Stephen said his family is German. Very German. He enjoys eating the “food of his people” and would tell me stories of how his mom would make comfort food all the time. So last Sunday, he coaxed his dad into making homemade goulash and Stephen’s mom taught me how to make Spätzle.
What’s Spätzle?
Spätzle are a kind of soft egg noodle found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace, Moselle and South Tyrol.
The dough typically consists of few ingredients, principally eggs, flour, and salt. Traditionally, Spätzle are made by scraping long, thin strips of dough off a wooden (sometimes wet) chopping board (Spätzlebrett) into boiling salted water where they cook until they rise to the surface. Since this can be a cumbersome way to prepare Spätzle, several devices were invented to facilitate cooking that resemble a strainer or colander or coarse grater (Spätzlehobel). Using this device, the dough drops into the boiling water and forms a noodle.
After the water boils, you add the dough into the Spätzlehobel. The dough drops into the boiling water to create the pasta. To make the noodles shorter, you move the cup so the grater cuts the dough into smaller pieces.
As we continued cooking, the pot started filling up with Spätzle. We let it cook for a few minutes before draining, and served with a saucy dish. For this meal, we served it with goulash. Now, I know how to make homemade Spätzle!
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