Slotted spoon

Slotted spoon stainless steel

What is a skimmer?

The slotted spoon is usually a large spoon made of plastic or stainless steel with either holes in the steel or grooves. Unlike the classic spoon, with the slotted spoon you want as much liquid as possible to drip out of the spoon. In principle, like a small sieve. 

The slotted spoon has not yet arrived in all kitchens, although everyone has certainly had the problem. Homemade side dishes can be as simple as spaetzle, for example. Anyone who has ever made spaetzle themselves knows that the pot is never big enough to handle all the spaetzle dough. Therefore, it is recommended to sift the dough into the water in portions. But how can you lift the spaetzle out of the boiling water without having to put new water on to boil? Correct: you simply scoop the cooked spaetzle into a serving vessel with a slotted spoon. The advantage is that the water can drain off right away between the grooves, and the spaetzle are ready to serve or can be used as cheese spaetzle right away. 

We have a particularly delicious spaetzle recipe for you:

Wild garlic spaetzle - recipe

370 g flour

4 eggs

150 ml water

30 g wild garlic powder

First mix the flour and the wild garlic powder in a bowl and form a well in the middle. Beat the four eggs and let the contents flow into the well, as well as the water. Mix the ingredients gently at first, a little at a time. Then slowly start beating the dough. Beat it until you see small air bubbles coming out. The dough is ready when it runs off the spoon rather thickly in terms of consistency. Then put a pot of salted water or broth and bring the water to a boil. Now there are different ways to get the dough into its spaetzle form. It depends on how skilled you are or how you like your spaetzle best. Method one is to scrape the spaetzle. This variation requires a little more practice, but the spaetzle will be a little longer in their shape. With the second method, you can grate the dough through a coarser grater or a spaetzle grater. Then the spaetzle will be rather smaller, like buttons. Of course, there are other methods, with the right technique and utensils, but these are the most common for now. In any case, however, you rub/beat the dough directly into your boiled water, so the spaetzle retain their previously obtained shape. The spaetzle are ready when the knöpfle have migrated to the surface of the water.

Now you take the spaetzle lifter in hand. Lift the skimmer under the spaetzle. To allow the water to drain off, lift the stainless steel slotted spoon slightly. The spaetzle lifter or the spaetzle should no longer float in the water. This allows the water to drain off optimally. As soon as all spaetzle have been scooped out of the boiling water, you can process the next portion of dough. You can find another recipe under our Blog post.

When you're done with the spaetzle, you can either serve it as a side dish or toss it briefly in a sauce and eat it with some cheese or fried onions. 

These wild garlic spaetzle are best served with a creamy cheese and cream sauce. Served with 2-3 cherry tomatoes, this simple but incredibly tasty dish is ready in seconds. 

After using the skimmer, you can simply put the skimmer in the dishwasher. The stainless steel is rustproof and can therefore come into contact with stronger detergents without hesitation, if stubborn residues from frying still remain on the skimmer. 

Alternative uses for the stainless steel slotted spoon

The slotted spoon is perfect for other dishes. All kinds of pasta can be taken out of the water with a slotted spoon. Especially for large quantities, the slotted spoon is very helpful, because you do not have to put the cooking liquid again. This works for spaetzle, knöpfle, ravioli or tortellini. A slotted spoon should also not be missing when deep-frying. It's especially handy for French fries, whether homemade or not. Spring rolls, meatballs and dumplings can also be conveniently lifted out of the water or oil.