2019-11-24: Spätzle

Spätzle are a specialty from the South of Germany and to my knowledge also popular in parts of Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. Spätzle are a variation of egg noodles. They are served as a side dish like noodles, or as a main dish (for example cheese spätzle or simply fried with an egg). I am aware of 3 different ways to make spätzle: With a spätzle press which results in lengthy Spätzle, with a Spätzle hobel (also called spaetzle maker) which results in drop-like or more round Spätzle also called Knoepfle, Knoepfli (or buttons), and last but not least manually made Spätzle using a dough-scraper (or knife) and a wooden cutting board. In the following blog post I use a spaetzle maker. Most often I use my spaetzle press when making spaetzle, but for a change I decided to use my spaetzle maker. I tried in the past to make spaetzle manually, but presently I am not good at it (I have to look for a more suitable dough-scraper). So lets get started.

In this recipe I used 400g of flour, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt, a pinch of grated nutmeg (to taste, some people don't use it) and about 200ml of milk. I typically distribute the salt and nutmeg with the flour and then proceed to mix the eggs into the flour as well (using a mixer with a dough-hook). Whenever the eggs are well distributed in the flour (the dough has some sort of crumbly consistency) I add the milk and mix again. Adding the milk is actually the only tricky business when making spaetzle. The goal is to achieve some sort of ketchup-type liquidity. A spaetzle press is more forgiving with regards to the dough liquidity: One just has to press the press a bit harder if the dough is a bit on the hard side. For a spaetzle maker device the consistency has to be just right, otherwise the dough doesn't fall in "drops" into the boiling water. It is a disaster if the spaetzle dough is too runny (too liquid): Such spaetzle taste like nothing, they don't really form and in that case it is necessary to add a bit more flour and mix everything again. Mixing the milk into the egg-flour dough doesn't take very long. There is no need to develop gluten or anything else. The goal is to just distribute the added milk evenly into the dough and reach the same consistency everywhere in the dough. Maybe one more comment: The liquidity of this dough is just right for the spaetzle-maker device. If I use a spaetzle-press to make spaetzle I typically keep the dough a bit less liquid and a bit harder (maybe 2 table-spoons less milk).

The flour with the nutmeg, salt, and the 4 eggs.

The spaetzle maker device and the mixed dough in the bowl. Please note the mixer dough-hooks with the slowly dripping dough.

Before I started to mix the dough I heated up a large pot of salted water (the water needs to boil when making spaetzle). I also heated up a pan with some butter at low heat. 

Heating up some butter in a frying pan over relatively low heat.

Once the dough is mixed and the water is boiling I filled up the movable container of the spaetzle maker with the dough and moved the spaetzle maker device over the pot with the boiling water. Then I moved the container forward and backward with the spaetzle falling out on the bottom into the boiling water.

Moving the spaetzle maker forward and backward with the spaetzle falling into the boiling water.

Moving the spaetzle maker container forward and backward with the spaetzle dropping into the boiling water.

The spaetzle are dropping into the boiling water.

Once the spaetzle start to float in the boiling water they are ready. They have to be "fished" out of the boiling water with a strainer-device and can be served as is in a bowl, or like in my case moved to a frying pan to be kept warm. The step of filling the spaetzle maker with dough, moving its container forward and backward, and boiling the spaetzle needs to be repeated about 5 to 10 times (subject to how much one fills into the movable container for a given step).

The spaetzle are ready once they "float" in the boiling water. It takes a minute or two for them to start floating.

"Fishing" the spaetzle out of the boiling water and moving them into the frying pan to keep them warm (and possibly get a little crust).

Once the spaetzle are in the frying pan several options exist. One can keep the heat very low and just collect all the spaetzle up. It is possible to increase the heat and "fry" the spaetzle a bit, so they get a little crust. A super popular version is to add grated cheese to every layer of spaetzle transferred from the boiling water pot to the pan. The cheese typically used is a Swiss Emmentaler or Gruyere type cheese. It is also possible to use a Munster or Limburger cheese. This version of spaetzle is called "Käse Spätzle" (cheese spaetzle). Some people serve them with a tomato sauce on the side. In my case I simply fried the spaetzle a little bit and served them with caramelized onions and lentils as side dishes. As I mentioned at the beginning the shape of the spaetzle made with this spaetzle maker device is akin to "buttons", or "drops", or "little balls".

The finished spaetzle and the caramelized onions.

Self-made fresh spaetzle are best. I cannot recommend making spaetzle from dried store-bought packs.