Blindhuhn

There is no chicken in it, and the name says a blind hen still finds a grain.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains a sausage whose meat the source does not name, pork.

Ingredients

• 250 g dried white beans, soaked overnight
• 300 g green beans, cut in lengths
• 500 g waxy potatoes, diced
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2 firm pears, peeled and diced
• 2 apples, peeled and diced
• 200 g streaky bacon, diced
• 250 g mettwurst, in thick slices
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• black pepper
• 2 onions, sliced and fried, to finish

Method

1. THERE IS NO CHICKEN IN IT, AND THE NAME SAYS A BLIND HEN STILL FINDS A GRAIN. The article states the first plainly -- DESPITE ITS NAME, THE DISH CONTAINS NO CHICKEN -- and explains the second: a German proverb that EVEN A BLIND HEN FINDS A GRAIN, meaning that EVERYONE WILL FIND SOMETHING THEY LIKE IN THIS STEW.
2. AND THE SAME WRITER GIVES A SECOND READING OF THE NAME. Henriette Davidis DESCRIBES THE DISH AS A GLEANING, so the proverb can also mean it is AN AUTUMN DISH THAT IS STOCKED WITH THE REMAINS OF THE GARDEN SEASON that the cook found as a blind chicken. Which makes the ingredient list a suggestion rather than a specification.
3. IT IS NOT BIRNEN, BOHNEN UND SPECK, THOUGH THE ARTICLE RAISES IT ITSELF: the composition IS REMINISCENT OF THE NORTH GERMAN DISH Birnen, Bohnen und Speck, as on its own page. That one is three named things and a season; this one adds apples, carrots, two kinds of bean and a sausage, and is sharpened with vinegar.
4. THE SHARPNESS IS DELIBERATE AND SOURCED: it is SLIGHTLY ACIDIC DUE TO THE ADDITION OF APPLES AND VINEGAR. Leave the vinegar out and it is a sweet bean stew.
5. THE SAUSAGE GOES IN AT THE END. The article is specific -- UNSMOKED OR SMOKED METTWURST SAUSAGE IS ADDED AT THE END AND ALSO COOKED -- so it warms through rather than giving up everything to the pot.
6. THE DRIED BEANS GO IN FIRST AND ALONE. An hour, until they are nearly soft. Salt or acid now and they stay hard for ever, which is why the vinegar waits.
7. THEN THE BACON, CARROTS AND POTATOES, twenty minutes.
8. THE PEARS AND APPLES AFTER THAT, AND THE GREEN BEANS LAST. Ten minutes, then five. The fruit should hold its dice; cooked from the start it vanishes.
9. NOW THE VINEGAR AND THE METTWURST, five minutes off a hard boil. The consistency the article describes runs from SOUPY TO CREAMY depending on how it is made, so mash a ladleful against the side if you want it thicker.
10. FRIED ONIONS OVER THE TOP, which the article gives as the finish.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes