Maultaschen

Maultaschen are a Swabian filled pasta: a dough pocket with a filling of minced meat or vegetables, square or rolled up. They belong to the filled pasta group and to egg pasta. The names Schwäbische Maultaschen and Schwäbische Suppenmaultaschen are protected in the EU as a protected geographical indication (PGI).

According to the summary of the specification published in the EU Official Journal in 2009, the dough is made of durum wheat semolina and/or plain flour, egg, water and salt. The filling contains pork, beef, optionally smoked pork stomach, spinach, parsley, onion, eggs, spices, bread and leek; ingredients and proportions vary with the recipe and region. Meat must make up at least 8% of the total weight.

A standard Maultasche is 5.5–10 cm long, 5–9 cm wide and 1.5–2.5 cm thick and weighs 40–150 g. The soup version, Suppenmaultasche, is smaller: 1–5.5 cm long and 10–40 g. The dough is rolled out thin, filled, sealed and divided into single pieces, which are then heated and chilled to 2–7 °C, or frozen at −18 °C. They are sold fresh or packaged and are boiled or fried before eating.

The protected area is Swabia: the whole of Baden-Württemberg and the Swabia administrative district of Bavaria. The specification calls the Maultasche a Swabian speciality with a long tradition and a Lenten dish traditionally eaten on Maundy Thursday, though now enjoyed all year round. The specification was amended in 2015 (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/193); the figures above come from the 2009 summary.