Program

Hungry for History®

Subject

Food

Location

90s 3rd St, Ste. Genevieve, MO 63670, USA

Lat/Long

37.978862, -90.045995

Grant Recipient

City of Ste. Genevieve Tourism Dept.

In Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, a small community located south of St. Louis along the Missouri-Illinois border, one can find a local specialty food dish that is believed to have been introduced to the area by German immigrants in the mid-1800s. Liver dumplings, also known as knaeflies, are regarded as Ste. Genevieve’s signature dish. The name knaeflies is taken from a phonetic spelling of the German word for little button (“Liver Dumplings Reign Among Local German Pastas,” Ste. Genevieve Herald, April 14, 2020). They are a beloved staple of local families’ holiday dinners, church picnics and are found on the menu of many local eateries.

Made of a stiff batter of liver, flour, eggs and herbs that are then shaped and boiled, liver dumplings are akin to a German pasta. Traditionally, the dumplings are shaped using a scraper tool that looks similar to a cheese grater. They are sometimes covered with homemade gravy or eaten plain. It is said that every cook in Ste. Genevieve has their own special variation on the recipe.