Hascheeknödel - meatball dumplings

Am I losing touch with my Austrian self? I could be forgiven, I guess, having lived abroad for a large chunk of my adult life. In terms of all things culinary, I have definitely moved away from the smells of my Mum's kitchen, but then, I have moved away from pretty much everything... to have, quite literally, a melting pot of cuisines on my stove. Life's too short to get stuck with just one thing, would I rather spend decades perfecting this one sauce or enjoy life cooking up a new one every week? I guess this is (among many other things, admittedly) the difference between Ramsay, Ducasse et al and myself - because I'd definitely choose the latter!
I haven't cooked anything Austrian since the great pre-Christmas Schweinsbraten fest we had with friends. But at the end of last year, I chose to make a dish with a bit of history. It always reminds me of our first intercultural experience, when my family (parents, that is) hosted an AFS exchange student from Texas for a year. She really enjoyed Austrian food, and Hascheeknödel were her absolute favourite - she therefore repeatedly went to the pub across the street after school to have a sneaky bite of dumplings before heading home. And my Mum kept wondering why she wasn't hungry. At the time, I was a tender 14-year-old and obviously wasn't allowed the same luxuries as she was...
This is the first time I've made these meat-filled dumplings - not because they're difficult to produce, it's just one of these cultural hurdles: here in the UK, a butcher cannot mince beef and pork in one mincer (because of various ethnic groups who cannot eat either the one or the other), so my butcher (and all others I've encountered so far) will only mince pork. But you need both pork AND beef mince for this dish and the mince you achieve with the blade of a knife is not fine enough for my liking. Also, apart from the fact that cold meats, like a fine smoked ham, or dry sausages, like salamis etc, are not even sold at most butchers here, they could not mince them either, since most of them contain a mixture of meats (and who knows what else goes in there ;-)).
You would expect cultural differences like this in two countries situated 2000 km apart, but I assure you that even in Vienna, barely 200 km away from where I grew up, I was unable to get the ingredients for my beloved Knoedel - I doubt that it's federal law, but rather guidelines from the butcher's guild which do not allow them to mince anything but raw meat (any kind), but under no circumstances cooked varieties, apparently because the added salt ruins the grinding plates.
Every ten years or so, the family suffers a bout of Hascheeknödel cravings and last year I had to get my father to go to his local butcher (who has the freedom to mince whatever takes his fancy, as long as it's not breathing anymore) and secure this eclectic mixture of pork, beef and the trimmings and leftovers from Austrian hams and sausages (Bergsteiger, Braunschweiger, Polnische etc) and have it put through the masticator there and then. Dad was kind enough to already prepare it at home, frying the mince with onions, herbs and seasoning, which only left the duty of kneading the dough and enveloping the tiny meatballs with it. As is custom in Upper Austria, I served it with Sauerkraut (which is now widely available at UK supermarkets) and a gulyas sauce - first time in ages I used a ready-mix! I'll be handing myself in to the foodblogging police as soon as I finish this write-up!

Hascheeknödel - meatball dumplings
(yields ca. 16)

For the meatballs*:
200 g lean beef (minced)
200 g lean pork (minced)
200 g dry cured sausages or cooked ham (minced)
5 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 generous handful chopped parsley
salt, pepper

For the dough**:
540 g floury potatoes (cooked in their skin, the day before, if possible)
210 g plain flour
40 g semolina
2 medium eggs
1 tsp salt

For the meatballs, combine all ingredients in a bowl and work thoroughly. If you can, prepare ahead and freeze the individual balls to wrap them with the dough while still frozen.
Mash the potatoes up finely, using a potato masher or electric mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and knead into a smooth dough. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. Divide the mixture in 16, form a thin round patty and place one of the meatballs in the middle. Spread the dough evenly and thinly to surround all of the meat evenly, then roll between your hands carefully to make sure there are no holes or cracks which could break up while cooking.
Heat salted water in a large pot, add the dumplings and cook in the simmering water for 10 minutes, making sure that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. You will know when they're cooked, as they tend to rise to the water surface when they're done. Turn off the heat and leave to rest for another 5 minutes.
Lift with a slotted spoon and serve with sauerkraut and the gulyas sauce (if you can get some).

* kindly provided by my Dad, Lord Rudi of Hellmonsödt
** based on Plachutta, "Die gute österreichische Küche"

Comments

[Niki]

They look fabulous - I can understand why the Texan girl chased after them each day.
Interesting about the butcher dilemma. We don't have that problem here, as those who can't mix their meats (we have a large Muslim population here. A smaller Jewish one) use their own Halal/Kosher etc. butchers.

[johanna]

hi niki, we do have specialist butchers as well, but you don't have them everywhere. In our suburb for example, there aren't any, and the different cultures tend to spread out much more than I have seen in any other country - there is Chinatown, but few Chinese actually live there, and there are no Italian, Muslim, etc quarters per se. You do find clusters, but not enough people to warrant having their own butcher. so you'd have to travel quite a bit for your meat & other foodstuff, for instance a Chinese living in Surrey would have a 1.5 hr drive before reaching Chinatown. i guess this is why, but I am not 100% sure...

[Jeanne]

Oh my word - those look delicious!! And perfect with the cold weather we've been having. Interesting info about the butchers - seeing as I'm the lazy type who would go and buy ready-minced meat from Tesco, I've never encountered this ;-) I'm intrigued by the addition of minced cured meat offcuts - sounds like somethign I'll have to try (though clearly not in this country!!). I also echo your complaint about the general lack of cured meats and dry sausages around here. :-(

[Sonya]

Well, speaking as the Texan girl referenced above, these were my absolute favorites of Austiran cuisine. My mother and I will be making these in a few weeks when she visits. Now off to the local German store to see if I can find Gulyas sauce.
Sonya

[Heidi]

I LOVE THESE !
My mom always made the meat mixture from leftover meats augmented by specially purchased kielbossa, smoked sausage, ham, etc. Leftover roastbeef, pork roast, etc. were frozen then put through her hand-cranked meat grinder (which I still have and use) along with the freshly purchased meats and onions (no garlic in her recipe) - yes the onions went through the grinder too.