Schlesische Fischtunke Weihnachtsessen - Silesian Fischtunke for Christmas Dinner
Silesian Fischtunke
Fischtunke! This heavenly dish made of root vegetables, beer, sweet lebkuchen and sausages, served with sauerkraut and potatoes on the side. I've eaten it every single year of my life, but only at Christmas. It's a traditional Silesian recipe, passed on to me by my mother, who had it from her mother (my 'Oma Lotte'), who would have learnt it from her mother and so on.
My mum Reinhild was born in Silesia, an area that now lies in Poland, where she lived with her mum, father Reinhold and brother Karl as part of a German-speaking minority called the 'Silesians'.
During the second world war, they fled from the Russian front but returned to their hometown of Oleśnica(Oels) near Wroclaw (Breslau) after the war, only to then be evicted by the Polish victors.
Silesian Germans had the choice between becoming Polish or being evicted (although I am not sure how much of a 'choice' this really was, and the situation after the war in now Polish/Russian occupied territory must have been dire and precarious for anyone, let alone Germans).
Lottes husband Reinhold had been a prisoner of the British Army but broke his ankle jumping off the transport truck and was treated in a hospital in Lippe (this curiously must have led to his release).
So Lotte took four-year-old Reinhild and her older brother Karl to make the long journey of the 'displaced'; they travelled by foot and cattle train to eventually reunite with Reinhold in Lippe, Northrine-Westfalia. Reinhold was a tailor master by trade (ladies' and men's couture, my mum would stress), so he was lucky enough to work as a tailor for the British Army after the war.
The story goes that my Oma made Fischtunke even during the famine years after the war. She would use bread and allspice to make up for the lack of Fischpfefferkuchen. God only knows whether there were any sausages to be had.
My mum Reinhild was born in Silesia, an area that now lies in Poland, where she lived with her mum, father Reinhold and brother Karl as part of a German-speaking minority called the 'Silesians'.
During the second world war, they fled from the Russian front but returned to their hometown of Oleśnica(Oels) near Wroclaw (Breslau) after the war, only to then be evicted by the Polish victors.
Silesian Germans had the choice between becoming Polish or being evicted (although I am not sure how much of a 'choice' this really was, and the situation after the war in now Polish/Russian occupied territory must have been dire and precarious for anyone, let alone Germans).
Lottes husband Reinhold had been a prisoner of the British Army but broke his ankle jumping off the transport truck and was treated in a hospital in Lippe (this curiously must have led to his release).
So Lotte took four-year-old Reinhild and her older brother Karl to make the long journey of the 'displaced'; they travelled by foot and cattle train to eventually reunite with Reinhold in Lippe, Northrine-Westfalia. Reinhold was a tailor master by trade (ladies' and men's couture, my mum would stress), so he was lucky enough to work as a tailor for the British Army after the war.
The story goes that my Oma made Fischtunke even during the famine years after the war. She would use bread and allspice to make up for the lack of Fischpfefferkuchen. God only knows whether there were any sausages to be had.
How this recipe came to be written down
In 1990, mum broke her leg just before Christmas, and it became apparent that she wouldn't be able to cook Fischtunke. What a crisis for all the family. So she wrote the recipe down so that my oldest sister could take over for that year, which she did with much trepidation (although I'm sure my mum did telephone cooking support from her hospital bed). But first of all, mum had to write the recipe down, which had been handed verbally to her by her mum.Here is a photo of the recipe:
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| Schlesische Fischtunke - after Reinhild |
In her written down version, my mum left quite a bit to interpretation - and it does turn out a little different each year. I've translated it into English and tried to be more specific where I could.
My mum introduces the recipe like this:
"The sauce is called 'Fischtunke' because in the olden days, the Christmas carp was cooked in it. It is also called 'Braune Soße' oder 'Polnische Soße'. In Silesia, it was mainly known to the right (east) of the river Oder. In our family, this dish is served only once a year: for Christmas. But then we eat it several times right through into the New Year."
Recipe for Fischtunke dinner for Christmas Eve
Ingredients
For the sauce- 1 head of celeriac
- 3 parsnips
- 3 parsley roots (aka Hamburg parsley)
- 7 carrots
- 3 onions
- 1 well-smoked piece of pork belly (300 to 500 g)
- 1 bay leaf
- a few peppercorns
- 1 to 1.5 packets [250g per pack] of 'Fischpfefferkuchen' (you could substitute with a dark gingerbread, or even bread and gingerbread spices)
- dark beer and lager beer
To heat up in the sauce
- Frankfurter sausages
- Wiener sausages
- Kuemmelwurst
- Krakauer Sausages
- Pork belly from cooking the broth
To serve as side dishes
- Firm(ish) potatoes, boiled or steamed, boiled skin-on then peeled just before serving
- Sauerkraut (homemade is best, or check Polish delis for Sauerkraut in a glass/pack)
- 1 finely cubed onion
- a generous knob of butter
Method
My mum usually starts with step A, sometimes weeks ahead of the actual dinner. She freezes the 'vegetable puree' until Christmas approaches. Defrost a day in advance.
Step A
Cut all vegetables for the sauce into equally sized pieces and cooked with one bay leaf and a few peppercorns in sufficient water to soften
Step B
Simmer the smoked pork belly in plenty of water (maybe a litre). Keep the cooking water and the meat.
Step C
Soak the Fischpfefferkuchen in half a litre (500ml) of dark beer (Guinness works but is quite bitter, better is a mild dark beer). Add a glug of lager beer, too. My mum often leaves this overnight to soak.
2) Assembling the sauce
Pour A and C through a sieve into a large pot. You can puree it with a stick blender first if you like. Add the cooking water from B (keep the meat aside for now). You're looking for a thick consistency, like a butternut squash soup, maybe. Add a few knobs of butter, season with salt and add more lager beer to the desired consistency (you can always add more beer later, so err on the cautious side). Your sauce is now ready and can be frozen or stored outside in the cold/snow in a well-closed pot (make sure nosy foxes/cats keep their paws out).
3) Add your sausages and cooked pork belly pieces to the sauce (start at least two hours before the meal)
The star of this dish is usually the 'Schlesische Weisswurst' - but it can be hard to come by. You can substitute with Bavarian-style white sausage. Really any sausage that you could eat cold would work. Sausages my mum normally adds are:
- Frankfurter sausages
- Wiener sausages
- Kuemmelwurst
- Krakauer Sausages
Now fit this all into your oven and heat it very, very slowly at about 80 to 90C Don't boil the sauce. If you're doing it too fast or too hot, the sausages will split. That's not the end of the world, however. Check from time to time and stir. This can take a good two hours.
4) Prepare the sides
Sauerkraut
In a medium sized pot, add the sauerkraut and a little water and bring to the boil for a short while (depending on taste, my mum likes the sauerkraut 'al dente'). Strain the water, then add a finely cubed onion, a good knob of butter and pepper to taste.
In a medium sized pot, add the sauerkraut and a little water and bring to the boil for a short while (depending on taste, my mum likes the sauerkraut 'al dente'). Strain the water, then add a finely cubed onion, a good knob of butter and pepper to taste.
Potatoes
Buy the best potatoes you can find. Choose a variety that isn't too floury that it splits when cooking. Boil in their skins until done, peel and serve.
