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Cooking in Burgenland
Before 1920 the province of Burgenland was part of Hungary, therefore the majority of the local specialities have a strong Hungarian influence.
The most famous Burganland speciality is the Strudel. Of course, the Apfelstrudel is known from Viennese cuisine, but in the Burgenland many variations of Strudel, and not only sweet ones, have been created.
A strudel always consists of a special dough (simply prepared with flour and water), and the filling, which gives the Strudel its appropriate name. There are no limits to your imagination and creativity when it comes to finding a suitable filling for your Strudel. The Burgenland variations can be for example, poppy seeds, nuts, pears, plums, cherries or grapes for the sweet Strudel and potatoes, cabbage, semolina or spinach for the savoury ones.
Other specialities are cabbage soup, Letscho (stewed tomatoes, green pepper and many spices), Paprikasch (chicken in tomato sauce and Langos (flat, round shaped bread, similar to pita bread, made of yeast dough, then fried in hot fat and spread with garlic).
A favourite Burgenland dish is the goose or „Martinigansl“, which is eaten on a special feast days (St.Martin's Day, 11th November).
Liptauer is a very spicy, tasty spread made with cottage or cream cheese mixed with butter, spiced with onions and paprika, and eaten with dark, crusty farmer's bread.
APFELSTRUDEL
Strudel pastry:Work 250-300 gr. fine flour with 1-teaspoon oil, a pinch of salt and lukewarm water to a softy paste until it rolls off the hands. Form into a ball, brush with oil and leave for at least ½ hour under a warmed bowl. Roll out and then place on a cloth dusted with flour. Next, pull the pastry out by hand evenly in all directions. Cut away the thick edges.
Filling:1kg ripe apples, 100g sultanas, 50gr sugar, 100gr bread crumbs, cinnamon. Peel and core the apples, cut into thin slices and mix with sugar and cinnamon. Dot the pastry with butter. Fry the breadcrumbs golden brown in butter and scatter over the pastry. Spread apple over approximately 2/3 of the pastry, and scatter sultanas over the top. Roll the strudel together with the help of the cloth so that the bare 1/3 is rolled in last. Place on a baking tray, brush well with butter and bake for ½ hour in a hot oven.
Cooking in Vienna
When one thinks about eating and drinking in Vienna, the Viennese coffee houses (Konditoreien), with all their delicious cakes and sweets, will be the first think to come to your mind.
The majority of the 4.000 coffee houses in Austria can be found in Vienna, as it is the place where coffee was originally introduced by the Turks. (In 1983 the institution “coffee house” celebrated its 300th anniversery.)
Elsewhere, coffee houses are often seen as places where you still your hunger and usually don't stay longer than a few minutes, but it is quite natural in Austria to sit for hours reading the paper, writing postcards or working, while enjoying a delicious Sachertorte, Gugelhupf or Apfelstrudel.
Nowadays, only a few coffee houses, such as the „Demel“ or the „Sacher's“ coffee lounge, maintain the atmosphere of the traditional establishments. Here, the coffee is still served with the indispensable glass of water.
At the turn of the century coffee houses were cultural centres; meeting points for poets and writers who found themselves inspired by the special atmosphere. But the milieu of the traditional coffee house has changed. In order to attract a broader spectrum of clients, especially young people, the menu has been enlarged and the opening hours have been extended.
Today you can still indulge in your cultural pursuits in one of the so-called cultural coffee houses (“Kultur Cafes”), that offer musical and literary sessions. If you prefer playing a game while enjoying your „Melange“, you can find a number of pursuits, ranging from chess to cards.
Compared with coffee houses in other European cities you will experience this cultivation of an institution especially in Vienna.
Some vocabulary to make sure you order the right coffee:
Grosser/Kleiner Schwarzer double/single black coffee
Grosser/Kleiner Brauner double/single white coffe (with milk)
Verlängerter Schwarzer lighter coffee without milk
Verlängerter Brauner lighter coffee with milk
Einspänner “Schwarzer”, served in a glass with whipped cream
Melange hot milk froth on top, sprinkled with chocolate powder
Of course, Viennese cuisine does not only consist of sweet dishes. Just think of a delicious Wiener Schnitzel or a Tafelspitz (beef) with spinach and horseradish.
In the so-called „Beisl“ you get typical Viennese food at moderate prices. Sometimes they do not look very inviting from the outside, but they are often very comfortable, the food is excellent and a friendly staff serves you with the Viennese charm. These "secret haunts" are not easy to find, as they are very often situated in narrow passages and back alleys, but local people are always willing to give directions.
