Kässpätzle

The drive from the capital city was short but pleasant. After a few days of torrent rains, the sun was shining basting the green rolling hills with its pleasant golden rays. I felt at peace with the world that just a few days ago seemed so angry and caused so much destruction when it made a mockery of the human endeavours to create immovability.

The short trip was designed to do some sightseeing, and, of course, eat a nice lunch in an interesting establishment. We decided on a small hotel originally built as a Bavarian lodge in the small but vibrant town that was named after a castle in a town in Germany, where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. Not surprisingly, the town was established by missionaries.

Immigrant towns, such as this one, often offer interesting food experiences. In order to maintain their connection to the ‘old country’, people tend to preserve their culture – including their food culture – with great care and vigour. I was hungry and keen to see how well German food survived in this little town deep into what once was the Queen’s Country.

Sadly, the food left me cold and unsatisfied. Clearly there was little left of what once must have been a proud German food culture. They even messed up one of my favourite German dishes, .

I was determined enough to cook my own batch of this classic Swabian dish – which is also very popular in our own German-inspired cuisine – and to write a little overview of it.

To create a record of how it should be done, just in case we forget as these folks have done in the old Queen’s Country.

(little sparrows) and its close cousin, (little buttons) together with their Swiss family – or – and Hungarian relatives – , or – are types of pasta (some call them dumplings) made with fresh eggs and found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and parts of France.

Traditionally, are made by scraping long, thin strips of dough off a wet wooden board (called a ) into a pot of boiling salted water. The pasta is cooked until they float to the top, after which it is served with a variety of sauces and garnishes.

Making this way is cumbersome and takes skill, something that is only acquired if is made regularly. Those not wanting to go the traditional route could try one of many spätzle tools available for this specific task. These include: A or , or . A number of non- dedicated kitchen tools can also be used to shape the dough and get it into the hot water.

These include a strainer or colander, a potato ricer and cheese grater. For using devices such as these, the only condition is that the dough should be the right consistency to be scraped through the openings with a spatula or something similar.

The dough consists of only four or five ingredients: Water (or milk or a combination of the two), eggs, salt and sometimes a little nutmeg. The egg to flour ratio is one large egg (65 grams) per 100 grams ordinary flour.

The eggs are beaten before the dry ingredients are added a little at a time. Water is added – mostly by sight – to get the right viscosity for the dough.

It should be thick but not stiff. It is beaten, either by hand with a wooden spoon or whisk, or with an electrical mixer until air bubbles form and the dough is smooth and shiny. It is then rested for about two hours in the refrigerator.

Cooking the requires a pot of boiling salted water, the dough and -making tool and a container with very cold or ice water. Once the hits the boiling water, they take only a few second to float to the top. If cooked for too long, they will fall apart. Once they are done, they should be removed from the hot water with a sieve or strainer and then added to the cold water to stop the cooking. Thereafter they can be frozen or kept in the refrigerator until you need them later that same day.

If they are needed immediately after cooking, it is best to add them to a dish rubbed with butter to prevent them from sticking. Or they could be added to a frying pan with some melted butter and fried for a short while to give them a little crunch before adding the sauce or garnish.

The version I personally like is – with cheese. Rather than simply adding heaps of cheese, I prefer to make a rich cheese sauce for the pasta and then with added cheese on top put it in a pre-heated oven to melt the cheese. Kässpätzle meets mac-and-cheese, if you like. Serve this simply with a fresh green salad or some golden fried onions as is demanded by tradition, and you’d understand my disappointment in the Queen’s Country.

and Cheese Sauce ()

Ingredients:

The

• 400 grams plain flour

• 4 eggs

• 3-4 tablespoons sparkling water

• Generous pinch of salt, to taste

The Sauce

• 15 millilitres Truffle oil

• 300 millilitres dry white wine

for 20 minutes with Berkswell cheese

rind, keep warm

• 80 grams Emmental cheese, finely

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