Fleischschnaka

Saturday 24 January

We saw an episode of "Secrets of a Chef," and Holt was entranced by Hubert Keller's grandmother's recipe for Fleischschnaka ("meat snails").  It used both leftover stewed beef and bulk sausage, and as we just happened to have some of both, we thought we'd give it a try.

Since the recipe comes from Alsace (as does Keller), you can make it either in French or in German; Keller hasn't posted his version on the web yet.

Essentially, you whizz up about a half pound of stewed beef, mix in some sautéed onions and any needed seasonings (always including the magic allspice) and a half pound of bulk sausage, and spread it out on a sheet of pasta dough, which you roll up and slice into rounds.  Those get browned on both sides, then some stock (beef, though we used chicken) is added, the pan is covered so they simmer, and you serve them with the boiled-down pan sauce.
Complicated, though fun to make.  

There are several tastier and a myriad quicker ways to use up leftover stewmeat and bulk sausage, usually involving dried pasta; but this is one of those recipes (like kreplach, tortellini, empanadas) which use leftovers, flour, and water thriftily, but lavishly spend hours of (generally women's) labor.  But as long as Holt likes to do it, Barbara will happily go along.