Labskaus

Labskaus is corned beef mashed with potato, onion and pickled beetroot until pink, topped with a fried egg and a rollmop herring. It's a North Sea and Baltic sailor's plate, born on ships where the beef had to be salted to survive the voyage and everything got mashed together for a crew eating below deck in rough seas — Hamburg and Bremen claim it as firmly as English "lobscouse" and various Scandinavian versions do, and no single port gets to settle the argument.

What it actually is

Boiled potato is mashed with finely chopped, salted corned beef and onion, and enough pickled beetroot worked through the mash to turn the whole thing a distinctive pale pink. It's piled onto the plate and finished with a fried egg, yolk left soft, and a rolled pickled herring fillet or two on the side — the sharp, vinegary fish cutting through the richness of the mash.

The mash-everything-together method is a direct hangover from ship's galleys, where the point was calories that could be eaten fast, one-handed, with a spoon, in a hull that wouldn't stay still.

How it's served

• Piled high on a plate, mash first, fried egg on top, herring and often a gherkin or two beside it.
• With the yolk left runny, broken over the mash at the table.
• In a genuinely pink colour; a grey or brown labskaus has skipped the beetroot.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag fish and egg clearly; both are standard parts of the plate, not optional extras.
• Note the cured beef; the corned-beef base is salted, which is part of the dish's whole point and history.
• Mention the pink colour from beetroot; it surprises guests who don't know the dish and is worth a line so it doesn't read as a plating mistake.
• Say if you serve gherkins or pickled beetroot slices on the side, since acidity is expected to cut the richness.