Raspeballer — Potato Dumplings with Salt-Cured Lamb & Rutabaga

Ingredients

• 2 lb raw starchy potatoes, peeled
• ½ lb cooked potatoes, mashed and cooled
• 1 cup barley flour or all-purpose flour
• 1½ lb Salt-Cured Lamb
• 1½ lb Rutabaga, peeled and cubed
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp white pepper
• Bacon and syrup, for serving

Method

1. If the Salt-Cured Lamb is heavily salted, soak it in cold water for several hours, changing the water twice. Then simmer it in fresh water for 45 minutes until tender, and keep that broth — the dumplings cook in it.
2. Grate the raw potatoes finely and squeeze them hard in a towel over a bowl. Let the drained liquid settle 10 minutes, pour off the water, and scrape the white starch at the bottom back into the potato.
3. Mix the grated potato with the cooled mash, flour, salt, and white pepper into a heavy, sticky dough. Wet hands make this survivable.
4. Shape into 8 balls and lower them into the simmering broth. Never let it boil hard or they disintegrate. Cook 40–45 minutes, until they float high and feel firm.
5. Boil the Rutabaga in salted water until soft, 20 minutes, and mash with 2 tbsp of the butter and pepper.
6. Serve the dumplings with the meat, the mash, melted butter poured over, and crisp bacon. A drizzle of syrup on the side is traditional and surprisingly right.