SC - Spaetzle recipe OOP

[Christina van Tets]

Stefan,

you _bought_ some Spaetzle mix?  I didn't realise it was possible.

The recipe I was taught when living in southern Germany runs as follows:

for four people (if you eat like my lord and not like me)
5 cups white flour (preferably strong)
4 eggs
enough water to make a stirrable dough (but not runny)

Stir it.  When it's all mixed together, beat it until it sparkles (nice 
description - the one I was given by the people I lived with).

Wet a cutting board and a knife.  Bundle all the dough onto the board and 
put the bowl and spoon to soak immediately.  This stuff sets like concrete.  
Scrape in little lines of about 1/4 in thick and maybe 2 in long, into 
simmering salted water.  They will sink to the bottom and rise as they are 
cooked.  Wet the knife periodically in the cooking water to remove the 
clogged bits.  Don't do too many at once (I find half a cup or so is about 
right) or they will stick together, and fish them out with a slotted spoon 
when they've had a few seconds' floating, otherwise they turn to porridge.  
Don't forget to soak the board and knife.

If you make this kind of quantity I find there are always some left over, 
and the accepted way in my Schwaebisch household to use them up was either 
to heat some broth with herbs and chuck in the Spaetzle at the last minute, 
or to smother them with cheese, bacon and anything else you can think of and 
put them under the grill.

So does anyone know why they are called Spaetzle, and does it have anything 
to do with sparrows (or sparrow droppings, as a former boyfriend once 
cheerfully told me)?

Cairistiona

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