Grootheider Stipp
Description
A creamy sauce of bacon, onion, flour and milk that is not poured over anything but set on the table in its own pan: everyone peels a hot potato and dips it in. The dish is named after Großheide in East Frisia and comes straight from the frugal kitchen of the moorland edge.
Directions
✓ researched- 1
Scrub the potatoes well and boil them in their skins in salted water until tender, about 25 minutes. Do not rinse them cold - they should come to the table hot.
⏱️ approx. 28 min - 2
Cut the bacon into small dice and render it slowly in a wide, heavy pan over medium heat until the dice are golden and plenty of fat has run out.
⏱️ approx. 10 min - 3
Slice the onions into fine rings and sweat them in the bacon fat until translucent, without letting them darken.
⏱️ approx. 8 min - 4
Dust the flour over, stir it in and let it cook for a minute. Then pour in the milk bit by bit, stirring constantly so that no lumps form.
⏱️ approx. 6 min - 5
Let the sauce simmer gently over low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it is creamy and the floury taste has gone. Season with salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.
⏱️ approx. 10 min💡 Tip: The bacon already brings a lot of salt - season only at the end.
- 6
Put the pan just as it is on a trivet in the middle of the table and set the hot potatoes beside it. Everyone peels a potato and dips it into the sauce - no more cutlery than a fork is needed.
⏱️ approx. 3 min
📜 Origin & History
In nineteenth-century East Frisia the main meal was served in one bowl and eaten together; plates were largely unknown. Boiled potatoes were simply tipped onto the table, everyone took what they needed and peeled them, then dipped - stippte - them into a pan of hot Stippfett before laying them on their bread. The Grootheider Stipp is the typical dish of that period: a sauce of ham, onions, milk and flour, preferably served with potatoes boiled in their skins. It is named after Großheide, Grootheid in Low German, a village and municipality in the district of Aurich, and belongs to the frugal kitchen of the sandy Geest and the moorland edge, where bacon hanging near the hearth was the main source of meat. The pan goes on the table and the dipping gives the dish its name; the East Frisian word Stipp simply means to dip.
🗺️ Where is Grootheider Stipp cooked?
Ostfriesland · Niedersachsen
Main regionFrequently Asked Questions
What does Stipp mean?
Stippen is North German for dipping. Wikipedia describes the old East Frisian table custom: the cooked potatoes were tipped onto the table, everyone peeled one and dipped it into a pan of hot Stippfett. The sauce is named after the way it is eaten.
Where is Grootheide?
Grootheid is the Low German name of Großheide, a municipality in the district of Aurich in East Frisia, on the edge of the moors between Norden and Aurich. That is where the dish gets its name.
Bacon or ham?
Both are documented. Wikipedia describes the Grootheider Stipp as a sauce of ham, onions, milk and flour, while regional speciality portals speak of a bacon-and-flour sauce made from rendered bacon. In practice you use what hung in the smoke - streaky bacon gives more fat, raw ham more aroma.
How thick should the sauce be?
Creamy enough to cling to the potato but liquid enough to dip into - roughly like a thick béchamel. If it stiffens while standing, simply stir in a splash of hot milk.
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Ingredients
verified- potato1 kg
- Bacon250 g
- onion2 pcs
- Flour40 g
- Milk500 ml
- salt1 tsp
- pepper1 pinch
- Nutmeg1 pinch
Nutrition per serving
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