Waldviertler Knödel (Half-and-Half Potato Dumplings)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Potato ricer or food mill
• •Box grater (fine side)
• •Clean tea towel or muslin for squeezing
• •Wide pot (6-liter minimum)
• •Slotted spoon
• •Thread for slicing (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the cooked half

   Peel the first 500g of potatoes and cut them into even chunks. Put them in a pot of salted water and boil until a knife slides through without resistance, about twenty minutes depending on size. Drain them thoroughly. This is important: wet potatoes make wet dough, and wet dough makes Knödel that fall apart in the pot. Let them sit in the drained pot on low heat for a minute, shaking gently, so the surface moisture evaporates.

   Use starchy potatoes, not waxy ones. You need the high starch content to bind the dough. If you can only find all-purpose potatoes, increase the flour by a tablespoon.
2. 2

   Rice the cooked potatoes

   Pass the hot potatoes through a ricer or food mill immediately while they're still too hot to handle comfortably. Hot potatoes rice smoothly into light, dry flakes. Cold potatoes resist and turn gluey no matter how carefully you work them. Spread the riced potato across a large board or baking tray so it cools quickly and releases its remaining moisture. Don't mash them with a fork or masher. You'll activate too much starch and the dough will be gummy.

3. 3

   Grate the raw half

   Peel the second 500g of potatoes. Grate them on the fine side of a box grater directly into a clean tea towel or piece of muslin. You want a fine pulp, not coarse shreds. Gather the cloth into a bundle and squeeze out as much liquid as you can over a bowl. Really squeeze. Twist the cloth tight and press until almost nothing comes out. The drier this raw potato is, the better your Knödel will hold together.

   Let the squeezed liquid sit in the bowl for five minutes. The potato starch will settle to the bottom as a white paste. Pour off the water and scrape that starch back into your raw potato. Free starch, free binding power.
4. 4

   Combine the dough

   Mound the cooled riced potato on your work surface. Add the squeezed raw potato on top. Sprinkle over the flour, salt, white pepper, and nutmeg. Work everything together with your hands, pressing and folding, until you have a smooth, cohesive dough. This takes two or three minutes. The dough should feel slightly tacky but hold its shape when you press it. If it sticks to your hands badly, dust them with flour. If it crumbles and won't come together, your potatoes were too dry: wet your hands lightly and try again.

   Don't knead this dough the way you'd knead bread. You're pressing and folding, not stretching. Overworking activates too much starch and you'll end up with something closer to rubber than a dumpling.
5. 5

   Shape the Knödel

   Dust your hands with flour. Pull off a portion of dough roughly the size of a tennis ball. Roll it between your palms, pressing firmly, until you have a smooth round with no cracks on the surface. Cracks let water in during cooking and the Knödel will fall apart from the inside. If the surface cracks, smooth it closed with damp fingers. You should get about eight dumplings from this quantity. Set them on a floured board as you work.

6. 6

   Simmer the Knödel

   Bring four liters of salted water to a rolling boil in your widest pot. The Knödel need room to move or they'll stick to each other. Lower the heat until the water is at a gentle simmer, with lazy bubbles rising to the surface. Slide the Knödel in carefully, one at a time. They'll sink to the bottom. Don't touch them. After a few minutes they'll float to the surface on their own. Once they float, simmer for another eighteen to twenty minutes. The water should never boil hard. A violent boil will tear them apart. Gentle heat, steady patience.

   Gretel always said: test one first. If you're not sure about your dough, cook a single small Knödel before committing the whole batch. If it holds together and tastes right, you're good. If it falls apart, work another tablespoon of flour into the remaining dough.
7. 7

   Serve the Knödel

   Lift the Knödel out with a slotted spoon and let them drain for a moment. Serve them whole alongside Schweinsbraten, braised beef, or Sauerkraut. Or do what they do in the Waldviertel: slice each Knödel in half with a piece of thread pulled taut between your hands, not a knife. A knife compresses the surface. Thread cuts cleanly and shows off that distinctive half-translucent interior that tells you the raw potato did its work. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •The potato variety matters more here than in almost any other Austrian recipe. You want high-starch, floury potatoes. In Austria that means mehlige Erdäpfel. In Britain, King Edwards or Maris Pipers. In America, Russets. Waxy potatoes will give you a dense, heavy Knödel with none of the elasticity that makes this dish special.
• •Use thread, not a knife, to cut your finished Knödel in half. Wrap a length of sewing thread around both index fingers, slide it through the middle of the dumpling, and pull. The cut is clean, the texture stays intact, and you can actually see the translucent interior that the raw potato creates. Every Waldviertel grandmother does this.
• •Leftover Knödel are almost better the next day. Slice them into rounds about a centimeter thick and fry them in butter until golden on both sides. Crispy outside, chewy inside. Serve them with eggs for breakfast and you'll understand why the Waldviertel never throws a dumpling away.
• •If your kitchen is warm or you're working slowly, keep the grated raw potato covered with a damp cloth. It oxidizes quickly and turns grey, which won't affect the flavor but will give your Knödel a dull color instead of that pale, clean look.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made and shaped up to two hours ahead. Keep the formed Knödel on a well-floured board, covered loosely with a tea towel, at room temperature. Don't refrigerate the raw dough: the cold makes it harder to work and the raw potato will discolor.
• •Cooked Knödel keep in the fridge for two days. Reheat by simmering in salted water for five minutes, or slice and pan-fry in butter for an entirely different (and equally good) experience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)