Tammy: This is Tammy Proctor. Today I am pleased to welcome my colleague, Dr. Jen Peeples, who joins me to talk about dumplings, specifically a dumpling with deep history in her family. We have spent several weeks trying to define what dumpling is and what is is not, but the maultaschen is pretty clearly in the dumpling category. Jen, welcome to the show. Can you give us a brief description of the maultaschen and its origins?
Jen: Maultashen are a kind of large meat-filled dumpling from the Swabian region of Germany, which is south and shares a border with Austria.
Maultashen are pasta dough purses filled with ground beef, ground pork—usually similar to sausage found in bratwurst—spinach, chopped onions, and parsley. Breadcrumbs and egg hold the filling together, and then it is seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Maultaschen are fairly large dumplings--typically 3–4 inches and square or rectangular. A serving might just be a couple of them. There are a number of ways to eat them. They are often served in hot beef or vegetable broth in a low, wide mouth bowl. They can also be topped with onions that have been sautéed in butter, or sliced and pan fried.
The side is often a vinegar, mustard, and broth seasoned potato salad. My family would put a spoonful of potato salad directly in the broth next to the dumplings, contrasting the vinegar and meat, and the hot broth with the cold potatoes.
The term maultashen translates directly to “mouth pocket” or feed bag, as the boiled and wrinkled dumplings look a bit like a cotton bag that might be used to hold grain.
They are also facetiously known in the region as “small God cheaters”. The myth is that maultaschen were created in the 1600s by monks of the Maulbronn Abbey. During lent, they supposedly disguised the meat by mixing it with bright green wilted spinach and then cloaked it in a pasta wrapper. They were thereby able to hide from God that they were eating meat during the Lenten season.
Whether a mouth pocket or a small God cheater, they are absolutely delicious.
Tammy: One of the things that make dumplings such a special food is that they seem to come with stories. Can you talk a bit about where you encountered these delicacies?
Jen: My grandparents were German immigrants. My mom was born in the states, but we often went back to see our family starting when I was eight. We stayed with my mom’s cousin, Tante Irmgart. She didn’t speak any English and I didn’t speak any German, but she made her love known through food. Every morning, she walked into the center of town stopping at the bakery, the deli, the butcher and the grocery store. She cooked and she baked in her tiny kitchen that fit one person and maybe two if you knew how to move together. She provided a spread of food for each meal, which she always served at the same oval table with her fine china.
Even for my cousins, who got to eat her cooking all the time, maultaschen was the favorite. We would have it at lunch, which was the main meal, and then the leftovers were sliced into ribbons and fried in an egg batter for breakfast. I didn’t learn that maultaschen was a treasured, regional delicacy until I was an adult as the only place I had ever eaten them was at my Tante Irmgart’s table.
TAMMY: Do you ever cook these in your own kitchen, or are they one of those things that you don't think would turn out the same if you made them?
Jen: My husband and son have frequently said that if I love them, I would learn to cook maultaschen. I’ve tried. Each attempt was a dismal failure. The pasta was either too thick and chewy or too thin and the dumpling would spill their innards in the boiling water. I could never get the meat to taste right. The particular sausage used in Germany is not one you can find here and the recipes that call for bacon are just plain wrong. And of course, it takes a ton of time and work to make the dumplings, the broth, and the potato salad, so when it doesn’t come out right, it is just disheartening.
A few years ago, my Tante Irmgart passed away at 97. The last maultaschen I had was hers. And I wonder if that is how it should be. Because my sad attempts and anyone else’s will never be just right. That requires the trip into town, the kitchen, the table, the china, the family and Irmgart with her love tightly packed into each dumpling.
Tammy: Thanks again to Jen Peeples for joining me to discuss maultaschen and the family history it conjures for her.
Stay tuned as we continue our exploration of the fried, boiled, baked and yummy dumpling.
