Kartoffelschnitz und Spätzle

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.