Spaetzle by grizzlybiscuit

[BakerAunt]

SPAETZLE
Submitted by grizzlybiscuit on September 20, 2008 at 4:37 am

This preparation is most common in Southern Germany and Austria--Spaetzle, Spatzle, Spatzen-whatever you like. The favorite dishes of many to serve this with are Beef, veal, or pork goulash, Sauerbraten, pot roast, or any kind of stew really. Also in casserole with gruyere cheese or just sautéed in butter as a side dish or starch! The actual gravy from the main dish is also commonly served either as part of the noodles or alongside it. It can be added to soups, if you like, but just like minestrone only at the last minute.

All of the recipes I've found or come across have had basically the same ingredients. The mixing and cooking methods and how you choose to flavor and reheat the noodles is where all the magic comes from! I think your best formulas will be the ones that come out time after time with no surprises (take it to the bank. So keep them simple! This recipe has old CIA origins.

12 oz. all-purpose flour
6 oz. milk
4 whole grade A Large eggs (this may vary)
salt & pepper to taste
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg (don't overdo this--you should barely be able to taste the nutmeg but not have it be overpowering)

Mix all the wet ingredients and flavorings together and then add the flour by hand like you would with a muffin batter. Do not overmix! Let the dough sit for 10 minutes to properly hydrate.

Once the liquid simmers, just lean the edge of the bowl over the liquid and slowly let the batter leak out. Place the palate knife flush with the edge of the bowl and tilt it slightly clockwise, and, moving back and forth, shave the batter off into the liquid. Stir lightly to make sure the noodles are not stuck together.

Once the noodles are in the liquid cook them until they float to the top and if they are small, then you can take them out. For larger, leave them in a little longer to make sure they're cooked.

With the spaetzle maker, just place a ladle of batter in the reservoir...move it back and forth over the liquid, and when it becomes empty, just add another ladle.

There are two major ways IMHO that you can toughen up these noodles. One is to overmix the dough once you've added the milk, and the other is to cook them too long in the poaching liquid! I have seen many different ways to cook these noodles, and there are three methods in particular that stand out:

1. The mixing bowl and palate knife
2. Potato ricer
3. spaetzle maker

My favorite method is the mixing bowl and here's why .This is the only true method where you can control the size of the noodles--once you get the hang of it! And also you probably already have everything you need, just the bowl and the palate knife (or icing spatula)--that's it! You just need to set up an assembly line.

a. 1 pot of boiling water or stock (the same type of set up as you would have for a decent size batch of spaghetti (if just using water then lightly salted)

b. A bowl of ice water to shock the noodles (stop the cooking process) as they are being removed from the pot when they are done You will probably need to continue to add ice to the water as you go along, because sooner or later it won't cool off the hot noodles any longer.

c. A strainer in the sink to drain the noodles once they have cooled off

d. Another container to hold all the cooked cooled noodles

e. You will need a slotted kitchen spoon or skimmer to get the noodles out of the pot

f. A container to hold the main dough

g. A smaller bowl if you have one to hold whatever amount of dough you're cooking in
each batch

h. And, finally, a palate knife (the same kind of gadget you use to spread icing on a cake)

OK now for the potato ricer--not my first choice. I think it makes the noodles too small. This IMHO will cause problems in three areas. First, they get cold too fast, and they have a tendency to get greasy if you sauté them in butter. They will also fall apart if too hot or handled too much. If this is the only method at your disposal or you feel comfortable with, than by all means use it, just keep these other concerns in mind!

Next is the Spaetzle Maker. I am comfortable with this nice little gadget, but again it will produce only one size noodle, and that may be a little on the small side. It will do the job though, so we will rank it # 2. It fits right on top of the cooking pot and has a small reservoir that holds the dough or batter and pinches off the noodles into the simmering liquid as you slide the reservoir back and forth over the holes in the track. This is probably the easiest way to go while producing ok results.

You must do this in batches because by the time you got the last of the dough in the water, the first noodles would be overcooked. For each batch, putting noodles in the liquid, your time frame from start to finish should be about a minute. Be patient and they will come out a lot nicer!

comments

Submitted by Mike Nolan on Wed, 2010-10-13 11:21.
This has become our 'go to' recipe to go with several dishes, including Beef Bourguignon, Veal Zurich and Chicken Marsala.

We have a potato ricer that has several different metal plates that go in it, with different numbers and sizes of holes.

The one that works best is the one with medium sized holes spaced fairly well apart. (If the holes are too close together the noodles stick together again. If the holes are too big the spaetzle are too thick and don't cook evenly.)

There's an episode of Dinner Impossible where Chef Robert Irvine makes spaetzle for a large crowd using a colander.

We don't generally fry them after they're cooked, but a really WICKED variant on spaetzle is to make Julia Child's brown-braised onions recipe (braised in beef stock), then deglaze the pan with some additional beef stock and butter and fry the spaetzle in it. (Or you can just use additional beef stock from the start and not take the onions all the way to dry.)

Submitted by grizzlybiscuit on Thu, 2011-04-14 23:52.
Another thing you can do is sauté the noodles in butter and onions ,add a tiny bit of gravy from the stew or pot roast or whatever you're cooking, and when you are about to take it off the stove ,just sprinkle on a little Swiss cheese....it makes a great side dish !

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• This topic was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

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