GUGELHUPF
(serves 12)
Ingredients:75g/3oz blanched almonds cut into slivers, 250g/9oz plain flour,1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast, 50g/2oz caster sugar, 120ml/4fl oz milk, 3 eggs beaten, 100g/4oz butter, 75g/3oz raisins, finely grated rind of 1 lemon, icing sugar to dust.
Preparation: butter a 1 litre/1 ¾ pint guglhupf mould, sprinkle with the almonds and dust lightly with a little of the flour, set aside. Sift the remaining flour into a bowl, then mix in the yeast and sugar.
Warm the milk and beat into the flour mixture with the eggs. Melt the butter, leave until warm, then gradually beat in until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Mix in the raisins and lemon rind, then pour into tin.
Leave to rise in a warm place until the mixture almost reaches the top of the tin. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gasmark5.
When the Gugelhupf has risen bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 150C/300F/gasmark2 and bake for 30 minutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool for 20 minutes, then carefully turn out on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar while still warm.
WIENER SCHNITZEL
Preparation: Mix together 1 egg,
1 tablespoon milk, a few drops of oil and a little
salt. In a flat bowl beat the veal escalopes, season with
salt and turn them over in flour. Then dip them into the
egg-mixture and finally press them into breadcrumbs. Shake off surplus breadcrumbs
and fry immediately in hot fat. Serve with potatoes, potato mayonnaise, or rice.
TAFELSPITZ
Preparation: Use a good quality piece of beef weighing about 1½ kg.
Season with salt, pepper and finely chopped herbs. Place in a hot pan with ½ kg veal bones and brown on all sides to seal the juices. Add 1-2 tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, lemon peel, peppercorns and ¼ litre white wine. Add water, cover with a close fitting lid and cook until tender. Cut meat into slices and serve with fried potatoes, spinach (or leek sauce) and Apfelkren (grated horseradish apple).
SACHERTORTE
Ingredients: 6 eggs, 160 gr butter, 175 gr chocolate,
1 jar of apricot jam, 160 gr sugar, 160 gr flour 1 packet
(2 teaspoon full) vanilla sugar, chocolate icing.
Preparation: Beat the soft butter with half the sugar, the warmed chocolate and the egg yolks until fluffy. Whip the egg whites with the remaining sugar until it is stiff. Then add to the mixture. Stir in carefully the flour and vanilla sugar, previously sieved together. Pour into cake tin and bake for an hour in a moderate oven. When cool cut in half, spread with apricot jam and sandwich together again. Also coat the sides and the top with apricot jam, then cover thickly with chocolate icing.
Icing: Warm 100g chocolate carefully (not too hot). Heat 200g. sugar with water until it begins to stick together. Mix the lukewarm sugar with the softened chocolate and beat smooth.
Cooking in Lower Austria
This province is especially rich of all sorts of vegetables. It is not surprising therefore, that many different vegetable dishes are found here.
Specialities:
Mohnnudeln which are not really noodles, but rather dumplings made of potato dough in finger thick noodle shapes. They are roasted in butter and sugar and sprinkled with ground poppy seeds before being served.
Buchteln are small, cube shaped cakes and served either plain with vanilla sauce or filled with plum jam (Powidel).
BUCHTELN mit VANILLESAUCE (east buns with vanilla sauce)
Ingredients: 500g flour, 30g yeast, 50g sugar, 70g butter, 2 egg yolks, 1 egg white, Pinch of salt, Lukewarm milk, Butter for spreading, Jam
Preparation: Place the flour in a warm bowl and make a hole in the centre. Crumble the yeast into it, sprinkle with a tablespoon sugar, add 2 to 3 tablespoons lukewarm milk and cover lightly with flour. Put in a warm place to rise. Meanwhile melt the butter, lift off and cool a bit, then mix with a pinch of salt, the egg yolks and the egg white. Add this to the flour where the yeast in the middle has risen, and beat by adding as much lukewarm milk as needed to get medium firm dough. Continue beating until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Cover, and allow rising. Roll out the dough on a flured board until ¼ to ½ inch thick, cut out squares of about 3 inches side - length, put a teaspoon of jam in the middle, preferably apricot, then fold up and form into an egg shape. Brush over with softened butter on all sides of each piece, and tightly fit one after the other in a well - greased baking tin. Brush over again with softened butter and allow rising. Bake first in a medium oven, then raise the temperature and bake until golden brown. When ready, sprinkle with stifled sugar and serve hot sauce.
