Chef Klaus
Allgäuer Käsesuppe
The Allgäu's Alpine cheese soup works only if the Bergkäse melts gently off the heat, where it turns smooth instead of stringy.
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Kartoffelschnitz und Spätzle
Created by
A Swabian Alb pot where potato wedges and homemade Spätzle take the smoke from pork rind and bone, with dried pear for the old sweet note that made little meat feed many.
Soups & Stews
German
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
One Pot
45 min
Active Time
1 hr 40 min cook•2 hr 25 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Kartoffelschnitz und Spätzle is Swabian Alb cooking, a winter pot from a stony upland where potatoes kept in the cellar, dried pears from the larder, and a small piece of smoked pork had to feed more people than the pork deserved. This is Hausmannskost, honest home cooking, but don't confuse plain with careless. The broth has to taste of the smoke before the potatoes go in, or the whole pot eats thin.
Every village pulls the word Schnitz its own way. Some cooks mean potato wedges, clean and savoury. Older Alb kitchens also mean dried pear or apple slices, those leathery pieces put up for winter and brought back in broth. Stuttgart has its cousin, Gaisburger Marsch, with beef, potatoes, Spätzle, and fried onions. The Alb pot is poorer, smokier, and more direct. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders, different in the north, different in the south. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The rule is simple: broth first, Spätzle last. I simmer the smoked pork, rind, and bone before anything else because their salt, smoke, and gelatine have to season the liquid from inside. If you throw the potatoes in too early, they soften before the broth has a backbone. The Spätzle go in cooked at the end because flour noodles left to boil in stew give up starch and turn a clear pot into paste.
Watch the potatoes. They should yield to a knife and still keep their corners. Then the pork returns, the Spätzle take a little broth, and the vinegar goes in at the end to wake up the smoke and pear. Das braucht seine Zeit, but not a ceremony.
On the Schwäbische Alb, the stony upland of Württemberg, dishes such as Kartoffelschnitz und Spätzle grew out of small mixed farms where smoked pork, cellar potatoes, and dried fruit had to carry the pot through winter. The potato reached German fields late; Frederick II's Prussian potato orders of 1756 belong to the same 18th-century push that made the tuber ordinary, and in Württemberg it took firm hold after the hunger years of 1770-1772. The regional argument sits in the word Schnitz: on the Alb it can mean cut potato wedges, while older Swabian larder cooking also uses Schnitz for dried apple or pear slices, so some pots run savoury, some sweet-sour, and both know where they live.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried pear slices (Dörrbirnen or Hutzeln) (optional)
Quantity
80g
rinsed
smoked pork belly, smoked pork rib, or Kassler neck
Quantity
350g
with rind or bone if possible
cold water
Quantity
1.5 litres
onion
Quantity
1 medium
quartered
carrot
Quantity
1
roughly chopped
leek
Quantity
1 small
split and rinsed
celeriac
Quantity
100g
peeled and chopped
bay leaves
Quantity
2
juniper berries
Quantity
6
lightly crushed
black peppercorns
Quantity
1 teaspoon
waxy or all-purpose potatoes
Quantity
900g
peeled and cut into thick wedges
Spätzle flour or plain flour
Quantity
300g
eggs
Quantity
3 large
cold water for Spätzle batter
Quantity
90-120ml
fine salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
plus more for cooking water and final seasoning
freshly grated nutmeg
Quantity
1 pinch
lard or butter
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1 large
sliced into half moons
cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 tablespoon
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
parsley or chives
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried pear slices (Dörrbirnen or Hutzeln) (optional)rinsed | 80g |
| smoked pork belly, smoked pork rib, or Kassler neckwith rind or bone if possible | 350g |
| cold water | 1.5 litres |
| onionquartered | 1 medium |
| carrotroughly chopped | 1 |
| leeksplit and rinsed | 1 small |
| celeriacpeeled and chopped | 100g |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| juniper berrieslightly crushed | 6 |
| black peppercorns | 1 teaspoon |
| waxy or all-purpose potatoespeeled and cut into thick wedges | 900g |
| Spätzle flour or plain flour | 300g |
| eggs | 3 large |
| cold water for Spätzle batter | 90-120ml |
| fine saltplus more for cooking water and final seasoning | 1 teaspoon |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1 pinch |
| lard or butter | 1 tablespoon |
| onionsliced into half moons | 1 large |
| cider vinegar or white wine vinegar | 1 tablespoon |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| parsley or chiveschopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5 litre pot
- •Spätzle press or Spätzlebrett with scraper
- •Spider or slotted spoon
- •Fine sieve
- •Small skillet for onions
Instructions
- 1
Soak the pears
If you're using dried pear slices, cover them with 300ml hot water and leave them 30 minutes, then keep the soaking water. A dry pear dropped straight into the stew steals liquid from the potatoes and stays leathery; soaked pear gives sweetness back to the pot and its water becomes part of the broth.
