Grammelknödel

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot (6-liter minimum) for boiling
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Small frying pan for onions and filling
• •Slotted spoon
• •Floured plate or board for resting formed dumplings

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the bread cubes

   Place the cubed Semmeln in a large bowl and pour the warm milk over them. Not hot milk, warm. You want to soften the bread, not cook it into paste. Toss gently so every piece gets some milk, then cover with a clean tea towel and let them sit for fifteen minutes. The bread should be soft and damp throughout but not waterlogged. If you squeeze a handful and liquid pours out, you've used too much milk. Squeeze the excess out gently before moving on.

   The bread must be stale, at least two days old. Fresh Semmeln absorb too much liquid and turn the dough gummy. If yours are still soft, cut them into cubes and dry them out on a baking sheet in a low oven for twenty minutes.
2. 2

   Cook the dough onion

   Melt the butter in a small pan over medium-low heat. Add the finely diced onion and cook it slowly until it turns translucent and sweet, about five minutes. You don't want color here. Browned onion will give the dumplings a toasted flavor that competes with the filling. Pull the pan off the heat and let the onion cool for a few minutes.

3. 3

   Build the dumpling dough

   Add the cooked onion, eggs, flour, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to the soaked bread. Mix with your hands. This is a hands job, not a spoon job. You need to feel when the dough comes together. It should be soft and slightly sticky but hold its shape when you press a handful into a ball. If it's too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time. If it's too dry and crumbly, add a splash more milk. Let the dough rest for ten minutes. The flour needs time to hydrate and the bread needs time to bind.

   Gretel always said that Knödelteig is forgiving if you don't overthink it. Trust your hands. If it feels like it would hold together as a ball without falling apart, you're there.
4. 4

   Prepare the Grammeln filling

   While the dough rests, make the filling. Melt the lard or butter in a small pan. Add the second diced onion and cook until soft and just beginning to turn golden, about four minutes. Add the garlic and cook thirty seconds more. If your Grammeln are in large pieces, chop them roughly so they distribute evenly. Toss the Grammeln with the cooked onion, garlic, and marjoram. Season with salt and pepper. The filling should smell intensely savory, with that sweet herbal note of marjoram cutting through the pork fat. Let it cool enough to handle.

5. 5

   Form the dumplings

   Wet your hands. This is not optional. Wet hands are the difference between forming dumplings and wearing them. Take a generous handful of dough, about the size of a tennis ball, and flatten it into a thick disc on your palm. Place a heaped tablespoon of the Grammeln filling in the center. Now bring the edges of the dough up and around the filling, pinching them together at the top, and gently roll the whole thing between your wet palms until it's smooth and round. Set each finished Knödel on a floured plate. You should get eight dumplings from this batch.

   Test one dumpling before you form the rest. Drop it into simmering water and cook it through. If it falls apart, your dough needs more flour or another egg. If it holds but feels dense, you've overworked it. Better to know now than after you've shaped all eight.
6. 6

   Boil the dumplings

   Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil, then reduce it to a gentle simmer. The surface should barely tremble. A rolling boil will batter the dumplings apart. Lower them in carefully, no more than four at a time so they aren't crowded. They'll sink to the bottom and then slowly rise to the surface after eight to ten minutes. Once they float, cook them for another eight to ten minutes. Total time in the water is about eighteen to twenty minutes. They're done when the dough feels firm but gives slightly when you press it with your finger.

   Keep the simmer gentle. If the water is bouncing, your Knödel will lose their shape or split open and the filling will escape into the pot. Turn the heat down until the bubbles are lazy and slow.
7. 7

   Serve with sauerkraut

   Lift the dumplings out with a slotted spoon and let them drain for a moment. Place two Knödel on each warm plate with a generous mound of warm sauerkraut alongside. Some cooks like to slice the first dumpling open at the table to show that rich, crackly Grammeln core hiding inside the soft bread. If you have good lard or brown butter, a spoonful drizzled over the top is traditional and very welcome. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •Source your Grammeln from a good butcher or, better yet, render your own lard at home and keep the cracklings. The fresh ones are incomparably better than anything in a packet. Cut pork back fat into small cubes, cook them slowly in a heavy pot over low heat until the fat renders out and the solids turn deep golden and crisp. Strain, save the lard for pastry, and the Grammeln are your filling.
• •Marjoram is non-negotiable. It's the herb that defines Austrian pork cookery. Dried is fine here, better than fine actually, because it distributes more evenly through the filling. But rub it between your fingers before adding it to release the oils. If it smells like nothing, it's too old. Buy a new jar.
• •If you can't find Grammeln, Speck (Austrian smoked bacon) cut into small cubes and fried crisp is an honest substitution. It won't be the same, the texture of Grammeln is unique, but the savory, porky heart of the dish will be there.
• •Sauerkraut for this dish should be warm and gently cooked with a bay leaf, a few juniper berries, and a tablespoon of lard. Don't overthink it. The sauerkraut is the counterpoint, sharp and acidic against all that soft, rich dumpling.

Advance Preparation

• •The Grammeln filling can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it back to room temperature before filling the dumplings so it doesn't chill the dough.
• •Formed, uncooked Knödel can rest on a floured plate in the fridge for up to three hours before boiling. Cover them loosely so the surface doesn't dry out.
• •Cooked Grammelknödel reheat well. Slice them in half and pan-fry the cut sides in butter until golden and slightly crisp. A different texture than fresh, but very good in its own right.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)