More About Those Squiggly Dumplings

It may interest your readers that the Swabian version of rivels (“I Love That Spotsy Soup, Lumps and All,” Jan. 30) is even more practical because it needs no milk. Only water is added. Or it can be made with eggs only. The authentic version is scraped from a wooden board with a metal scraper (spatzenschaber) or a knife into the boiling water. There are many delightful recipes that use it, such as the soup-like Gaisburger Marsch or the Schinken und Kaesespatzen, a specialty of the Algau, the mountainous area of southern Germany.

LORE DORMER

Claremont

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I love spaetzle and remember my sister and I going downtown to the Boston Store in Chicago for a dinner of chicken paprikash mit spaetzel during World War II. Often when I have no noodles for soup, when the soup is about ready I beat an egg and salt and press enough flour into the egg to make a hard ball. Then I grate the noodles into the boiling soup. When it gets sticky, just add a little more flour. Works for me.

MARY C. THOMAS

Garden Grove