Spaetzle

I will, eventually, move on from carbs. But not before posting my mother’s incredibly simple, but heavenly spaetzle recipe.You won’t find spaetzle from a box, or in a restaurant, at all similar to your grandmother’s in shape, texture or taste. Her spaetzle were small, moist dumplings—boiled and never fried, unless for lunch the day after first served, as kasespaetzle (cheese spaetzle).

Just the word, spaetzle (which translates to “little sparrows”), conjures a memory of your grandmother standing in her kitchen beating vigorously a mass of sticky dough, her entire body vibrating, the dough slapping, to the rhythm of her spoon. After passing into boiling water through an odd-looking metal contraption that your grandmother always called a spaetzle “machine”—a fancy word for a device utterly lacking in any true mechanical properties, and more commonly referred to as a spaetzle “maker”—the gluey, unruly dough miraculously transformed into the most delightful and tender small dumplings. Even more miraculously, your grandmother was able to contain the spaetzle dough (which could double as building mortar) to her bowl, spoon, spaetzle machine and cooking pot. When I make spaetzle, the resulting cleanup—the washing and scraping and prying of dried dough from every nearby surface—is daunting enough that, much as I love spaetzle, I make it infrequently.

It is possible that what your grandmother called “spaetzle” are more properly known among Germans as “knopfle,” meaning “little knot” or “little button.” Online sources describe spaetzle as a dumpling that is longer and thinner than knopfle. That would certainly explain (apart from the fact that most restaurant spaetzle are fried) why I have never encountered, outside your grandmother’s kitchen, anything that looks like her spaetzle. But she always referred to them simply as spaetzle.

Another key difference between your grandmother’s and restaurant, or boxed, versions of spaetzle is that hers contained no eggs. I do not know if this was because that is how she was taught to make spaetzle, or by preference (it was certainly not out of any thought of eating vegetarian). Perhaps preference developed for a recipe initially adapted out of necessity to exclude eggs. Your grandmother was born in 1935 in Stuttgart. Germany was in an economic depression, unemployment was high, and the seeds of World War II had been planted. Germany was then already under Nazi control. Jews were being stripped of their civil rights and Hitler was proceeding with Germany’s rearmament, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. While your grandmother’s family was relatively well-off in 1935, the events of her birth year, and those that followed, resulted in a childhood overshadowed by war, post-war occupation and the accompanying deprivations, including food shortages. During much of her childhood and teenage years, eggs may have been in short supply, or too expensive to include in a dish that could be readily made without them. Later, when she could have afforded to use eggs in her spaetzle, your grandmother never did.

Spaetzle can be served with gravy, or tossed with a little butter before serving. For a delicious lunch using leftover spaetzle, first fry a yellow or white onion in a large skillet with butter until the onion is softened and browned, add spaetzle and grated cheese, and warm thoroughly. Your grandmother always used Swiss cheese for kasespaetzle, but you can experiment with different cheeses.

With that long preamble, your grandmother’s spaetzle recipe:

Ingredients

Flour

Salt

Water

You didn’t really expect measurements, after the Sofht recipe, did you? Your grandmother probably used 3-4 cups of flour, and never measured the salt, but just added to her taste. That makes a lot of spaetzle, but it also means you will have leftovers for kasespaetzle. For a smaller portion, start with 1 or 2 cups of flour. Add a teaspoon of salt for every 2 cups flour.

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Whisk salt into flour, add water until desired, gluey consistency is reached. I couldn’t begin to describe what texture you are looking to achieve other than like a very thick glue. Your dough should not be dry, should not form a ball, but should hold together as a wet mass. You will probably have to experiment a bit to achieve a texture that works. Beat well and let dough rest for 5-10 minutes.

Spray a serving bowl with nonstick cooking spray and set oven to warm.

Place your spaetzle machine over the pot of boiling water and use a spatula to push a portion of the dough into the little box on the top of the machine. Move the box forward and backward along the attached piece that looks like a flat colander. The dough should drop though the holes, forming small dumplings that initially sink and then rise to the top of the water. If the dough pours through the spaetzle machine, making a formless mess in the boiling water, it is too loose and needs more flour. If it is too thick, and does not drop easily through the holes, add more water. If you don’t have a spaetzle machine, you can use a metal colander with large holes to make the spaetzle. Holding the colander over the pot of boiling water, use a spatula to transfer a portion of the dough to the colander, and a spoon to push the dough back and forth across the holes, so that it drops into the boiling water.

Working in batches, scoop out the spaetzle that have risen to the top with a ladle that has holes in it and transfer them to the serving bowl. You should allow the dumplings to boil for 2-3 minutes—and taste one—to make sure they are cooked to your liking. Keep spaetzle warm in oven until ready to serve. Garnish with parsley.