Maultasche

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Swabian ravioli

Maultaschen are a specialty of Swabian cuisine ; They are bags made of pasta dough with a basic filling of sausage meat , onions and soaked rolls or a purely vegetarian filling with cheese and spinach. Many families have special recipes that include additional ingredients such as boiled ham , spinach , smoked ham sausage , minced meat or leftovers. The Swabian Maultaschen have been protected by the EU in their designation of origin since 2009 and fall into the “Protected Geographical Indication” class. This means that at least one of the production stages - production, processing or manufacture - is passed through in the area of ​​origin.

preparation

Maultaschen in the broth
Badische Maultäschle in onion melt

The ingredients for the filling are prepared according to the recipe and mixed together so that a smooth mass is formed. The mass is applied to the pasta dough and distributed. Maultaschen can be folded or rolled depending on your preference. A little water or egg white binds the pasta dough better and prevents the Maultaschen from bursting. Individual dumplings are divided off with a wooden spoon handle and then cut off.

The Maultaschen are cooked in boiling salted water or broth. From there they are skimmed off and put to drain.

Maultaschen are usually served in one of the following ways:

  • In a broth as a soup.
  • “Malted”, that means poured over onions fried in browned butter , and often served with potato salad .
  • "Roasted", here the dumplings are cut into strips and then fried in the pan (also with onions and / or eggs).

Legends about the origin

There are various legends about the origin of this dish.

One says that in this way the Cistercian monks of the Maulbronn Monastery (hence the name Maul tasche) wanted to hide the meat from God during Lent , which is popularly known as "Herrgottsbscheißerle". Slightly modified, it is said that it was Protestants who secretly added meat to the dumpling pocket, which was originally only filled with herbs and spinach. This fits the tradition in Swabian families that “Maultaschen in the broth” is the typical dish on Maundy Thursday . The already abundant Maultaschen are then available on the following Good Friday in one of the other possible ways of preparation.

In addition, it is found that the Maultaschen are just a Swabian copy of well-known Italian pasta such as ravioli and tortellini . There are numerous Waldensian villages in the area around Maulbronn. Waldensians were Protestant religious refugees from northern Italy who also introduced the mulberry tree , alfalfa , tobacco cultivation and, in 1710, the potato to southern Germany. Maultaschen could therefore be of Italian origin. The spinach filling also indicates its Italian origins.

The general kitchen dictionary for women names several recipes for Maultaschen in 1794. However, these are desserts.

Regardless of how it was made, Maultaschen used to be considered a dish for poor people, as leftovers of meat, bread and vegetables could be used in the filling and thus offered another meal.

etymology

The origin of the word Maultasche goes back to the 16th century and is first attested in the meaning of "slap in the face". Bag probably goes back to "tatting" or "tatting" in the sense of "hitting". Only later was the pasta named after it. Probably because of the swollen shape, similar to a cheek after a slap in the face. Another possible explanation is that it emerged from an old long “a” from the word “grind” as a Swabian dialect peculiarity: bag with ground contents. Another popular explanation relates to the place of origin in Maulbronn Monastery (see above): a Maul-pocket is therefore simply a shortened name for a Maulbronn-pocket.

distribution

Allgäuer Maultaschen baked with ham and cheese

Maultaschen are now known as a specialty far beyond the Swabian borders. Today they are offered nationwide as ready meals; The market leader is the manufacturer Bürger . He is also responsible for the protection as a designation of origin .

The numerous dumpling dishes from all over the world are similar to the Maultaschen . These include Italian ravioli , tortellini , Carinthian noodles , Tyrolean Schlutzkrapfen , Russian pelmeni or vareniki , Polish pierogies or Chinese Jiaozi or Wan Tan , and Mandu in Korean and Gyōza in Japanese cuisine. In Alsace / Lorraine you can find the so-called meat schnacka or meat snails, in which the pasta filling is first rolled into a long roll in pasta dough. The rolls are then cut into 1.5–2 cm long pieces, which can then be sautéed like dumplings or otherwise prepared.

Bavarian Maultaschen

A completely different dish are Bavarian potato ravioli, which, depending on the area, can also have other names such as gram ravioli. For this purpose, a potato dough is rolled out, filled with a sweet filling made from apple wedges, for example, and prepared in a tray in the oven. Visually, the potato ravioli resemble the apple strudel, but they are smaller and coarser.

Web links

Commons : Production of Maultaschen  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Maultasche  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Publication of an application under Article 6 (2) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 510/2006 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs , accessed on April 16, 2017.
  2. REGULATION (EC) No. 991/2009 OF THE COMMISSION of October 22, 2009 for the entry of a designation in the list of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications [Schwäbische Maultaschen or Schwäbische Soup Maultaschen (PGI)] , accessed on April 16, 2017.
  3. Wettersbacher Heimatbuch
  4. Economic Encyclopedia by Johann Georg Krünitz
  5. General kitchen dictionary for women who do their own kitchen or have it done under their supervision . II. Th. Leipzig 1794. Col. 124-125
  6. Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language . 24th edition, 2002.
  7. ^ Konrad Kunze : dtv-Atlas onenology . 1998. Kunze gives as comparative terms Grauf instead of Graf , Schwaub instead of Schwab , Schlauter instead of Schlatter , Aulbrecht instead of Albrecht .
  8. Kloster-Maulbronn.de: Don't let anything go to waste - Jakobs Maultaschen .
  9. ^ Protective community for Swabian Maultaschen
  10. Grammlmaultasch'n . November 21st 2013.