dumplings made from buckwheat flour

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 100 g bacon, fat, smoked
• Salt
• Pepper, ground
• 1 liter of water
• 500 g buckwheat, finely ground
• 250 ml cream or milk

Instructions

Working time approx. 5 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 5 minutes; Total time approx. 10 minutes

Stäerzelen

Cut the bacon into cubes. Fry the bacon cracklings in a pan over medium heat. Bring the water to a boil, season with salt and pepper. Add the flour to the boiling water and stir vigorously (!). When the dough is firm, turn off the heat. Using a moistened tablespoon, scoop out dumplings from the dough and place them in a preheated bowl. Pour over the bacon and warm cream/milk. Leftovers can be chopped up and fried in a pan the next day. These buckwheat dumplings were a poor man’s dish in earlier days in Luxembourg. Fatty bacon was used instead of meat, and milk instead of cream. It’s important to note that in northern Luxembourg, until the introduction of phosphate-containing fertilizers, the soil was so poor that not even potatoes would grow. Buckwheat/heather flour/black polenta flour/sarrasin, however, is not a grain, but a knotweed plant and thrives even in poor soils.