Frankfurter Grüne Soße

Frankfurt's beloved cold green sauce: seven fresh herbs, with parsley leading, chopped fine and folded into a base of soured cream, yoghurt, and hard-boiled egg, served cold over boiled potatoes and eggs, the taste of the Hessian spring

Origin: Frankfurt, Germany

From the journey of Parsley.

Grüne Soße (in the local dialect, grie soß) is the pride of Frankfurt, a cold green sauce of fresh herbs so beloved that the city holds a festival in its honour and a monument has been raised to it. By tradition it must contain exactly seven herbs, classically borage, sorrel, cress, chervil, chives, salad burnet, and, leading them all, parsley, chopped fine and folded into a cool, tangy base of soured cream, yoghurt or quark, mustard, oil, and chopped hard-boiled egg. It is served cold, most famously over warm boiled potatoes and halved hard-boiled eggs (Grüne Soße mit Kartoffeln und Eiern), and was said to be the favourite dish of Frankfurt's most famous son, Goethe. Parsley is its most important and abundant herb, the green backbone that carries the more delicate and seasonal others, and the sauce is a celebration of the first fresh herbs of the Hessian spring.

Ingredients

Herbs

1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked (the leading herb)
150 g mixed soft herbs (chervil, chives, sorrel, cress, borage, salad burnet, dill), or extra parsley and chives

Base

250 g soured cream (or quark)
150 g natural yoghurt
2 hard-boiled eggs
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
0.75 tsp salt
1 pinch sugar

Method

Wash and dry all the herbs and chop them very finely; you should have a large bowl of mixed chopped green, with parsley the most abundant.
Separate the hard-boiled eggs. Mash the yolks into the soured cream and yoghurt with the mustard, oil, vinegar, salt, and sugar until smooth. Finely chop the whites.
Fold the chopped herbs and the chopped egg whites into the creamy base until evenly green.
Chill for at least an hour to let the flavours develop, then taste and adjust the salt, vinegar, and sugar.
Serve cold, generously, over warm boiled potatoes and halved hard-boiled eggs, or with poached fish or boiled beef.

Notes

Tradition insists on seven herbs, but the spirit of the dish is a generous, parsley-led mix of whatever soft herbs are fresh; chervil, chives, sorrel, and dill are the easiest to find. The base varies from soured cream to quark to a mayonnaise-enriched version. Keep it well chilled and well seasoned. It is the iconic dish of Frankfurt and a glorious way to use a glut of soft herbs.

The Gastrographer

Name: Frankfurter Grüne Soße
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Germany
Ingredients: 1 large bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked (the leading herb); 150 g mixed soft herbs (chervil, chives, sorrel, cress, borage, salad burnet, dill), or extra parsley and chives; 250 g soured cream (or quark); 150 g natural yoghurt; 2 hard-boiled eggs; 1 tbsp Dijon mustard; 2 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tbsp white wine vinegar; 0.75 tsp salt; 1 pinch sugar

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control