Vanillesauce (Vanilla sauce)
Ingredients: ¼l. (approx. 9fl ozs) milk, ¼l. (approx. 9fl ozs) cream, sugar as required, vanilla sugar, 3 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon starch flour
Preparation: combine cold milk and cream with the other ingredients, heat up and beat continuously until boiling. When thick, remove from heat and serve.
Cooking in Upper Austria
This province is also known as the „dumpling land“, as dumplings or Knödel is one of the most common dishes. During the Knödelwochen (dumpling weeks) numerous Restaurants and Gasthöfe offer their various Knödel specialities.
The „national dish“ in Upper Austria is smoked meat with Sauerkraut (cabbage) and Semmelknödel. Knödel can either be filled, or the ingredients are already mixed into the dough.
The Semmelknödel are made of breadcrumbs, soaked in milk and mixed with egg, flour, herbs and spices.
The Kartoffelknödel consist of a dough made of mashed potatoes, eggs, milk and flour either filled sweet with fruits like apricots or plums, or savoury with ham (Speckknödel) or minced meat.
Topfenknödel are made with quark (with cheese), egg and flour and eaten either filled with fruits (see above) or plain with fruit sauce.
MARILLENKNÖDEL (Apricot Dumplings)
Preparation: boil ½ kg floury potatoes in their skins, peel while still hot and sieve. Mix well with one egg, 1 tablespoonful cream, 10 gr. butter, 125 gr. flour and a pinch of salt. Roll out to approx. ½ cm thickness, cut into squares. Stone the apricots carefully, replacing the stones with sugar cubes, wrap the pastry firmly around the apricots. Place the dumplings in boiling salted water, allow to simmer for 5- 8 minutes. Remove and rolls in breadcrumbs toasted in butter or in ground poppy seeds, dust with sugar.
Cooking in Styria
The province of Styria is an area that offers a great variety in climatic conditions as well as in culture.
The speciality is the „Sterz“. In the ancient Styrian cook books one can find over 100 different variations in preparation.
Basically, the recipe is the following:
Roast flour in butter and pour hot salted water over it. The mixture forms small crumbles that are cooked for a short while.
A Sterz is always eaten together with a liquid, that is poured over it, as for example coffee or tea, soup, milk, wine or fruit juice.
Other specialities from Styria are Steirisches Wurzelfleisch (pork with root vegetables Styrian style), Zwieback (sweet, dry bread made of yeast dough).
STEIRISCHE KALBSZUNGE
Preparation: cook two calves’ tongues in salted water with a bay leaf and an onion util tender, take from the juice and skin. Dice 4 carrots, ½ celeriac, 4 onions and with the same quantity of quartered potatoes, cook until soft in the tongue stock.
Season with salt, pepper and basil. Cut the tongue along the length in three slices. Serve with vegetables, gravy and grated horseradish.
Cooking in Carinthia
The most famous Carinthian dish is noodles. The dough - always hand made - consists of flour, egg, butter and salt, is rolled out paper-thin and filled and rolled. Then the noodles are cooked in salted water.
The most famous variation is the "Kasnudeln" (filled with cheese, others are filled with meat, bacon or ham.
Krapfen (doughnuts) also come from Carinthia. They are made of yeast dough, deep fried in lard and filled with custard or jam.
Another famous sweet Carinthian dish is the Kärntner Reindling, a yeast cake, made in a flat baking tin and refined with raisins chopped nuts and dried fruits.
KÄRNTER KÄSNUDELN
Ingredients: 300 g flour, 1 egg, tepid water, salt
Preparation: Knead dough from the ingredients and allow resting for ½ hour
- Roll out thinly on a dusted pastry board and put small amounts of the filling on top. Cover with the other half of the dough and cut out squares around the filling.
- Cook in salted water for 10 min. and serve with melted butter.
Cooking in SalzburgerLand
A famous Austrian song claimes that the Salzburger Nockerln are “as sweet as love”. Actually, Nockerln are similar to dumplings, but they are smaller and of softer consistence. In Salzburg they are filled with blackberries, raspberries and other small fruits.
The only thing the "Salzburger Nockerln" has got to do with Nockerl as such, is the name. In fact, it is rather a soufflé, and not easy to prepare.
