Serviettenknödel

The same dough as semmelknödel, rolled in a cloth and steamed as one log, then sliced.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 350 g stale white bread rolls, in cubes
• 300 ml milk, hot
• 3 eggs
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 20 g butter
• 3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a clean cotton cloth or napkin, and string
• butter, for the cloth and for frying the slices

Method

1. THE SAME DOUGH AS SEMMELKNÖDEL, ROLLED IN A CLOTH AND STEAMED AS ONE LOG, THEN SLICED. Its article states the first half outright -- they are MADE FROM THE SAME DOUGH AS SEMMELKNÖDEL -- and the name carries the second: Serviettenklösse means napkin dumpling. Make the dough as on the semmelknödel page; everything after that is different.
2. SO THIS IS NOT A VARIANT RECIPE, IT IS A VARIANT OBJECT. One dough, two decisions: balls dropped into water, or a log wrapped in cloth and steamed above it. The second gives flat round slices with a cut face that fries, which the boiled ones do not have.
3. AND IT IS WHY THIS ONE IS MADE THE DAY BEFORE. A log slices cleanly cold and crumbles hot, so the steaming and the eating are two separate jobs.
4. MIX THE DOUGH AND REST IT TWENTY MINUTES as for the balls: hot milk over stale bread, then eggs, softened onion, parsley and salt.
5. BUTTER THE CLOTH GENEROUSLY BEFORE THE DOUGH TOUCHES IT. Unbuttered, the outside welds to the cotton and tears off when you unwrap it.
6. ROLL IT INTO A LOG ABOUT EIGHT CENTIMETRES THICK, wrap it firmly in the cloth and tie both ends. Firmly, not tightly: it swells.
7. STEAM IT ABOVE THE WATER, NOT IN IT, FOR FORTY MINUTES. Submerged, the cloth lets water in and the log turns to porridge.
8. UNWRAP IT AND LET IT COOL BEFORE CUTTING. Two centimetres thick, with a bread knife and no sawing.
9. THE SLICES ARE FRIED IN BUTTER TO SERVE, which is the whole reason for making it this way. Two minutes a side, until the cut faces are brown and crisp.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes