Kniddelen, the simplest winter dish in Luxembourg's kitchen

Some dishes you order out of curiosity, others to understand how a country eats at home. Kniddelen belong firmly in the second group. There’s nothing showy about them, they’re dumplings with bacon, and that’s exactly why I think they’re a good window onto everyday Luxembourgish cooking. Below I cover what goes into them, how they’re cooked and when I think they’re worth ordering.

What are Kniddelen?

The country’s official portal lists them among its typical dishes as a kind of boiled flour dumpling, served with Gréiwen, small cubes of bacon. On its Christmas traditions page it adds that they’re a very popular and very simple winter dish, made with very few ingredients but delicious. It’s hard to sum them up better.

Luxembourg’s youth hostels, in the recipe series on their blog, call them Kniddelen mat Speck, meaning with bacon, and trace them back to peasant cooking, the kind that had to feed a lot of people with cheap, local ingredients. They add that over time the dish has become an icon, served in many restaurants across the country, from the simplest to the gastronomic.

How they’re made

The hostels’ recipe, which I use as a secondary reference, is one of the simplest I know. Flour is mixed with eggs, milk and a pinch of salt into a dough, shaped into small dumplings and cooked in boiling salted water until they rise to the surface. Meanwhile, bacon is fried with a splash of crème fraîche. The dumplings are drained and served with the bacon on top.

My tip if you make them at home is to cook a single test dumpling first to check the size and the salt before dropping in the rest. It’s a dish with nowhere to hide, so everything rides on the dough and on decent bacon.

British readers will find the idea familiar. A suet dumpling bobbing in a winter stew is not a million miles away, although Kniddelen are the main event rather than a topping, they contain no suet and they come with bacon instead of gravy. That’s my comparison, not the portal’s, but it’s a handy way to set expectations before the plate arrives. Think of them as proper cold-weather food, not a light lunch.

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When do people eat them?

In the colder months. The official portal places them among its winter dishes, on the same page as the Christmas markets and mulled wine, and the hostels say they hold a special place in Luxembourgers’ hearts at that time of year, especially at family gatherings. If you’re visiting in December, they fit neatly with an afternoon at the Luxembourg Christmas market.

What goes with them

The classic is bacon, which gives the hostels’ version its name. They also suggest serving the dumplings with warm apple sauce, the same sweet and savoury contrast you’ll find with potato fritters at the fairs. To drink, a Luxembourg white such as Riesling, which lightens a fairly rich plate. More on those grapes in Luxembourg wine. I wouldn’t add anything else, because any fussy sauce would spoil the humble charm of the dish.

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Their relatives on the Luxembourg table

Kniddelen don’t travel alone. On the same list of typical dishes, the official portal includes Stäerzelen, made with buckwheat flour, smoked bacon and sometimes cream, which is almost their country cousin. In winter they share the menu with Träipen, the local black pudding, served with apple sauce or mashed potato, and with Ierzebulli, the pea soup served at the Buergbrennen bonfires. If you enjoy Kniddelen, I’d order any of those at the next meal, because together they paint a clear picture of a Luxembourg farmhouse larder in winter.

Where I’d order them

In a traditional bistro, in winter. No official source lists restaurants that serve them, so I won’t give you names. What I’d do is look for them on the menu by the door, which by law already includes service in the price, and order them as a main course. In Ketty Thull’s cookbook, republished in 2011, they sit alongside Bouneschlupp and Judd mat Gaardebounen among the seasonal classics, and together they make a complete Luxembourgish meal. For the wider picture of the national cuisine, see Luxembourg food; for restaurant areas, where to eat in Luxembourg.

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