SALZBURGER NOCKERLN
Ingredients: 7 eggs, 140g sugar, 70g butter, 25g flour, 1/16 l (approx. 2 ½ fl ozs) milk, 1/16l (approx. 2 ½ fl ozs) cream, icing sugar
Preparation: cream butter and sugar until fluffy, gradually add the egg yolks. Whisk the egg whites very stiffly and with a kitchen spoon carefully fold them into the mixture, interspersing with sprinklings of flour. Mix milk and cream together into a casserole, bring to boil and put the mixture into it.
With a spoon scoop 3 big dumplings out of it and arrange them on a heat resistant platter. Bake it in a medium oven for about 5 to 8 min. until golden yellow. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately, because as soon as they get cold, they collapse.
Cooking in Tirol
Here you get the real peasant food: robust, straightforward and unfussy, but very delicious! It is a pleasure to eat those tasty dishes in the typical Tirolean restaurants, which are mostly unpretentious and in smaller villages they can even be found in the back rooms of farmhouses. You will e surprised by the enormous portions.
The well-known Tirolean dishes are Tiroler Speckknödel. Delicious dumplings filled with Tirolean peasant ham (Bauernspeck) and eaten as main course with salad or as a side dish for the hungry ones. As well known, as the Tiroler Speckknödel is the Tiroler Gröstel. A very nutritious pan-fried dish prepared with sliced potatoes, pork meat, onions and many spices.
Other dishes you can find in Tirol are Bean Soup, Dumpling Soup and Gulasch Soup. A traditional starter or afternoon snack (Jause) is the Tiroler Bauernspeck (spicy peasant ham) served in a chunk on wooden board together with dark, crusty bread.
TIROLER SPECKKNÖDEL
Ingredients: 100g streaky bacon, 100g
smoked boiled pork or ham, 4 or 5
diced stale rolls, 2 eggs,1/8 l. ( approx.
4 fl. ozs ) milk, salt, chopped parsley,
1 large onion, flour as required
Preparation: Fry the finely diced bacon and finely chopped onion in a casserole add chopped parsley, diced smoked pork or ham and the diced rolls. Fry until all ingredients are crisp. Remove from the cooker and allow cooling. Meanwhile mix the beaten eggs with milk and a pinch of salt. Pour this over the mixture and add only sufficient flour to get workable dough. Shape into balls of approx. the size of a small fist, and boil in beef broth and stock for about 10 - 15 minutes before serving. (Cut one dumpling in half to check when done.)
TIROLER GRÖSTEL
Preparation: Fry together boiled beef or cold roast beef cut small, with onion, caraway seed and parsley, salt and pepper. Mix in the same quantity of potatoes, chopped small and fried golden brown. Before serving sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with salad or vegetables.
Also numerous variations of „Nockerl“ can be added to the most typical Tirolean dishes, they are prepared with either potato- or quark (white cheese) dough - similar to dumplings- and served either filled with the typical ingredients or they are already mixed into the dough.
Typical ingredients are ham “Bergnocken”, cornflour “Türckennudeln”, spinach and meat “Schlutzkrapen”, or honey „Honignocken“.
Cooking in Vorarlberg
In Austria's most western province with its many tiny and romantic villages, the local people claim „Spätzle“ or „Knöpfli“ (buttons) to be their „national dish“.
These dumpling variations are prepared with very soft dough consisting of flower, butter eggs, milk and salt. Small portions are cut out of the dough with a spoon and boiled in hot water. They can be served either plain as a side dish or as a main course with fresh lettuce.
As a main course Spätzle are served as Kässpätzle, when they are sprinkled with grated cheese and chives, as Geröstete Spätzle when they are fried in a pan and served with cold soured cream, which is a nice contrast to the piping hot Spätzle. They can also be served with minced meat and spinach.
A very Vorarlbergian sweet dish is the so-called Ofenkatze (oven cat, God knows, where the name comes from), which is a fruit cake made of a very soft yeast dough, where the fruits are already mixed into. Spread with butter before baking promises a golden, crusty outcome.
And last but not least…
One Austrian speciality that should never be forgotten, although it is a drink, is the Glühwein (mulled wine), which is known and loved by everyone who has skied in Austria or at least been there in the winter season.
And here is the secret:
White or red wine is heated together with chunks of cinnamon, gloves, twists of orange and sugar and boiled for a short while. Then the hot drink is poured into a mug through a sieve. To simplify this procedure you can also use tea bags filled with all the ingredients necessary.
