Käseklösschensuppe

It doesn’t get much better than cheesy dumplings in broth. This is another recipe that comes from one of my most beloved books, Köchinnen und ihre Rezepte by Sabine Bolliger, which features Swiss lady cooks and domestic educators of yesteryear. One of those cooks was Berta Brupbacher-Bircher, the sister of Maximilian Bircher-Benner, founder of the eponymous sanatorium above Zürich and inventor of Birchermüesli. Brupbacher-Bircher eventually lead the Bircher clinic from 1910-1944, with a focus on the clinic’s kitchen. Her mandate followed her brother’s—food was meant to be consumed as raw as possible (cooking destroyed the food’s vitamins and minerals), stimulants like coffee, tea and chocolate were not allowed, nor was meat or processed food like white bread, sugar or rice. This soup is one of the many meatless meals that Brupbacher-Bircher presented in Das Wendepunkt Kochbuch, her 1927 vegetarian cookbook.