The ski and ski hut season is starting again, and I wish all of you that these delicious dumplings (in German: Klöße) find their way back to your table (or plates) at home.
Yeast dough (in German: Hefeteig), Powidl (plum jam), poppy seed sugar, and butter – these are the 4 main ingredients of theYeast Dumpling - popular with young and old, presumably for centuries.
Evolution based on yeast
But how did it come about? How do recipes develop? In a lengthy process of trial & error, mutation, and selection, that exact combination developed in adventurous alpine kitchens, which was so tasty and digestible that it displaced all other variations. The yeast dumpling is, so to speak, the pinnacle of evolution when it comes to mixing and processing these 4 ingredients. But how stable is this recipe? To what extent can it be altered before it loses its genius?
A little more Powidl or poppy seed sugar is always possible, as long as it doesn't get too sweet. For those who prefer it a bit more robust, a reduction is of course also an option – as long as it stays within limits.
But let's talk about the obvious: What would a yeast dumpling be without yeast? Or poppy seeds? Powidl? Would it still be a yeast dumpling? No, hopefully no one would come up with that idea! At least not if they have ever eaten a real yeast dumpling.
What about adding new ingredients? Maybe an extra portion of strawberry sauce? I would be surprised if no one had tried it yet. However: the fewer ingredients a recipe has, the more intense each individual flavor is. Too many ingredients result in a mush that somehow tastes like everything and at the same time like nothing. Presumably, the yeast dumpling with strawberry sauce has therefore not evolved successfully...
So I once had a job interview. I was told that they work according to Scrum. "We take the parts from the framework (Scrum) that fit well with us and our way of working."
I think of the yeast dumpling. Is a yeast dumpling a damn framework, or a recipe developed to perfection? Sure, I could fish the Powidl out of the dumpling and drizzle it into a goulash soup. I could do that. But here an interesting question arises:WHY?
In summary
Let's take a little inventory. We have established:
- The current recipe for yeast dumplings is the result of a long process of perfection.
- If you leave out one ingredient, the taste deteriorates.
- If you add new ingredients, the genius of the yeast dumpling flavor blurs, and the dish increasingly degenerates into an indefinable mush.
- Yeast, Powidl, butter, or poppy seed sugar can of course also be used in other recipes – but then they are completely different dishes and no longer a yeast dumpling.
Enjoy your meal!
((P)P)PS
PS: What do you think?
PPS: Vanilla sauce instead of butter?
PPPS: Attribution for the wonderful title image with yeast dumpling and wheat beer: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Paddy Published underCreative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0
