Швабские шпецле и кнёпфле: традиционные немецкие яичные макароны.

Type of noodles

Spätzle , or nokedli in Hungarian, are a type of Central European egg noodles typically served as a side for meat dishes with sauce. Commonly associated with Swabia and Alsace, it is also found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Hungary, Vojvodina, Slovenia, Lorraine, Moselle and South Tyrol.

Spätzle is the Swabian and Alsacian diminutive of Spatz, thus literally "little sparrow". They are also known as Knöpfle (diminutive of button). In Switzerland they are called Spätzli or Chnöpfli, in Hungarian Nokedli or Csipetke, in Slovenian Vaseršpacli or vodni žličniki and in Ladin Fierfuli. The Slovak Halušky (Hungarian: Galuska) is also similar. Before the use of mechanical devices, the noodles were shaped by hand or with a spoon, and the results resembled Spatzen (plural of Spatz, meaning sparrows, sparrow is Spatz or Sperling in German; Spätzle is the diminutive of Spatz, unchanged in plural). Knöpfle means "small buttons" and describes the compact, round form of the noodle. In everyday language usage, the two names refer to the same product made from the same dough and are interchangeable. In 1725, Rosino Lentilio, a councillor and personal physician from Württemberg, concluded that "Knöpflein" and "Spazen" were "all the things that are made from flour". and are generally associated with the German state of Baden Württemberg. In France, they are associated with Alsace and Moselle. Germany's estimated annual commercial production of spätzle is approximately 40,000 tons. Pre made spätzle are also available internationally.

Since March 2012, Swabian Spätzle and Swabian Knöpfle have been awarded the EU quality seal for "Protected Geographical Indications (PGI)" and are protected throughout Europe as a regional specialty. To be able to bear this sign, one of the production stages of the product must have taken place in the respectively defined region of origin.

Spätzle is a type of pasta or dumpling or noodles. Spätzle dough typically consists of few ingredients, principally eggs, flour, and salt. The Swabian rule of thumb is to use a number of eggs equal to the number of servings, plus one. Water is often added to produce a runnier dough. The flour traditionally used for spätzle is bread wheat (not the durum wheat used for Italian pasta); however, a more coarsely milled type is used for spätzle making than for baking. This flour type is known as Dunst, similar to US "first clear" or Czech hrubá type. This gives a chewier texture but can produce a dough too crumbly for scraping if no water is added, particularly when cutting short on eggs for dietary reasons. If fine ("all purpose") flour and the full amount of eggs are used, all fat and moisture in the dough is derived from these, and water is rarely necessary. Traditionally, spätzle are made by scraping long, thin strips of dough off a wooden (sometimes wet) chopping board (spätzlebrett) into boiling salted water, where they cook until they rise to the surface. Altogether, the dough should thus be as viscous as to slowly flow apart if cut into strips with a knife, yet hold the initial shape for some seconds. If dropped into boiling water, the albumen will congeal quickly in the boiling water, while the yolk will keep the dough succulent. After the pasta has become firm, they are skimmed and put aside. Since this can be a cumbersome way to prepare spätzle, several devices were invented to facilitate cooking that resemble a strainer or colander, potato ricer (spätzlepresse), food mill or coarse grater (spätzlehobel). As with scraped spätzle, the dough drops into the boiling water. Those instruments that use muscle pressure in addition to gravity can be used with a firmer dough; that for a spätzlehobel should be as "runny" as the one for scraping.

For certain specialty dishes, the dough may be enriched with minced pork liver (resulting in de), spinach, or finely grated cheese.