Chef Klaus
Ähzezupp (Kölsche Erbsensuppe)
The Cologne pea pot earns its depth from soaked peas and cured pork bone, simmered slowly until the soup thickens itself and the meat falls clean from the knuckle.
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Tüffel un Plum
Created by
The Mecklenburg one-pot where potatoes, dried plums, and smoked pork prove the northern larder knew sweet against salt long before anyone made a fuss about it.
Soups & Stews
German
Weeknight
One Pot
Budget Friendly
20 min
Active Time
1 hr 20 min cook•1 hr 40 min total
Yield4 servings
Tüffel un Plum is Mecklenburg cooking, Plattdeutsch for potatoes and plums, and it belongs to the cool months when the cellar and the smokehouse do the feeding. Floury potatoes from the sack, dried plums from the larder, a piece of smoked pork or belly with rind: this is not a show dish. It's a pot that makes sense when the garden has gone quiet.
The north likes this sweet-savoury line more openly than the south. Mecklenburg and Vorpommern put dried fruit with pork, goose, or potatoes without apology; further south, the same cook might reach for caraway, onions, and a darker roast pan instead. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. German food has no single national pot, and this one is plainly northern.
The technique that decides it is the order of the simmer. The smoked pork goes in first with water and onion because the rind and bone need time to give salt, smoke, and body to the broth. The potatoes go in after that so they break at the edges without vanishing, and the dried plums go in near the end because they need to swell and sweeten the liquor, not dissolve into jam. Weggeworfen wird nichts, the cooking liquor is the sauce.
Taste at the end, not the beginning. Smoked pork carries its own salt, dried plums carry their own sugar, and the potato drinks both. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. That's the whole dish, and it works because the pot is allowed to tell you what it already has.
Tüffel un Plum belongs to Mecklenburg and the broader north German habit of pairing stored fruit with salted or smoked meat, a pattern that made winter food from cellar potatoes, dried plums, and the smokehouse. The potato itself became common in Prussia only after the eighteenth century, with Frederick II's potato orders from the 1740s and 1750s pushing cultivation after grain failures and war made the old dependence on bread dangerous. The Low German name marks the dish as regional before it is anything else: Tüffel for Kartoffeln, potatoes, and Plum for Pflaumen, plums, a northern tongue in the cooking pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
floury potatoes
Quantity
800g
peeled and cut into large chunks
smoked pork belly, Kasseler neck, or smoked pork ribs
Quantity
350g
with rind or bone if possible
dried plums
Quantity
180g
pitted
onion
Quantity
1 large
halved
bay leaf
Quantity
1
black peppercorns
Quantity
5
marjoram
Quantity
1 teaspoon
apple cider vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
sugar (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
salt and black pepper
Quantity
to taste
flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| floury potatoespeeled and cut into large chunks | 800g |
| smoked pork belly, Kasseler neck, or smoked pork ribswith rind or bone if possible | 350g |
| dried plumspitted | 180g |
| onionhalved | 1 large |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| black peppercorns | 5 |
| marjoram | 1 teaspoon |
| apple cider vinegar | 1 tablespoon |
| sugar (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| salt and black pepper | to taste |
| flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4 litre soup pot or Dutch oven
- •Slotted spoon
- •Small ladle
Instructions
- 1
Start the pork
Put the smoked pork, onion, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a heavy pot and cover with 1.2 litres cold water. Start cold because the rind, bone, and smoked meat give more body to the broth as the water comes up slowly; drop them into boiling water and the outside tightens before the pot has taken what it needs.
Do not salt this first broth. Smoked pork varies wildly, and a pot that tastes mild after ten minutes can be too salty after an hour. - 2
Simmer gently
Bring the pot just to a simmer, skim once if it throws up foam, then keep it quiet for 35 to 40 minutes. Runter mit der Temperatur. A hard boil muddies the broth and toughens the lean meat, while a gentle simmer pulls smoke and gelatine from the rind without bullying it.
- 3
Add the potatoes
Lift out the onion and add the potato chunks and marjoram. Simmer 18 to 22 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and their edges begin to crumble; floury potatoes are right here because they thicken the broth a little by breaking at the corners, not by turning the whole pot into mash.
- 4
Add the plums
Add the dried plums and simmer another 10 to 12 minutes, just until they swell and give their dark sweetness to the broth. They go in late for a reason: too early and they collapse into paste, too late and they sit in the bowl like sweets that missed the stew.
- 5
Cut the meat
Lift out the pork, cut the meat into bite-size pieces, and return it to the pot. If there is soft rind, chop it small and put it back; Weggeworfen wird nichts, and the rind gives the broth the quiet stickiness that a packet never will.
- 6
Balance and serve
Stir in the vinegar, then taste before you touch the salt. Add black pepper, salt only if the smoked pork has left the broth flat, and a pinch of sugar only if your plums are sharp and dry. Let it stand five minutes off the heat so the potato drinks the broth, then serve in deep bowls with parsley if you use it. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Chef Tips
- •Use a floury potato, not a waxy salad potato. You want the corners to soften into the broth; a waxy potato stays tidy and leaves the liquid thin.
- •Buy smoked pork with rind or bone if you can. Lean smoked cubes are convenient, but they give salt without body, and this dish needs both.
- •Dried plums are not fresh plums. This is larder cooking, and the dried fruit sweetens the broth without flooding it.
- •Serve it with rye bread and sharp mustard on the side. The bread catches the broth, and the mustard cuts the pork. Nicht aus dem Glas, unless the glass holds mustard.
Advance Preparation
- •The stew can be cooked one day ahead and reheated gently; the potatoes will thicken the broth as it rests, so loosen it with a splash of water if needed.
- •If making ahead, keep the plums slightly firm on the first cooking because they soften further during reheating.
- •Leftovers keep covered in the refrigerator for 3 days. Reheat at a low simmer so the potatoes stay in pieces.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 305g)
Calories
515 calories
Total Fat
22 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
1150 mg
Total Carbohydrates
65 g
Dietary Fiber
8 g
Sugars
23 g
Protein
18 g
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