more. Don't throw everything in at once. A carrot and a pea do not keep the same clock.
- 4
Make it milk-pale
Mash the butter and flour together in a small bowl, then whisk it into the pot in small pieces so it thickens without lumps. Lower the heat, stir in the milk and cream, and keep the stew below a boil. Runter mit der Temperatur. Milk boiled hard splits, and Schnüsch should be pale and smooth, not grainy.
- 5
Finish the peas
Add the peas and simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes, only until they are bright and tender. Peas go last because their sweetness is quick to cook away. Season with white pepper, nutmeg, and salt at the end, because the stock and ham decide how much salt the pot already has.
- 6
Serve the bowl
Stir in most of the chopped parsley and ladle the Schnüsch into warm bowls. Lay the Katenschinken over the top or serve it beside the bowl, where its smoke stays clear instead of taking over the milk. Finish with the last parsley. Nicht aus dem Glas, and no packet sauce. The vegetables made the sauce already.
Chef Tips
- •Use new potatoes or a firm waxy potato. A floury potato breaks apart and clouds the stew; here you want pieces that hold and still lend a little starch to the milk.
- •Fresh peas are lovely in season, frozen peas are honest outside it. Old peas from the pod taste starchy, so don't pay extra for tired ones.
- •Katenschinken is traditional enough to be welcome, but it isn't the whole dish. Serve it on top or beside the bowl so the milk sauce stays light.
- •Do not boil after the milk goes in. A gentle tremble keeps the sauce smooth; a hard boil gives you curds.
Advance Preparation
- •Cut the potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, and beans up to 6 hours ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator; keep potatoes in cold water so they do not darken.
- •Schnüsch is best eaten the day it is made. Reheat leftovers gently below a boil, because the milk sauce can split if you rush it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 650g)
Calories
505 calories
Total Fat
23 g
Saturated Fat
13 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
10 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
1900 mg
Total Carbohydrates
53 g
Dietary Fiber
11 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
22 g
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