RECIPE: Rec: Specknodel (Bacon Dumplings with Cabbage)

RECIPE:

melissa-dallas

Well-known member
Richard, when she says white cabbage is she talking about Savoy? These sound fabulous.

SPECKKNODEL (BACON DUMPLINGS with WHITE CABBAGE)

serves four

500 grams floury potatoes, peeled

150 grams flour

1 small egg

salt

200 grams bacon

2 eggs

200 grams crème fraîche

2 tablespoons corn starch

nutmeg

For the cabbage salad:

1 large white cabbage

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

200 grams lean bacon, cut in tiny cubes

100 ml white wine or apple cider vinegar

For the dumplings, cook the potatoes (without peeling or cutting them) until tender. Peel and mash with a fork or potato ricer (don't be tempted to use an electric whisk, or you'll end up with a glue-like mass that is impossible to work). When the potatoes have cooled down just enough to be able to handle them with your bare hands, add the egg and flour, season with salt and knead into a smooth dough.

Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, flatten them in your hands and put a ball of bacon bits in the middle. Roll the dumplings with floury hands, making sure that the bacon is well enveloped and the dough closes tightly around them. Sit the dumplings in a greased, oven-proof dish and bake in the oven for ca. 25 minutes at 200 C.

Whisk the eggs, crème fraîche and corn starch together, season with salt and nutmeg and pour over the dumplings. Continue to cook until the egg mixture has set.

While the dumplings are baking, cut the cabbage into thin strips (no more than 5 mm) and cook in salted water with the caraway seeds until tender. Drain and return to the pot. Cut the bacon into 1 cm dice and fry in a shallow pan until nicely brown. When the bacon bits are done, add them and the fat they released to the cabbage. Return the pan to the stove and add the vinegar, heat it up and add to the cabbage. Mix through and keep warm until serving.

bacon recipe courtesy of: Johanna Wagner, thepassionatecook, London, UK, August 22, 2004

 
Melissa...

I'm not familiar with this recipe, but any normal cabbage would do. My grandmother always called the cabbage in the summer out of the garden "green" cabbage. This time of year, it's all going to be the winter "white". But the cabbage they use in Germany is a different variety than we buy in the stores here anyway. They're elongated with pointy tops.

Very interesting recipes, I've never seen a baked specknodel recipe and I would love to try it. Sounds delicious!

about the cabbage salad: This is ubiquitous in the fall and winter in Germany. I think I was served this with nearly every meal when I was in Bavaria last month. I would caution about over cooking the cabbage. The usual German preparation is to salt the cabbage after it's shredded, let it sit in a colander for a couple hours to drain, pour the hot vinaegrette over it without cooking, then leave to marinate for several hours or overnight. Leaves the cabbage a little crispy but tender as the salting process sort of "pickles" the cabbage.

 
Thanks Richard. I'll try the salting/hot vinaigrette idea.

I just think this sounds so fabulous, I can hardly wait to try it.

 
That's an interesting technique Richard. When I was a kid, there was a really great cook on our

street. She made the best cole slaw anyone had ever had. We all knew there was something 'special' she did in the preparation but she would never tell anyone.

Finally, when I grew up and was ready to leave the city, I became the first person she shared her secret with. This was it. She 'marinated' the shredded cabbage for several hours with the onions and then drained it.

She also sent me off with her other 'secret recipe' which I have made several times since.

Sad when people don't want to share. This woman got early Alzheimers about 10 years later so she would have taken her recipes to her grave with her.

AAAAAHHH, I remember her dinners so clearly.

I think I'll try Melissa's recipe as well.

 
Back
Top