Before 1920 the province of Burgenland was part of Hungary, therefore the majority of the local specialities have a strong Hungarian influence.
The most famous Burganland speciality is the Strudel. Of course, the Apfelstrudel is known from Viennese cuisine, but in the Burgenland many variations of Strudel, and not only sweet ones, have been created.
A strudel always consists of a special dough (simply prepared with flour and water), and the filling, which gives the Strudel its appropriate name. There are no limits to your imagination and creativity when it comes to finding a suitable filling for your Strudel. The Burgenland variations can be for example, poppy seeds, nuts, pears, plums, cherries or grapes for the sweet Strudel and potatoes, cabbage, semolina or spinach for the savoury ones.
Other specialities are cabbage soup, Letscho (stewed tomatoes, green pepper and many spices), Paprikasch (chicken in tomato sauce and Langos (flat, round shaped bread, similar to pita bread, made of yeast dough, then fried in hot fat and spread with garlic).
A favourite Burgenland dish is the goose or „Martinigansl“, which is eaten on a special feast days (St.Martin's Day, 11th November).
Liptauer is a very spicy, tasty spread made with cottage or cream cheese mixed with butter, spiced with onions and paprika, and eaten with dark, crusty farmer's bread.
APFELSTRUDEL
Strudel pastry:Work 250-300 gr. fine flour with 1-teaspoon oil, a pinch of salt and lukewarm water to a softy paste until it rolls off the hands. Form into a ball, brush with oil and leave for at least ½ hour under a warmed bowl. Roll out and then place on a cloth dusted with flour. Next, pull the pastry out by hand evenly in all directions. Cut away the thick edges.
Filling:1kg ripe apples, 100g sultanas, 50gr sugar, 100gr bread crumbs, cinnamon. Peel and core the apples, cut into thin slices and mix with sugar and cinnamon. Dot the pastry with butter. Fry the breadcrumbs golden brown in butter and scatter over the pastry. Spread apple over approximately 2/3 of the pastry, and scatter sultanas over the top. Roll the strudel together with the help of the cloth so that the bare 1/3 is rolled in last. Place on a baking tray, brush well with butter and bake for ½ hour in a hot oven.
Cooking in Vienna
When one thinks about eating and drinking in Vienna, the Viennese coffee houses (Konditoreien), with all their delicious cakes and sweets, will be the first think to come to your mind.
The majority of the 4.000 coffee houses in Austria can be found in Vienna, as it is the place where coffee was originally introduced by the Turks. (In 1983 the institution “coffee house” celebrated its 300th anniversery.)
Elsewhere, coffee houses are often seen as places where you still your hunger and usually don't stay longer than a few minutes, but it is quite natural in Austria to sit for hours reading the paper, writing postcards or working, while enjoying a delicious Sachertorte, Gugelhupf or Apfelstrudel.
Nowadays, only a few coffee houses, such as the „Demel“ or the „Sacher's“ coffee lounge, maintain the atmosphere of the traditional establishments. Here, the coffee is still served with the indispensable glass of water.
At the turn of the century coffee houses were cultural centres; meeting points for poets and writers who found themselves inspired by the special atmosphere. But the milieu of the traditional coffee house has changed. In order to attract a broader spectrum of clients, especially young people, the menu has been enlarged and the opening hours have been extended.
Today you can still indulge in your cultural pursuits in one of the so-called cultural coffee houses (“Kultur Cafes”), that offer musical and literary sessions. If you prefer playing a game while enjoying your „Melange“, you can find a number of pursuits, ranging from chess to cards.
Compared with coffee houses in other European cities you will experience this cultivation of an institution especially in Vienna.
Some vocabulary to make sure you order the right coffee:
Grosser/Kleiner Schwarzer double/single black coffee
Grosser/Kleiner Brauner double/single white coffe (with milk)
Verlängerter Schwarzer lighter coffee without milk
Verlängerter Brauner lighter coffee with milk
Einspänner “Schwarzer”, served in a glass with whipped cream
Melange hot milk froth on top, sprinkled with chocolate powder
Of course, Viennese cuisine does not only consist of sweet dishes. Just think of a delicious Wiener Schnitzel or a Tafelspitz (beef) with spinach and horseradish.
In the so-called „Beisl“ you get typical Viennese food at moderate prices. Sometimes they do not look very inviting from the outside, but they are often very comfortable, the food is excellent and a friendly staff serves you with the Viennese charm. These "secret haunts" are not easy to find, as they are very often situated in narrow passages and back alleys, but local people are always willing to give directions.
