One of the au pairs who took care of my kids was from Germany, and one of the things she missed most was the schnitzel and spätzle back home. I enjoy learning to cook new things, so I took it as a challenge.
Schnitzel is a flattened, breaded and fried meat. Spätzle is a type of egg noodle.
I scoured the internet for the best recipes. I found the best methods to make schnitzel and spätzle at The Daring Gourmet. Instead of copying or paraphrasing them, just go there and look at the recipes yourself. Here are some of my notes about the process:
- One shortcut I use is to use cartons of egg substitute or egg whites instead of whole eggs. It makes preparation simpler and faster if that is a concern.
- I like to fry using a wok and lots of peanut oil
- I tried making spätzle “the easy way,” and failed. The dough was too lumpy and couldn’t make it out of the hole. Then the bag burst. However, this disaster led me to discover another “easy way.” It’s not pretty, but it tastes just as good. Just make the spätzle dough according to Daring Gourmet instructions (you can cut another corner here by not mixing it so vigorously as they suggest). Then drop the whole chunk of dough into boiling water. With a stiff spatula, cut the dough into tiny pieces as it’s cooking. Strain and fry in butter when it’s done. It cuts many corners while remaining delicious.
- My German au pair informed me that schnitzel and spätzle wouldn’t be complete without brown gravy. That was easy enough to remedy. I just followed the ingredients on this site.
The whole family (including au pair) loved the dish. The kids especially loved the spätzle. I think we’ll make this again.
Steve’s Rating: 10/10
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