Somewhat shockingly, I realized the other day I have never attempted to make Spätzle from scratch before… ya, I know, that’s borderline criminal! This was my first attempt, and all I can say is I’m kicking myself for never having done this before!! mmmmmmm
About two years ago, I picked up a Spätzle maker at an Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store for about $2. It looked like it’d barely been used before. I just used the first listed recipe on the back of the package and voila! First time ever, perfect Spätzle! Well, perfect for me … I’m pretty sure I overcooked them some but still yummy, yummy, yummy!
This Spätzle maker appears to date to the mid to late 1990s as the original price sticker ($6.75) has a four-digit code of 1196 on the upper right corner of it. One of the many, many jobs I’ve had in my life was as a retail cashier back in the 1980s. We all helped price and stock shelves when deliveries came and always had to adjust the numbers on the pricing gun to the current month/year, so I’m quite positive that the 1196 on the sticker is November 1996. A prior and/or original owner wrote “2/24/97” on the front so that provides further support that this dates to at least 1997.
Here’s the recipes as shown on the back of the package. I used the first recipe. A prior owner wrote on the back their calculation to make half the batch. I found the description of “1/2 egg shell water” such a charming way to describe how much water to add! Coincidentally, I did end up adding 2 tablespoons of water to the batter when I made it, the dough seemed too stiff to go through the holes in the maker.
Making Spätzle is really simple. Simply place the maker on top of a sauce pan (filled with boiling water) and spoon the thick batter into the container on the top of the maker. Then quickly slide the bin back and forth over the holes and little bits of dough fall into the water where they happily boil away for a few minutes! While not as simple as opening a box of dried pasta and throwing it into boiling water, making Spätzle actually took less time than cooking dry pasta. Granted, the time to cook dry pasta is spent mostly doing nothing except occasionally stirring the pasta while the time making and cooking Spätzle is entirely active cooking time.
Oh my, I don’t have the words to describe how many memories of my time in Germany back in 1990 came rushing back as I ate my Spätzle … and I unashamedly admit I ate the entire batch!
