Scholle Finkenwerder Art

01 / ABOUT THE DISH

About the dish

Scholle Finkenwerder Art is a plaice dish from Finkenwerder, a former fishing village now part of Hamburg in northern Germany. The dish developed in Finkenwerder within a harbor-side food culture shaped by fishing and simple household cooking, where fresh flatfish from the Elbe and nearby waters were paired with preserved pork products that were widely available and easy to store. Plaice is cleaned and seasoned, then either pan-fried in butter or bacon fat until golden or placed in the oven to bake, while diced bacon is rendered separately until crisp and sliced onions are cooked gently in the bacon fat until soft, after which the bacon and onions are placed over the cooked fish and finished with additional butter. Common variations include choosing pan-frying or baking as the cooking method, using whole fish or fillets, and adjusting the amount of bacon and onion, while the defining combination of plaice with bacon and onions remains unchanged and additions such as shrimp are part of other versions rather than this one. The dish is eaten hot and is served in homes and restaurants in Hamburg and northern Germany, most often accompanied by boiled potatoes, fried potatoes, or simple salads, and it is commonly paired with dry white wine, pilsner beer, or mineral water.