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Traditional dishes from Luxembourg reflect their rural origin. They provided sustenance

for the strenuous environment of olden days; they were based on common crops, fruits,

livestock and edibles harvested from meadows, forests and rivers.

Before the nineteenth century the main native crops consisted of rye, spelt, oat, lentils

and buckwheat. Around 1820, as lime fertilizers became available, potatoes, wheat,

turnips and clover supplemented the traditional crops. Potatoes advanced to a main

staple. Notoriously a maid, who ran away from the farm employing her in the Eisleck

area (northern Luxembourg), was heard bemoaning: ‘Mueies Gromperstupp, mëttes

Gromperstupp, owes Gromperstupp, -stupp, -stupp, -stupp!’ - [Morning potato soup,

noon potato soup, evening potato soup, - soup, -soup, -soup!]

Old-time sustenance farming provided just enough for humans and livestock to survive.

A crop failure would result in catastrophic consequences for both. Animal products,

such as meat, milk, cheese and butter were scarce. A typical cow in the Eisleck would

weigh barely between 150 to 200 kilograms (approximately 330-440 Lbs.) and produce

a paltry 3 to 5 liter of milk a day (0.79 to 1.32 gallons). Today a Holstein cow weighs

around 750 kilograms or 1650 Lbs. and delivers anywhere between 5 to 10 gallons of

Culinary Luxembourg Introduction by Fausto Gardini

Den Appetit kënnt iwwert dem Iessen.

Appetite comes with eating.

Et muss ee sech net ginn, esoulaang nach Kniddelen am

Dëppe sinn.

Don’t give up as long as there are dumplings in the pot.

Lëtzebuergesch words of wisdom

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milk a day. Table scraps to feed pigs were obviously measly too, so villages employed a

swineherd (Lëtzebuergesch: Schwengert) who each morning hiked through the village;

folks opened their pigsties and pigs followed the Schwengert to the village pastures and

forest for a daylong feeding on beechnuts and acorns (English: pannage). For each pig

herded the Schwengert was paid half-a-day worth of food, collected quarterly.

In 1876, Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (1850-1885) discovered that adding limestone to a

Bessemer iron ore converter drew the phosphorus from the pig iron into the slag, which

floated to the top of the converter where it could be skimmed off, resulting in

phosphorus-free steel. The process was a double godsend for Luxembourg. First, its

phosphorus-rich iron ore could now be processed to high quality steel, providing many

jobs in mining and processing and secondly the resulting pulverized slag, known as

Thomas slag, a most potent fertilizer, lifted many farmers out of poverty by enhancing

farm production throughout the country dramatically. Luxembourg’s industrialists

secured rights to the Thomas process in 1882 and the first Thomas / Bessemer steel

was produced in Dudelange in 1886. The 1892 governmental mining concessions

mandated steel mills to supply annually specified quantities of Thomas slag to farmers

at low prices.

With the steel industry providing good jobs, farmers growing ample foodstuff and

fattening healthy livestock in large quantities, quality of life improved substantially,

giving rise to a new trend: domestic tourism. The villages on the Moselle River, as well

as Berdorf, Diekirch, Echternach, Larochette, Mondorf, Remich and several other

villages, of which many could be conveniently reached by train, became favorite

excursion destinations. In many places culinary dynasties emerged, some surviving into

the twenty-first century. These include the Hostellerie de Reichlange, in Reichlange,

founded in 1848; the hotel-restaurant La Gaichel, in 2012 in its 5th generation of

ownership by the same family and the Hôtel-Restaurant du Grand Chef in Mondorf, both

founded in 1852; Hôtel-Restaurant Simmer in Ehnen, established in 1863; Hôtel-

Restaurant Dimmer at Wallendorf-Pont, founded in 1871, now in its 6th generation;

Hôtel-Restaurant La Diligence in Arsdorf, founded in 1882; Hôtel Brimer at Grundhof,

founded in 1908; the restaurant of the Bamberg family, originally in Wormeldange, and

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since 1911 in Ehnen; Hôtel Le Claravallis, in Clervaux also established in 1911 and is

now in its 4th generation of family ownership; Hôtel Heintz in Vianden and Bisdorff in

Berdorf (also in their 4th generation).