GUGELHUPF
(serves 12)
Ingredients:75g/3oz blanched almonds cut into slivers, 250g/9oz plain flour,1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast, 50g/2oz caster sugar, 120ml/4fl oz milk, 3 eggs beaten, 100g/4oz butter, 75g/3oz raisins, finely grated rind of 1 lemon, icing sugar to dust.
Preparation: butter a 1 litre/1 ¾ pint guglhupf mould, sprinkle with the almonds and dust lightly with a little of the flour, set aside. Sift the remaining flour into a bowl, then mix in the yeast and sugar.
Warm the milk and beat into the flour mixture with the eggs. Melt the butter, leave until warm, then gradually beat in until the mixture leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Mix in the raisins and lemon rind, then pour into tin.
Leave to rise in a warm place until the mixture almost reaches the top of the tin. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gasmark5.
When the Gugelhupf has risen bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 150C/300F/gasmark2 and bake for 30 minutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool for 20 minutes, then carefully turn out on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar while still warm.
WIENER SCHNITZEL
Preparation: Mix together 1 egg,
1 tablespoon milk, a few drops of oil and a little
salt. In a flat bowl beat the veal escalopes, season with
salt and turn them over in flour. Then dip them into the
egg-mixture and finally press them into breadcrumbs. Shake off surplus breadcrumbs
and fry immediately in hot fat. Serve with potatoes, potato mayonnaise, or rice.
TAFELSPITZ
Preparation: Use a good quality piece of beef weighing about 1½ kg.
Season with salt, pepper and finely chopped herbs. Place in a hot pan with ½ kg veal bones and brown on all sides to seal the juices. Add 1-2 tomatoes, 1 bay leaf, 2 cloves, lemon peel, peppercorns and ¼ litre white wine. Add water, cover with a close fitting lid and cook until tender. Cut meat into slices and serve with fried potatoes, spinach (or leek sauce) and Apfelkren (grated horseradish apple).
SACHERTORTE
Ingredients: 6 eggs, 160 gr butter, 175 gr chocolate,
1 jar of apricot jam, 160 gr sugar, 160 gr flour 1 packet
(2 teaspoon full) vanilla sugar, chocolate icing.
Preparation: Beat the soft butter with half the sugar, the warmed chocolate and the egg yolks until fluffy. Whip the egg whites with the remaining sugar until it is stiff. Then add to the mixture. Stir in carefully the flour and vanilla sugar, previously sieved together. Pour into cake tin and bake for an hour in a moderate oven. When cool cut in half, spread with apricot jam and sandwich together again. Also coat the sides and the top with apricot jam, then cover thickly with chocolate icing.
Icing: Warm 100g chocolate carefully (not too hot). Heat 200g. sugar with water until it begins to stick together. Mix the lukewarm sugar with the softened chocolate and beat smooth.
Cooking in Lower Austria
This province is especially rich of all sorts of vegetables. It is not surprising therefore, that many different vegetable dishes are found here.
Specialities:
Mohnnudeln which are not really noodles, but rather dumplings made of potato dough in finger thick noodle shapes. They are roasted in butter and sugar and sprinkled with ground poppy seeds before being served.
Buchteln are small, cube shaped cakes and served either plain with vanilla sauce or filled with plum jam (Powidel).
BUCHTELN mit VANILLESAUCE (east buns with vanilla sauce)
Ingredients: 500g flour, 30g yeast, 50g sugar, 70g butter, 2 egg yolks, 1 egg white, Pinch of salt, Lukewarm milk, Butter for spreading, Jam
Preparation: Place the flour in a warm bowl and make a hole in the centre. Crumble the yeast into it, sprinkle with a tablespoon sugar, add 2 to 3 tablespoons lukewarm milk and cover lightly with flour. Put in a warm place to rise. Meanwhile melt the butter, lift off and cool a bit, then mix with a pinch of salt, the egg yolks and the egg white. Add this to the flour where the yeast in the middle has risen, and beat by adding as much lukewarm milk as needed to get medium firm dough. Continue beating until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Cover, and allow rising. Roll out the dough on a flured board until ¼ to ½ inch thick, cut out squares of about 3 inches side - length, put a teaspoon of jam in the middle, preferably apricot, then fold up and form into an egg shape. Brush over with softened butter on all sides of each piece, and tightly fit one after the other in a well - greased baking tin. Brush over again with softened butter and allow rising. Bake first in a medium oven, then raise the temperature and bake until golden brown. When ready, sprinkle with stifled sugar and serve hot sauce.
