Alsatian liver dumplings: pork or beef liver minced with bread soaked in milk, eggs and herbs, poached and finished with brown butter, fried onion and a green salad. Winstub comfort food.

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.

Where to eat Lewerknepfle in Strasbourg

4 editor picks for Lewerknepfle in Strasbourg, ranked by editorial score. All Strasbourg signature dishes · Lewerknepfle across every city.

Book food experiences in Strasbourg

See all 422 food experiences in Strasbourg

Make it at home

Serves 445 minIntermediate

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

  1. Soak the torn bread in the warm milk for 10 minutes until the bread absorbs the liquid.
  2. Squeeze out the excess milk and tear the bread into small pieces.
  3. Mince the pork liver finely through the small holes of a grinder, or pulse in a food processor to a fine paste.
  4. Soften the finely diced onion in 30g butter over low heat for 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Cool.
  5. Combine the minced liver, soaked bread, softened onion, eggs, parsley, marjoram, garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper and 30g flour to a soft batter.
  6. 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.
  7. Shape the mixture into oval dumplings about 6cm long with two wet spoons.
  8. Lower the dumplings into a wide pot of gently simmering salted water in batches. Cook 10 to 12 minutes from the moment they float.
  9. 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.
  10. Lift the cooked dumplings out with a slotted spoon and tip into the onion-butter pan. Toss to coat in the browned butter.
  11. Plate with a generous spoon of onions, scatter parsley, and serve with a sharp mustard-dressed green salad.

Editor tip. The dumplings must be poached gently; a hard boil breaks them up.

Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs, Dairy.