Source: spaetzlemaker.net - useless unitasker.

Inspiration for this post comes from Serious Eats. Over there, Nikki Goldstein introduces us to a “Spaetzle Maker” and states boldly: “You can’t make Spaetzle without using a Spaetzle Maker”.

Au contraire, my dear Nikki, you can and should make Spaetzle without a Spaetzle Maker. Let me count the ways:

• Traditionally, Spaetzle are made from a board. Slather the dough onto the board, then use a knife to smooth out the first inch on the board and swiftly push the line into the boiling water. Bavarians call this “shucken”, the same word used in Yiddish for the act of scraping Matzeh dumplings into broth.
• If that’s too much work, do what the rest does – use a pastry bag and slowly extrude the dough into the water.

Spaetzle Lid - gets too hot too fast.

Spaetzle makers suck for a number of reasons. The biggest one being: boiling water steams. The steam rises up, heating the metal bottom of the Spaetzle maker, and pre-cooking your Spaetzle. Rubbery, cloggy, stringy, Spaetzle ensue.

Aside from the model pictured on Serious Eats (reproduced from source to the right), there’s also the slightly less high-tech (yes, this is as high tech as they go) Spaetzle lid, a round plate with holes fitting over the pot of boiling water through which the dough is pushed using a dough scraper or spatula.

Some people use ricers, others use slotted spoons. But each and every one of those approaches has the aforementioned heat issue. Use a board, learn to use it, and you’ll never look back.

Since the board method is hard to explain and even harder to reproduce in pictures, let’s have us a little vote – if there’s enough interest in a video showing how to make my favorite dish, Jaeger Schnitzel with Spaetzle and Kraut, I’ll make one.