Vanillesauce (Vanilla sauce)
Ingredients: ¼l. (approx. 9fl ozs) milk, ¼l. (approx. 9fl ozs) cream, sugar as required, vanilla sugar, 3 egg yolks, 1 teaspoon starch flour
Preparation: combine cold milk and cream with the other ingredients, heat up and beat continuously until boiling. When thick, remove from heat and serve.
Cooking in Upper Austria
This province is also known as the „dumpling land“, as dumplings or Knödel is one of the most common dishes. During the Knödelwochen (dumpling weeks) numerous Restaurants and Gasthöfe offer their various Knödel specialities.
The „national dish“ in Upper Austria is smoked meat with Sauerkraut (cabbage) and Semmelknödel. Knödel can either be filled, or the ingredients are already mixed into the dough.
The Semmelknödel are made of breadcrumbs, soaked in milk and mixed with egg, flour, herbs and spices.
The Kartoffelknödel consist of a dough made of mashed potatoes, eggs, milk and flour either filled sweet with fruits like apricots or plums, or savoury with ham (Speckknödel) or minced meat.
Topfenknödel are made with quark (with cheese), egg and flour and eaten either filled with fruits (see above) or plain with fruit sauce.
MARILLENKNÖDEL (Apricot Dumplings)
Preparation: boil ½ kg floury potatoes in their skins, peel while still hot and sieve. Mix well with one egg, 1 tablespoonful cream, 10 gr. butter, 125 gr. flour and a pinch of salt. Roll out to approx. ½ cm thickness, cut into squares. Stone the apricots carefully, replacing the stones with sugar cubes, wrap the pastry firmly around the apricots. Place the dumplings in boiling salted water, allow to simmer for 5- 8 minutes. Remove and rolls in breadcrumbs toasted in butter or in ground poppy seeds, dust with sugar.
Cooking in Styria
The province of Styria is an area that offers a great variety in climatic conditions as well as in culture.
The speciality is the „Sterz“. In the ancient Styrian cook books one can find over 100 different variations in preparation.
Basically, the recipe is the following:
Roast flour in butter and pour hot salted water over it. The mixture forms small crumbles that are cooked for a short while.
A Sterz is always eaten together with a liquid, that is poured over it, as for example coffee or tea, soup, milk, wine or fruit juice.
Other specialities from Styria are Steirisches Wurzelfleisch (pork with root vegetables Styrian style), Zwieback (sweet, dry bread made of yeast dough).
STEIRISCHE KALBSZUNGE
Preparation: cook two calves’ tongues in salted water with a bay leaf and an onion util tender, take from the juice and skin. Dice 4 carrots, ½ celeriac, 4 onions and with the same quantity of quartered potatoes, cook until soft in the tongue stock.
Season with salt, pepper and basil. Cut the tongue along the length in three slices. Serve with vegetables, gravy and grated horseradish.
Cooking in Carinthia
The most famous Carinthian dish is noodles. The dough - always hand made - consists of flour, egg, butter and salt, is rolled out paper-thin and filled and rolled. Then the noodles are cooked in salted water.
The most famous variation is the "Kasnudeln" (filled with cheese, others are filled with meat, bacon or ham.
Krapfen (doughnuts) also come from Carinthia. They are made of yeast dough, deep fried in lard and filled with custard or jam.
Another famous sweet Carinthian dish is the Kärntner Reindling, a yeast cake, made in a flat baking tin and refined with raisins chopped nuts and dried fruits.
KÄRNTER KÄSNUDELN
Ingredients: 300 g flour, 1 egg, tepid water, salt
Preparation: Knead dough from the ingredients and allow resting for ½ hour
- Roll out thinly on a dusted pastry board and put small amounts of the filling on top. Cover with the other half of the dough and cut out squares around the filling.
- Cook in salted water for 10 min. and serve with melted butter.
Cooking in SalzburgerLand
A famous Austrian song claimes that the Salzburger Nockerln are “as sweet as love”. Actually, Nockerln are similar to dumplings, but they are smaller and of softer consistence. In Salzburg they are filled with blackberries, raspberries and other small fruits.
The only thing the "Salzburger Nockerln" has got to do with Nockerl as such, is the name. In fact, it is rather a soufflé, and not easy to prepare.
