Bremen‘s special dish: Kohl & Pinkel The 19th century saw the rise of a tradition which is still part of Bremen Germany. Perhaps the first which would be mentioned if you asked them is that of the "Kohl- und Pinkelfahrt." This is a group outing, made by a firm, a club, or a group of friends, to eat what is regarded as the typical dish of Bremen: "Braunkohl und Pinkel. " "Braunkohl," or "Grünkohl" before it's cooked, is curly kale, a kind of cabbage with finely curled leaves, boiled with meat and a sausage known as 'Pinkelwurst. ‘ Kale, which is particularly popular, needs fat to taste really good. So housewives would cook it with bacon fat, and oat groats to take up the surplus fat. Then fat and groats began to be made into a sausage. This got the name “Pinkelwurst” because the local name for the ox intestines from which the sausage skin was made is "Pinkel." Nowadays all these ingredients belong to a proper "Kohl und Pinkel" It's served with boiled potatoes and accompanied by beer and "Korn" - grain schnaps – to aid digestion of the fat. Sometimes "Brägenwurst" is added to the dish. This means literally "brain sausage"; the traditional recipe contains mincedmeat and brains, bacon, onions and spices. The Kohl and Pinkel outings take place during the winter, for the kale needs frost to bring out the flavour. Until the early 19th century, however, the roads round Bremen were in too bad a condition for people to undertake trips out into the country in winter. It was only from about 1820 that conditions improved. The traditional accompaniments to the outing include a bottle of schnaps and a glass hung round someone's neck, to be drunk on the walk which should precede the meal, a cardboard top hat, and a "Teufelsgeige" - literally a "devil's fiddle" - which is a broomstick hung with objects which jangle and rattle when the stick is banged on the ground. Other dishes popular in Bremen as elsewhere in north Germany include Knipp, a sort of hash made with groats. Originally made during voyages from salt beef and vegetables thickened with ship‘s biscuit, this is now more likely to be a hash of meat and potato.
From: Bremen - The Story of the Free Hanseatic City by Carol Claxton