Spundekäs

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Fine sieve and bowl for draining
• •Hand mixer or sturdy whisk
• •Rubber spatula
• •Shallow serving bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Drain and temper

   Set the quark in a fine sieve over a bowl for 20 to 30 minutes if it looks loose, then let the quark, cream cheese, butter, and Schmand sit until cool-room soft. Wet quark thins the spread before you start, and cold butter breaks into little grains that no whisk will fully hide.

   If your quark is already dry and spoonable, skip the draining and loosen later with a spoon of Schmand. The target is spreadable, not pourable.
2. 2

   Prepare the onion

   Mince the onion fine enough that it disappears into the cheese; large pieces bite harder than the spread can carry. If the onion is fierce, rinse it in cold water for one minute and dry it well, because water left on the onion loosens the bowl and early salt will pull out more.

3. 3

   Beat the base

   Beat the butter and cream cheese first until smooth, then beat in the quark and Schmand until the mixture is soft and slightly fluffy. This order matters: fat can only take in the quark cleanly once the butter has been smoothed, and it keeps the finished Spundekäs from looking curdled.

4. 4

   Season with paprika

   Beat in the sweet paprika, hot paprika if using, crushed caraway, black pepper, and the Riesling or vinegar. Paprika tastes dusty when it sits dry on top; worked into the fat, it colours the whole spread pale salmon and tastes round instead of raw.

5. 5

   Fold and chill

   Fold in half the onion, cover, and chill for at least 1 hour. The rest lets the paprika and dairy settle together, while holding back some onion keeps the make-ahead bowl from turning watery and sharp.

6. 6

   Salt and serve

   Stir, taste cold, then salt only as much as it needs; cold dairy hides salt and pretzels bring their own, so salting early is how you make the bowl loud. Spoon it into a shallow bowl or shape it into a little cone like the old barrel bung, dust with paprika, scatter the remaining onion and chives, and serve with Laugenbrezeln, radishes, and a glass of Rheinhessen Riesling or Hessian Apfelwein. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use full-fat quark and Doppelrahmfrischkäse. Low-fat quark tastes chalky here, and there is no sauce or heat to hide it.
• •Onion is the clock on this dish. The dairy base can wait two days, but raw onion gets stronger and wetter as it sits, so keep some back for the top and add it close to serving.
• •Use sweet paprika, edelsüß, as the main seasoning. Hot paprika is a small accent, not the driver; if the bowl burns before it tastes of dairy, you've made the wrong spread.
• •If you cannot get quark, use fromage blanc or smooth farmer cheese loosened with a spoon of sour cream. Cottage cheese has curds, and curds do not belong in Spundekäs.
• •For a picnic, keep it in a cooler and set out only what will be eaten within two hours. Fresh dairy is fresh dairy. No drama, just keep it cold.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the dairy base without the onion up to 2 days ahead, covered in the refrigerator. Fold in onion and do the final salt tasting after chilling, because the cold changes how salty it tastes.
• •A finished bowl keeps 24 hours, but the onion grows sharper and the spread loosens. Stir it once before serving and dust with fresh paprika so it looks awake again.
• •Do not freeze it. Quark and cream cheese split after thawing, and a grainy Spundekäs is a sad thing to put beside a good pretzel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 175g)