The kind of fare Luxembourgers, touring their country in the turn of the twentieth

century, enjoyed were traditional Lëtzeuergesch dishes, such as:

Bouneschlupp, a green bean soup augmented by carrots, celery, leek, onions,

potatoes, cream and smoked bacon.

Choucroute garnie, (Sauerkraut) a Lëtzebuergesch version of an Alsatian classic.

Feierstengszalot (literally: Flinstone salad), a salad made with pot-roast leftovers,

complemented by boiled eggs, chopped celery, boiled potatoes, onions, parsley and

whatever else you find in your larder….. all doused with a fine vinaigrette.

Eislecker Ham, cured, smoked ham from the Eisleck area served with fresh bread

and French fries.

Fritür, small fried fish (originally from the Moselle River) eaten with your hands,

accompanied by French fries and plenty of Moselle wine.

Gromperekichelcher, potato pancakes.

Judd mat Gaardebounen (National dish) consisting of smoked neck of pork cooked

with various vegetables and spices accompanied by broad beans and boiled

potatoes and wine or beer.

Kuddelfleck, fried tripe served breaded or with a tomato sauce.

Rieslingspaschtéit, a meat pie with Riesling white wine.

Stärzelen, buckwheat dumplings served with smoked bacon.

Träipen (or Treipen), a Luxembourg variant of black pudding. The recipe was

brought by immigrants to the USA and is known here as Mus-tripen.

Two women chefs define culinary Luxembourg’s evolution in the twentieth century,

Hélène Hiertz (1911-1985) and Léa Linster (b. 1955).

Hélène Hiertz was born in 1911 in Heinerscheid, Luxembourg. Before World War II

her parents, Victor Hiertz and Anny, née Schroeder, managed the restaurant-hotel at

the Kautenbach railway station. Her father died in 1923 and Hélène learned the art of

cooking from her mother. She was a true Luxembourger patriot; in World War II Hélène

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assisted young Luxembourgers who had evaded the German draft, was betrayed and

imprisoned for eighteen months at the Nazi concentration camp of Ravensbrück.

Surviving the ordeal, in November of 1945, she opened her first hotel-restaurant in

Wilwerwiltz, Luxembourg. It is there that, on April 16, 1947, Hélène married Christophe

Colling. Two years later, on April 2, 1949, the couple opened their Hôtel de l’Esplanade

in Diekirch. Beim Hiertzens Hélène rapidly gained national notoriety and her place

became the-must-go-to restaurant from near and far. In 1958, her eatery was the first

restaurant in Luxembourg recognized by a star in France’s Guides Michelin = A very

good restaurant in its category). In 1970, a second star ( = Excellent cooking, worth

a detour) followed. And it was again the first restaurant in Luxembourg accorded that

rare accolade. The well-deserved recognition helped put Luxembourg’s restaurants in

the spotlight of international connoisseurs.

Slowly Luxembourg chefs gained broader international attention. By 1997 chefs

from Luxembourg had garnered 14 coveted Michelin stars. Among them was one

awarded in 1987 to Léa Linster, Cuisinière, Léa’s restaurant in Frisange and there was

no more stopping her…. In 1989 Léa won the prestigious Bocuse d’Or. Among the

thirty-four recipients of the award from ten different countries, she is the only female

chef to this day having attained it. Gault et Millau, the French influential guide, awarded

Léa its Gastronomic Golden Key in 1996 and elected her Chef of the Year in 2009,

awarding her restaurant a rating of 18/20. Indefatigable, Léa publishes a cooking

column in the German magazine Brigitte and hosts regularly TV cooking shows

throughout Europe. In the first quarter of 2011 Lufthansa, German Airlines First and

Business Class passengers were spoiled by Léa Linster as the airline’s Star Chef. Léa

remains as passionate as ever and has not forgotten her Lëtzebuergesch roots, giving a

modern spin to classic recipes as the Bouneschlupp, in the five cooking books that she

has authored thus far.

© 2012 Fausto Gardini