Knifles (Spatzle)
- by Mike Green
On our many hunting trips together, Daryl Haid and I have had a lot of hours to fill while driving down the road. After we have exhausted the subject of women in general and a few specific specimens in particular, Our conversation usually turns to food. One of
Daryl's favorite recipes as a kid was "Knifles" (kuh-nif-lees). It was a recipe that his mother made. She would make a batter and, holding the bowl over a kettle of boiling water, gradually pour the batter into the water. Well, not really pour. As the batter flowed out of the bowl, she would cut it off into small pieces with a knife. The "click-click, click-click" of her knife would bring Daryl running. None of his brothers or sisters learned to make Knifles and the recipe apparently died with his mother. He has asked cooks and friends all over the worked if they had ever heard of
"Knifles" to no avail.
While watching the Frugal Gourmet one Saturday, Jeff Smith was making
spatzle. It occurred to me that it was very similar to the description of Knifles except he used a
spatzle-maker instead of cutting the dough with a knife. Kniffen is either the German word for knife or to cut. I surmised that Knifles derived from the German word. Daryl's Mom had worked out a way of making this common German dish with the tools at hand.
We found a spatzle-maker and called Daryl to come over for the ultimate test. Had we solved the puzzle? We made a batch. He acknowledged that they were real close, but his Mom always made them with crumbled up bacon and green onions. We jumped right in and cooked up a little bacon, chopped up some green onions, mixed them in the batter, cooked up a few and set a plate-full in front of Daryl. He had the strangest look on his face. After a few coughs and "well, -ah, -umm" he said, "These sure are good, but Mom always
sautéed the bacon and onions and poured them over the knifles!" Trust me, his Mom's way of serving them is better.
3 cups flour
½ Tsp salt
4 eggs or (2 eggs plus 2 Tbs oil)
1 cup milk or water
4 eggs or (2 eggs plus 2 Tbs oil)
¼ Tsp nutmeg (optional)
Mix the above ingredients together. Place 2 Tsp salt in 2-4 quarts of boiling water. Make the knifles as Daryl's Mom did with a knife and bowl, or use a
spatzle-maker. A spatzle-maker is a metal plate about 4 inches wide and long enough to fit across the top of a large pot. The plate has holes in it and sliding hopper into which the dough is placed. As the hopper is moved back and forth across the plate, the dough is forced through the holes into the boiling water. You can also make them by forcing the dough through the hole in a large colander into the boiling water. When the knifles float to the surface, they are done and can be dipped out of the water and placed in a colander to drain. They can be rinsed in cold water to remove the surface dough and re-warmed in warm water. Serve by tossing with a little bacon grease,
sautéed bacon pieces and green onions, butter or covered with gravy.
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