Spätzlemaschine - How does it work?

Ok, this is a bit silly. I bought a Spätzlemaschine on Ebay, thinking that it came with instructions, and it didn't. I could have bought the little grinder kind or the kind with a spatula or even the kind that looks like a giant garlic press; but I didn't. Instead, I bought this monstrosity:

[img]http://i6.ebayimg.com/02/i/03/d8/4e/4d_1_b.JPG[/img]

So I figured that it would be obvious. Well, it definitely isn't. Can someone please tell me how to work this thing?

Can you add another picture from another angle? I have an idea, but might be talking out of my ass, just making you more confused, if it isn't the design I think it is.

Yeah, sure, thanks. I'll post a couple photos after dinner.

It looks like you make your dough and then insert between the press and the holes. Then you would use the handle to "press" it out into boiling water.
Boil, drain and then fry.

Ok, the pics suck, because I don't have a flash, but here they are:

[img]http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~pittroff/top.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~pittroff/bottom.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~pittroff/side1.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~pittroff/side2.jpg[/img]

wow IPJ are you trying to attract bulls with that machine, it´s very red! I still can´t quite make out how it works...I find it strange that there´s no little "holes" pictured, i.e. the openings that the dough falls through to make the spätzle. You know how to make the dough right? If you can´t figure out the machine, you can always make them the old fashioned way:

http://www.aaltonet.com/spaetzle/spaetzle.html

http://www.aaltonet.com/spaetzle/index.shtml

Try these, may be usefull

Thanks Rose&Pete, I think I'll have to do some googling, actually. Those are the "meat grinder" kind, but this one is very different. I just asked a German friend of mine, and he was a bit baffled, too. Argh...

So, nobody knows this machine?

Well, from the pictures, no. Is the handle one that you turn like a crank, or only a back and forth motion?

What a weird looking thing IPJ. Some Baverian friends treated me to some home made spetzel when I first arrived. Their "machine" consisted of a bucket with holes drilled in the bottom, dagling over a big pot of boiling water. Worked well.

@showem - It's only a back and forth motion. There's a blade in there that, when you turn the crank, lays down. One would think it would cut the spaetzle, but it doesn't. In fact, the blade goes the opposite direction.

@BTB - yeah, I'm wishing at this point that I'd just bought one of the simple jobbies.

Is it possible that there is a piece missing? If there is something going back n forth, then presumably its to push the batter somewhere? Why don't you just knock up some batter mix, and pour it in to see what happens.
I googled for a while to no avail; but I did not search for the italian word for spätzle - I cannot remember it, its spazzolini or something - and maybe the machine is not German?

I remember using a device like this to make spätzle in a restaurant once years ago.
It's difficult to see from your pictures, but the device I had was like a potato ricer or giant garlic press. You held it over a pot of boiling water, ladled in the batter and then worked a slider back and forth to squeeze the noodles out and drop them into the water.

Thanks, Anemone, but it's not the press kind. And thanks, don riina, for the googling!

It's definitely German, and the name brand is "Spätzle Max." I tried googling it but only came up with ebay auctions.

making one's own spätzle seems like a big mission to me.
you can buy the stuff in packets can't you?

This is what I use, and it works as described above:

Well I'll be leaving the country at the end of the year, and I want to learn how to make it myself. I won't be able to buy it in packets in California.

@Lupo - I'm familiar with all the kinds there are. I've just got this one now, so I want to figure out how to use what I have. When I bought it I thought it would be like the little meat-grinderish type, but it's not. If I can't figure the damn thing out, I'll just get a simple one.

Do you not just pour in the batter and move the lever back and forth?

I cannot see from the pictures what is under the device, ie where the spätzle is meant to come out.

Well...I think it´s strange that your machine doesn´t have any holes. This would indicate to me that it works in a way similar to "Spätzle schaben" i.e the way it was done in the old days. One would take the dough and scrape it into boiling water from a cutting board (see pic above). That´s the most self-reliant way - eliminating the need for any kind of instrument. Alternatively, you can make the dough a little more liquid and pour it through a fork. It´s a cool puzzle you pose here...I´ll ask the kitchen folks next time I´m at work if they´re familiar with your machine. Cheers.

Everything you wanted to know about spaetzle, but were afraid to ask

Thanks, but it doesn't list my machine.

I would say that it sits on the lip of a pan of boiling water. You load your dough and then crank back and forth the handle which rolls and cuts the dough coming out somehow. If the dough is not pressed, then it has to be fed by gravity which means you need wetter dough.

Nope. Its dead easy. For the little spatzle, its just an egg, flour, milk & water batter, which you can then pour into a colander and shake over a pan of boiling liquid. When they float, they're done. The Schwabian oblong ones use less liquid, giving a firmer batter, and you normally need some sort of slicing machine for them.
When they're cooked, heat in butter or butter and swiss cheese topped with fried onion rings.