Fink'Stuebel ★ 4.3
Fink'Stuebel is a half-timbered winstub near Petite France with painted ceilings, serving baeckeoffe, kaseknepfle dumplings and roast pork knuckle.
Signature: Baeckeoffe, Kaseknepfle
History
Lewerknepfle (Alsatian for 'liver dumplings') are the Alsatian household answer to the German Leberknödel: poached dumplings of liver, bread, eggs and herbs, originally a thrift kitchen dish using offal that would otherwise spoil. They were and remain Friday and Lent staples in Alsatian households, traditionally served in soup but more commonly in the brown-butter-and-fried-onion finish on every winstub menu. Fink'Stuebel and Le Schnockeloch plate the canonical Strasbourg versions.
Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 400g pork liver, trimmed of any membrane
- 200g day-old country bread, crusts removed and torn
- 250ml whole milk, warmed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large onion, very finely diced
- 30g butter for softening
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- Salt and black pepper
- 60g plain flour for binding
- For the finish: 60g unsalted butter, 2 large onions sliced into rings, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- Mixed leaf salad dressed with mustard vinaigrette, to serve
Method
- Soak the torn bread in the warm milk for 10 minutes until the bread absorbs the liquid.
- Squeeze out the excess milk and tear the bread into small pieces.
- Mince the pork liver finely through the small holes of a grinder, or pulse in a food processor to a fine paste.
- Soften the finely diced onion in 30g butter over low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Cool.
- Combine the minced liver, soaked bread, softened onion, eggs, parsley, marjoram, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper and 30g flour to a soft batter.
- Test-cook one small dumpling in simmering salted water for 8 minutes; check seasoning and texture. If too soft to hold a shape, add a little more flour.
- Shape the mixture into oval dumplings about 6cm long with two wet spoons.
- Lower the dumplings into a wide pot of gently simmering salted water in batches. Cook 10 to 12 minutes from the moment they float.
- While they cook, brown the butter in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Add the sliced onion rings and cook 12 minutes until deep golden.
- Lift the cooked dumplings out with a slotted spoon and tip into the onion-butter pan. Toss to coat in the browned butter.
- Plate with a generous spoon of onions, scatter parsley, and serve with a sharp mustard-dressed green salad.
Tip from the editors. The dumplings must be poached gently; a hard boil breaks them up.
Where to eat lewerknepfle
Lewerknepfle in Strasbourg
Le Schnockeloch ★ 4.5
Le Schnockeloch on the Quai Saint-Jean is a large Alsatian institution between the station and Petite France for choucroute, baeckeoffe and flammekueche.
Signature: Choucroute, Baeckeoffe, Flammekueche
Au Pont Corbeau ★ 4.4
Au Pont Corbeau is a family winstub on the Quai Saint-Nicolas beside the Musee Alsacien, serving choucroute garnie, presskopf and spaetzle from local produce.
Signature: Choucroute garnie, Presskopf
L'Ami Schutz ★ 4.2
L'Ami Schutz sits by the Ponts Couverts in Petite France, a long-running winstub for baeckeoffe and choucroute garnie with a riverside terrace.
Signature: Baeckeoffe, Choucroute garnie
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