Senfeier

Senfeier is hard-boiled eggs halved and bathed in a sharp mustard-cream sauce. It's Berlin's home-cooking staple, built specifically to turn a handful of cheap, always-on-hand eggs into a full, satisfying plate rather than just a side.

What it actually is

Eggs boil until fully hard, then cool, peel and halve. A roux-based sauce cooks separately — butter and flour whisked together, let down with milk or stock — and mustard and a splash of cream stir in near the end, giving the sauce real sharpness rather than just a savoury base. The halved eggs sit in that warm mustard sauce, spooned generously over just before serving.

The mustard has to be assertive, not a background note. A version where the mustard barely registers reads as a plain white sauce with eggs sitting in it; Senfeier is meant to taste distinctly of mustard first, with the egg providing the substance.

How it's served

• Hot, halved eggs bathed in sauce, in a shallow dish or on a plate.
• With boiled potato or rice, to soak up the extra sauce.
• As a simple, everyday main, rarely as a starter.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag egg, dairy and mustard; all three are structural to the sauce and filling.
• Say that the sauce is deliberately sharp with mustard, since a guest expecting a mild white sauce may be surprised.
• Note that it's naturally vegetarian, an easy option among heavier meat-forward mains.
• Mention that it's a simple, home-style dish, not a formal or restaurant-invented one.