Luxembourg cuisine

Judd mat Gaardebounen served with boiled potatoes and Diekirch beer

Luxembourg cuisine reflects Luxembourg's position on the border between the Latin and Germanic worlds, being heavily influenced by the cuisines of neighbouring France and Germany. More recently, it has had influence from its many Italian and Portuguese immigrants.

Most particularly native Luxembourgian dishes, consumed as the traditional daily fare, share roots in the Luxembourgian peasantry, similarly to German cuisine and in marked contrast to more sophisticated French.

Food

Luxembourg has many delicacies: pastries, Luxembourg Cheese, the fresh fish from local rivers (trout, pike, and crayfish), Ardennes ham smoked in saltpeter, game during hunting season (such as hare and wild boar), small plum tarts in September (quetsch), smoked neck of pork with broad beans (Judd mat Gaardebounen), fried small river fish (such as bream, chub, gudgeon, roach, and rudd), liver dumplings (quenelles) with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes, black pudding (Treipen) and sausages with mashed potatoes and horseradish, and green bean soup (Bouneschlupp). French cuisine is featured prominently on many menus, and German and Belgian cuisine (but not as much).

Specialties

These are some specialties of Luxembourg:

• Thüringer - Inexpensive, small sausages that taste like a spicy version of the German bratwurst. They are often sold by street vendors and at roadside stands. New regulations prohibit the use of the word "Thüringer" as it is now regionally protected and reserved to sausages produced in the German free state of Thuringia. Instead, they are now officially referred to as Lëtzebuerger Grillwurscht, translating as Luxembourgian barbecue sausage.
• Gromperekichelcher - Carefully spiced potato pancake with chopped onions and parsley, then deep-fried. They are available at roadside stands as well.
• Éisleker Ham - Smoke-cured uncooked ham, said to look like the Italian Proscuitto crudo, sliced paper-thin and commonly served with fresh bread.
• Kachkéis (cooked cheese) - A soft cheese spread.
• Pâté - A spreadable paste, usually made of meat but vegetarian versions exist.
• Quetschentaart - A plum tart; it, along with peach, cherry, and pear tarts are a typical dessert and can be found in any pastry shop.
• Miel luxembourgeois de marque nationale is a honey from Luxembourg that is protected under EU law.

Alcohol

In 1993 it was reported that Luxembourg had the highest worldwide per capita consumption of alcohol; an average of three beers a day for every man, woman, and child. French wine is the most commonly drunk alcohol, and fine beers from Germany and Belgium are widely available. Alcohol is available cheaper in Luxembourg than anywhere else in Europe. It's also common to come across home-produced alcohol, called eau de vie, distilled from various different fruits and usually fifty percent alcohol by volume.

Some white and sparkling wines are even produced in Luxembourg, alongside the north bank of the Moselle, which has a winemaking history dating back to the Romans. The names of some wines made in Luxembourg: Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Auxerrois, Rivaner, Elbling, Gewürztraminer, and Crémant de Luxembourg. Look for the National Mark, which identifies authentic Luxembourg wine.

Luxembourg has a fair number of breweries, given its tiny size. Imported beers, however, have control of the beer market in Luxembourg. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 600,000 hectoliters of beer were brewed each year. The peak was reached in 1976 when over 800,000 hectoliters of beer were brewed, and since then the amount has been decreasing. In 2001, production dropped below 400,000 hectoliters for the first time since 1950. Some beers currently made in Luxembourg: Battin Edelpils and other beers at the Brasserie Battin, Bière Blonde and others at the Restaurant Beierhaascht, Bofferding Lager and others at the Brasserie Bofferding, Héngeschter and others at the Cornelyshaff, Diekirch Premium and others at the Brasserie de Luxembourg Mousel-Diekirch SA, Simon Dinkel and others at the Brasserie Simon. The Brasserie de Redange also brewed beer for five years, but closed in 2005.

External links

• Article about the Luxembourgian cuisine on the official page of the Luxemburg Presidency in 2005
• Luxemburgish recipes on commerzbank.lu
• Luxemburgish recipes on 2travelandeat.com (in French)