This is not a recipe. It is more a history lesson of old GDR food from Thuringia or Saxony Anhalt.
The family I helped celebrate the 90th birthday has roots and family members in Saxony Anhalt. The sisters of the birthday girl (88 +86) came for the day. With them they had lots of food. Cream cakes, sausages and a huge cast iron pot filled with a savoury potato dish.
The cast iron pot caught my eye. My friend tried to portion it into small Tupperware containers to freeze for later. Because this dish was her mothers favourite. She struggled to get it done and I took over.
I asked what that dish contained or what it was called. The answer was Ashkloß (dumpling in ash) and she did not know, because she never ate it.
While I spooned some parts out, I found some chunks of pears and a bit of pork belly and the top of the dish was covered with rusks. The other parts were just light yellow colored and not recognizable. I asked my friend if I could take a portion home with me.
I reheated it in the microwave and started digging through the layers.
The top was rusks. Beneath that a 2 inch thick layer of eggs and milk royal custard. A layer of potato dumpling dough, next quartered pears (not from a jar). Then strips of very fat pork belly and last an other layer of potato dumpling dough.
Some digging around the history and recipes on Google, I found many different versions. Some uses dried plums and bacon.
The ash part of the name was from old times, when bread was baked in a huge wood buring stone oven. After the bread was out of the oven, there was enough heat and ash left to put in some dishes to cook.
It was interesting to taste a very old dish, made by a 92 year old man. Not my favourite, but it fills you up.
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