18 May 2009

WNDF: That's a lotta knoephla

Fried's Family Restaurant is open again! 

I've talked about Freid's before ... they are a local, mom and pop, truck-stop-like restaurant in Mandan, ND. In my opinion, they have the best knoephla soup on earth. Bon Appétit magazine agrees. This winter, their restaurant was flooded due to a pipe break and they've been closed ever since. Until today.

Corey, Grandma Rene, Grandpa Darwin, and I celebrated the reopening with dinner at the restaurant. 

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I had knoephla soup. Knoephla soup is a dough dumpling thing with some small potato pieces in a creamy broth. I'm told it's a German food. Or maybe it's a 'Germans from Russia' food. Whatever its origins are, I will also classify it as a WNDF (Weird North Dakota Food) because it is readily available in North Dakota and I didn't find any in Germany. So there you have it - knoephla soup. Once you've had the knopehla soup at Fried's, all other knoephla soup becomes just not quite good enough.  Thanks grandma for being my wonderful hand model.

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For dinner I had knoepla and kraut (sauerkraut). Knoepla soup and knoephla and kraut for dinner ... wow that's a lotta knoephla. I eat mine with a bit of ketchup. Yeah, I'm cool like that.

Here's a recipe for Knoephla Soup

9 comments:

Stephanie D said...

THat looks SOOOOO good! I saved a copy of the recipe to my file so I can make it next winter--or this weekend if this crazy weather doesn't change!

Don Hendricks said...

It must be the german word for delicious gooey chewy carbohydrates.

Bison Girl said...

"delicious gooey chewy carbs" haha that is exactly what it is!

nicole said...

i just stumbled upon your blog through a quilting blog and i just love you blog. i grew up in jamestown and moved out to boise, idaho 8 years ago. I've been making knoephla soup for all my friends out here and they love it. i'll have to try your recipe.
oh, and i love the skirt, i've been debating on making it for sometime now...i think you've talked me into making it...so cute.

Anonymous said...

You are so fruity, I am assuming you grew up somewhere else.

ReNay said...

Fruity???

Tiborhanson said...

I am from ND but currently live in the Twin Cities, where NOBODY knows from knoephla! I have developed my own recipe--it isn't very authentic, but it sure is good! My research tells me that knoephla, along with fleischkuegla, is a Germas from Russia dish, which explains why it isn't found in Germany. So glad to see people are still making it--it is a good one!

Garrett R. said...

I too am from ND, I just love a good bowl of Knoephla Soup. I knew these people that lived down the street from us way back when and they made something called "lettuce & shmata" has anyone ever heard of this before. If so could you direct me where I might find a recipe. Thanks a lot!
garrett_reukauf@bellsouth.net

Lisa said...

Hi Bison Girl, I am from ND with a German Russian heritage, it's so cool to see these recipes being handed down, my family knows several and I am trying to keep them going. I've only recently tried knoephla soup as my family made a different version called Grund berra schnitz und knepf. (It's a potato, onion, butter, salt and dumpling soup and it's soooo DELISH but obviously not very good for you, so I rarely have it.) But the Knoephla soup was served after a 5K run early December and it was just perfect for such a cold day. THanks for sharing your recipe. I'm going to try it!