Spätzlehobel

The Spätzlehobel, also known as a Spätzle maker or Spätzle press, is a kitchen utensil used in the preparation of Spätzle, a type of soft egg noodle or dumpling popular in German, Austrian, and Swiss cuisine. The tool is designed to create the characteristic irregular shapes of Spätzle by extruding a semi-liquid batter through small holes directly into boiling water.

There are several common designs for a Spätzlehobel. One type resembles a cheese grater with a large hopper on top. The Spätzle batter is placed in the hopper, and a sliding mechanism with holes is pushed back and forth across the grater's surface, forcing the batter through the openings and into the pot below. Another design is more akin to a colander with large holes, where the batter is poured in and then scraped or pushed through. A third, less common type, is a press with a lever mechanism that forces the batter through holes in a perforated plate.

The key function of a Spätzlehobel is to quickly and efficiently create small, irregularly shaped pieces of Spätzle. This differs from methods like scraping batter off a cutting board, which can be more time-consuming and less consistent. The use of a Spätzlehobel allows for a more uniform cooking time for the Spätzle.