Czech Spaetzel Is As Easy As One, Two, Three, Four, Five

August 5th, 2009 § 1 Comment

I’ve always been enamored with heirloom recipes and will be posting more of them every chance I can get on Kitchen Interviews, and also on Miami New Times, Short Order.

Here’s one that’s so simple, but it will knock your socks off.

Dish: Spaetzel

Origin: Czechoslovakia

Born-on date/Generations passed down: 3

Bequeathee: Robert Schwartz

Bequeathors: Valerie Breuer Schwartz (mother,) Ethel Weiss Breuer (grandmother,) and Jacob Breuer (grandfather)

Best thing about it: The taste inspires wonderful memories of childhood and loving grandparents.

Recipe:

- Combine three yolks into a crumble consistency with 2 cups all purpose flour using a wooden spoon
- Beat the crumble to oblivion with 1 cup of soda water (about 7 minutes or until stretchy as if there had been yeast added)
- Let rest in fridge for about 5 minutes
- Pull it out of the fridge and onto a cutting board; standing over a pot of boiling water with the cutting board, fling off pieces into the pot in batches of 10 using a chef’s knife; fish out after 3 to 4 minutes (or once they rise to the top)
- Dress with butter and salt

The spaetzel is traditionally served as a canvas for chicken paprikash or beef stroganoff, but the beauty is you can make it your own. I’d fancy mine with diced fresh tomato, chopped chive and parsley, shaved black truffle and Parmigiano-Reggiano.