Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut

Method

1. Peel the cooked potatoes while they are still warm and press them through a ricer onto a tray. Spread them out and let them cool completely. Warm potato steams into the flour and gives you a sticky dough.
2. Add the flour, starch, egg, salt, and a good grating of nutmeg. Mix roughly with a fork, then knead by hand only until the dough comes together and is smooth. Kneading past that point turns it gluey.
3. Pinch off a piece, roll it into a rope about 2 cm thick on a floured board, and cut it into pieces about 2 cm long. Roll each piece between your palms into a short noodle with tapered ends. Set them on a floured tray.
4. Simmer the Schupfnudeln in batches in gently salted water. They are done about 30 seconds after they float. Lift them out and spread them on an oiled tray so they do not stick. Do not let the water boil hard or they break up.
5. Melt half the butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the Schupfnudeln in a single layer, in two batches, without stirring for the first two minutes, until they are browned on the flat sides. Set them aside.
6. Add the rest of the butter and the Speck to the pan and render it until the edges crisp. Add the onion and cook until soft and just golden.
7. Add the sauerkraut, sugar, caraway, and juniper. Let it fry for 3 minutes so the kraut takes on some colour, then pour in the broth and apple juice. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until most of the liquid is gone.
8. Taste the kraut. If it is flat, add a splash of the reserved sauerkraut liquid. If it is too sharp, another pinch of sugar.
9. Fold the Schupfnudeln back in, warm them through for a minute without stirring much, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Finish with chives.

Notes

• Most people here buy Schupfnudeln fresh from the Kühlregal and do not make the dough at all, and that is a perfectly good way to cook this. Buy 700 to 800 g, skip steps 1 through 4, and fry them straight from the packet. Making them yourself is worth it once, so you know what the good ones taste like.
• Floury potatoes only. Waxy potatoes will not bind and the dough needs so much extra flour that the noodles turn tough.
• Potatoes cooked the day before and left in the fridge overnight give the driest, best dough. This is the difference between a good batch and a heavy one.
• If the dough tears when you roll it, add flour a tablespoon at a time. If it smears and sticks, the potatoes were too wet or too warm.
• Sauerkraut varies a lot. The loose Fasskraut sold at a German market stall is mild and worth seeking out. Jarred kraut in Canada is usually sharper and saltier, so rinse it briefly and lean harder on the sugar and apple juice.
• Speck substitution: in Canada, thick-cut streaky bacon or diced pancetta both work. Pancetta is closer in fat and salt, bacon brings more smoke.
• The Schupfnudeln can be boiled a day ahead and kept oiled and covered in the fridge. They fry better cold than fresh.
• Uncooked shaped Schupfnudeln freeze well on a tray, then bagged. Cook them from frozen, giving them an extra minute.

Sources used

• Crumbs&Crust: Grundrezept für Schupfnudeln
• Küchenstübchen: Schupfnudeln selber machen
• emmikochteinfach: Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut und Speck
• Gaumenfreundin: Schupfnudeln mit Sauerkraut