The story
Hamburger Aalsuppe is a sweet-and-sour soup that cookbooks show was made in the port city of Hamburg by at least 1788. Its odd name comes with a much-told story: in the local Low German dialect, 'aal' sounded like the word for 'all', so the name meant a soup with everything in it, and early versions were thrifty pots of ham bone, vegetables and dried fruit with no eel at all. When diners kept asking where the eel was, cooks are said to have started adding it. Similar soups exist across northern Germany and Denmark, and a version without eel is still jokingly called lost eel soup.
Rival claims
Similar sweet-sour soups exist across northern Germany, but recipes for this one appear in Hamburg cookbooks from at least 1788.
Also known as Hamburger Aalsuppe, Hamburg eel soup, eel soup.
On the Meridish menu
Aalsuppe (eel soup) was the soup course on menu No. 15 on October 15, 2026. Its clue in the game, which hints at the place without naming it:
Sweet-and-sour soup with eel, dried pears, ham and dumplings. In this port's old dialect 'aal' meant 'everything', so the eel may have been added later to match the name.
In Meridish, every dish is pinned to the town or city most widely credited with creating it. A guess within 25 km scores all 100 points. How scoring works.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel_soup
- barcelo.com/guia-turismo/en/germany/hamburg/things-to-do/hamburg-traditional-food
Food history is often disputed. Think we've pinned it in the wrong place? Tell us at hello@meridish.com, ideally with a source.