SALZBURGER NOCKERLN
Ingredients: 7 eggs, 140g sugar, 70g butter, 25g flour, 1/16 l (approx. 2 ½ fl ozs) milk, 1/16l (approx. 2 ½ fl ozs) cream, icing sugar
Preparation: cream butter and sugar until fluffy, gradually add the egg yolks. Whisk the egg whites very stiffly and with a kitchen spoon carefully fold them into the mixture, interspersing with sprinklings of flour. Mix milk and cream together into a casserole, bring to boil and put the mixture into it.
With a spoon scoop 3 big dumplings out of it and arrange them on a heat resistant platter. Bake it in a medium oven for about 5 to 8 min. until golden yellow. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve immediately, because as soon as they get cold, they collapse.
Cooking in Tirol
Here you get the real peasant food: robust, straightforward and unfussy, but very delicious! It is a pleasure to eat those tasty dishes in the typical Tirolean restaurants, which are mostly unpretentious and in smaller villages they can even be found in the back rooms of farmhouses. You will e surprised by the enormous portions.
The well-known Tirolean dishes are Tiroler Speckknödel. Delicious dumplings filled with Tirolean peasant ham (Bauernspeck) and eaten as main course with salad or as a side dish for the hungry ones. As well known, as the Tiroler Speckknödel is the Tiroler Gröstel. A very nutritious pan-fried dish prepared with sliced potatoes, pork meat, onions and many spices.
Other dishes you can find in Tirol are Bean Soup, Dumpling Soup and Gulasch Soup. A traditional starter or afternoon snack (Jause) is the Tiroler Bauernspeck (spicy peasant ham) served in a chunk on wooden board together with dark, crusty bread.
TIROLER SPECKKNÖDEL
Ingredients: 100g streaky bacon, 100g
smoked boiled pork or ham, 4 or 5
diced stale rolls, 2 eggs,1/8 l. ( approx.
4 fl. ozs ) milk, salt, chopped parsley,
1 large onion, flour as required
Preparation: Fry the finely diced bacon and finely chopped onion in a casserole add chopped parsley, diced smoked pork or ham and the diced rolls. Fry until all ingredients are crisp. Remove from the cooker and allow cooling. Meanwhile mix the beaten eggs with milk and a pinch of salt. Pour this over the mixture and add only sufficient flour to get workable dough. Shape into balls of approx. the size of a small fist, and boil in beef broth and stock for about 10 - 15 minutes before serving. (Cut one dumpling in half to check when done.)
TIROLER GRÖSTEL
Preparation: Fry together boiled beef or cold roast beef cut small, with onion, caraway seed and parsley, salt and pepper. Mix in the same quantity of potatoes, chopped small and fried golden brown. Before serving sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with salad or vegetables.
Also numerous variations of „Nockerl“ can be added to the most typical Tirolean dishes, they are prepared with either potato- or quark (white cheese) dough - similar to dumplings- and served either filled with the typical ingredients or they are already mixed into the dough.
Typical ingredients are ham “Bergnocken”, cornflour “Türckennudeln”, spinach and meat “Schlutzkrapen”, or honey „Honignocken“.
Cooking in Vorarlberg
In Austria's most western province with its many tiny and romantic villages, the local people claim „Spätzle“ or „Knöpfli“ (buttons) to be their „national dish“.
These dumpling variations are prepared with very soft dough consisting of flower, butter eggs, milk and salt. Small portions are cut out of the dough with a spoon and boiled in hot water. They can be served either plain as a side dish or as a main course with fresh lettuce.
As a main course Spätzle are served as Kässpätzle, when they are sprinkled with grated cheese and chives, as Geröstete Spätzle when they are fried in a pan and served with cold soured cream, which is a nice contrast to the piping hot Spätzle. They can also be served with minced meat and spinach.
A very Vorarlbergian sweet dish is the so-called Ofenkatze (oven cat, God knows, where the name comes from), which is a fruit cake made of a very soft yeast dough, where the fruits are already mixed into. Spread with butter before baking promises a golden, crusty outcome.
And last but not least…
One Austrian speciality that should never be forgotten, although it is a drink, is the Glühwein (mulled wine), which is known and loved by everyone who has skied in Austria or at least been there in the winter season.
And here is the secret:
White or red wine is heated together with chunks of cinnamon, gloves, twists of orange and sugar and boiled for a short while. Then the hot drink is poured into a mug through a sieve. To simplify this procedure you can also use tea bags filled with all the ingredients necessary.
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