The best egg noodles

Who knows what the reason is, but for some reason people tend to eat much heavier food in the winter when it's below freezing than at other times of the year, with exceptions of course. Perhaps it is a survival instinct in some ways, as our bodies build up reserves of food that are thought to be evolutionary to help us get through the cold season. But when spring arrives and the first lettuces appear in the markets, we start to let go of this habit and choose egg noodles or, as we have come to know it on menus, egg dumplings to accompany a good salad.

Eating eggs is clearly part of the Easter season, but also of spring itself, and symbolises rebirth and renewal. So, as the name suggests, egg noodles are made from this main ingredient and, as such, can be considered one of the first harbingers of spring.

The origins of egg noodles

If we were to ask the man in the street, we are sure that the majority of respondents would refer to it as Hungarian noodles, as we are convinced that this and similar dishes are certainly not made anywhere else in the world. However, this approach is mistaken and, although we do not suspect it, the solution is much closer than we think. The Hungarian version of noodles is presumably taken straight from the neighbouring Austrian cuisine, as its name suggests. Like our foreign words hokedli, puszedli, partedli, svindli, etc., nokedli is a German word of German origin, dating back some 110-120 years. If we look for its meaning, it is derived from the Bavarian-Austrian word Nockerl, meaning a rounded rock, referring to the tiny pieces of dough that come up from the water in a spring. It is still popular in Germany, Switzerland and, of course, Austria, where it is also known as Spätzle, Chnöpfli or Knepfli.

Of course, to make the origins of this dish even less obvious, there is still a version that says it was brought to Hungary by King Matthias' wife Beatrix from Italy and spread as a simplified version of the Italian gnocchi.

Like many other dishes, there is a funny adage about noodles, and this time it has a basis. In the old days, to avoid having to stuff the ducks every day in a tedious, man-trying way, noodles were often made for them, which the animals ate in a few moments and their livers fattened up like stuffing. This is the origin of the saying 'a duck swallows a noodle'.

How to make noodles

Noodles are a freshly cooked pasta dish from Austrian cuisine, which is eaten as a soup garnish or as a side dish, or, as the attached diagram shows, on its own. The preparation of noodles is very simple: the dough, consisting of eggs, flour, water and salt, is passed through a perforated plate (noodle shaker) and then sieved into boiling salted water. Noodles are not to be confused with dumplings, whose dough, although similar and often identical to noodles, is not cut as described above but with a spoon or knife from a cutting board.

The tastiest egg noodles from KIOSK

If you're in the mood for a deliciously authentic egg noodle, come and visit us at KIOSK, where you'll find our 'famous egg noodles' in the home at home section of our menu, served with truffle egg mousse and of course the essential pickled iceberg lettuce.