Sorry for the late upload, but I had some mysterious modem issues, and this German potato dumpling video took over 5 hours to upload! I was having flashbacks to those good, old dial-up AOL days, and they weren’t good flashbacks. I do miss that cool modem sound, but that's about it.
Anyway, it’s late, but I wanted to post the ingredient amounts, and maybe I'll add some more info tomorrow, although these are so basic that’s probably not necessary. The only tip I’ll give is that I think baking the potatoes works better than boiling them whole. Peeling, quartering, and boiling until tender will also work, but don’t overcook them, otherwise they'll absorb too much water.
By the way, if you’re German, or know the same things they do, I’d love to learn why we're sticking croutons in the middle of these things. I totally get the crumbs on top, but inside? If you have an explanation, I’d like love to hear it, and in the meantime, I really do hope you give these a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 to 10 German Potato Dumplings:
2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cayenne to taste
I’ve never been a huge fan of German potato salad, for two very good reasons. First of all, my love for mayonnaise borders on inappropriate, and secondly, the potatoes always seem to be under-cooked.
I enjoy many things cooked al dente, but potatoes are never, ever one of them. I know people want clean, neat slices, but to me that’s just not a good enough reason.
However, if they’re cooked tender, especially over some smoky coals, I can forgive the lack of mayo, since this is a very flavorful change of pace, and as I mentioned in the video, perfect for bringing to a cookout. A German potato salad must be eaten warm, or at least room temp, so placing a bowl of this on a sunny picnic table works out very well.
I use a ton of bacon in my version, because it’s bacon, but if you do decide to use less, you’ll have to add some vegetable or olive oil to the dressing to make up the difference. You could just use less vinegar, but then you might not have enough dressing to really soak the potatoes, which would be a shame. So, what I’m trying to say is, use a lot of bacon. Either way, I really do hope you give this great potato salad a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 Portions Grilled German Potato Salad:
2 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, grilled until just tender
1/4 cup freshly chopped Italian parsley
For the dressing:
8 ounces sliced bacon
1 cup diced yellow onion
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
cayenne to taste
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
Note: If you want you dressing tangier, add more vinegar, but if you want it less so, you’ll have to adjust with vegetable oil, since you can’t add more bacon fat.
Apparently “Spätzle” translates to “little sparrows” in German, which makes a lot of sense when you consider their shape. What doesn’t make sense is why these micro-dumplings are also called “spaetzle.” Is it an alternate spelling? A different recipe? I’m hoping maybe some of our German foodwishers can clear this up.
Since my favorite German restaurant calls this stuff spätzle, that’s what I went with, and they are as easy to make, as they are hard to correctly pronounce. You only need a few ingredients, all of which you generally have on hand at all times, and they take just minutes to cook.
Once boiled, you can toss in butter like I did, or sauce them any way you’d sauce similarly shaped pasta. While wonderful served as-is, they make the perfect side dish to any large hunk of slowly braised meat. I paired mine with a pork shoulder stewed in hard cider, and it was amazing.
I thought I’d posted a video for that, but it was actually a cider-braised pork cheeks recipe I was thinking of, which would work perfectly here. So, I may have to do a braised pork shoulder after all. In the meantime, I’m sure you’ll have little trouble figuring out what to serve yours with, and I really do hope you give this Spätzle recipe a try soon. Enjoy!
