Schnitz un knepp, often spelled Schnitz un Gnepp or Schnitz und Knepp, is a popular main dish item in the
cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch
Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine is the typical and traditional fare of the Pennsylvania Dutch. According to one writer, "If you had to make a short list of regions in the United States where regional food is actually consumed on a daily basis, the lan ...
in the United States. It is basically a dish of
ham or
pork shoulder with
dried apples and
dumplings
Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fish ...
.
Description
Apple schnitz are dried slices of apples. Knepp, from the German "Knöpfe" for "buttons," are dumplings.
Although the Amish arrived during the early eighteenth century, this food was not common until the early nineteenth century, when
Johnny Appleseed
John Chapman (September 26, 1774March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Ontario, as well as the northern cou ...
planted many orchards on the frontier of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. At the time, home canning was not yet practical, so the apple crop was preserved in liquid form (most commonly as hard cider) or sliced and dried, the finished slices being called snitz.
Apples, other than named varieties grafted from a parent tree, were usually small, misshapen and rather tart. Drying the snitz concentrated the fruit sugars, making them a bright spot in an otherwise dreary diet.
Today, commercial producers of apple snitz use named-variety apples that cannot be sold fresh due to blemishes. The apples are then peeled or cored and sliced to make snitz. The peels are then pressed for separate sales as cider.
The dish uses dumplings made from
flour
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...
,
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...
, baking powder, butter, salt, and
eggs, and is flavored with
ham, traditionally salt-cured "country ham," although honey ham, pork butt, or other pork may be used. Onions, potatoes, cloves, cinnamon and brown sugar are optional ingredients. An alternative knepp is a yeast dumpling made without sugar.
This recipe calls for long cooking, and is thus a winter dish. The pronunciation is "snitz-en-nep".
See also
*
List of ham dishes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schnitz Un Knepp
Cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch
Apple dishes
Ham dishes