- 2
Start the broth
Put the smoked pork, cold water, quartered onion, carrot, leek, celeriac, bay, juniper, and peppercorns into a heavy pot. Bring it just to a simmer, skim once, then runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature, and keep it barely moving for 60 to 75 minutes. A hard boil clouds the broth and drives the smoke harsh; a quiet simmer pulls salt, smoke, and gelatine from the rind and bone.
Use water here, not a stock cube. The smoked pork is the stock. Nicht aus dem Glas, and not from a packet either. - 3
Beat the batter
While the broth simmers, beat the flour, eggs, 1 teaspoon fine salt, nutmeg, and 90ml cold water into a thick, elastic Spätzle batter. Add the last 30ml water only if the batter is too stiff to fall from a spoon in heavy ribbons. Beat until it blisters, then rest it 20 minutes; the rest lets the flour drink, so the dough stretches cleanly instead of tearing into hard pellets.
- 4
Cook the Spätzle
Bring a wide pot of salted water to a tremble, not a wild boil. Press or scrape the batter through a Spätzle press or from a board in batches, then lift the noodles as soon as they float and feel set at the edges. Cook them separately so the stew stays a stew; Spätzle boiled long in the pork broth shed flour and turn the liquor thick and dull.
Yesterday's homemade Spätzle are good here. A dried packet noodle is a different thing, and it drinks the broth badly. - 5
Strain and cut
Lift out the smoked pork and strain the broth into a clean pot. Dice the meat into bite-size pieces, and dice any tender rind finely because it carries the gelatine that makes the broth feel rounded. Weggeworfen wird nichts, nothing gets thrown away, unless the bone has already given everything it had.
- 6
Cook the potatoes
Return about 1.2 litres broth to the pot, adding the pear soaking water if you used it. Add the potato wedges and soaked pears, then simmer 12 to 15 minutes until a knife slides through the potatoes but the edges still hold. Use waxy or all-purpose potatoes for this; a floury potato falls apart and makes mud before the Spätzle even arrive.
- 7
Brown the onion
While the potatoes cook, melt the lard or butter in a small pan and cook the sliced onion slowly until deep gold at the edges and soft through the middle. Slow browning matters because fast heat blackens the outside while the onion stays raw inside, and raw onion on this pot tastes like a mistake.
- 8
Finish the pot
Fold the diced pork and cooked Spätzle into the potatoes and hold the pot at a bare simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, just long enough for the noodles to take a little broth. Do not boil it now; everything is already cooked, and boiling only breaks the potatoes and clouds the liquor. Finish with vinegar, black pepper, and salt only after you taste, because smoked pork seasons late and unevenly. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. Ladle into bowls and put the browned onion and herbs on top.
Chef Tips
- •Use waxy or all-purpose potatoes, not floury ones. The wedge has to hold in broth; if it collapses, you have a cloudy potato soup with noodles hiding in it.
- •Buy smoked pork with rind or bone if you can. The lean cube looks tidy, but the rind and bone give the broth body. Weggeworfen wird nichts.
- •Salt at the end. Kassler and smoked belly vary wildly, and a pot that tastes shy after 30 minutes can become salty after the pork has warmed through again.
- •For a true one-pot night, use Spätzle you made the day before. Fresh Spätzle deserve their own water so the stew stays clear and the noodles stay clean-edged.
- •The dried pear is optional, but it is the old Alb note. Soak it and use the soaking water; throwing that away is throwing away flavour you already paid for.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the smoked pork broth up to 2 days ahead, then chill it with the diced pork kept in the strained liquid. The fat will set on top; lift off excess, but leave a little because fat carries the smoke.
- •Cook the Spätzle a day ahead and toss them with a spoon of butter or lard so they don't clump. Add them only at the end when reheating the stew.
- •The finished stew keeps 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently and loosen with a splash of water or broth; hard boiling on the second day breaks the potatoes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 560g)
Calories
580 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
140 mg
Sodium
1450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
83 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
13 g
Protein
23 g
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