 Let's eat - Gourmet style
Home-made butter cookies |
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Growing up in Austria gave me a very delicate palate. Though I never
felt the necessity to become a big cook myself (I was one of the many
victims of the most famous chef roaming the world: one's own mother), a
big passion of mine is eating good food. Now, "good food" is a very
relative term which I learned from traveling the world.
Whenever I go back to Austria, which is almost once a year, I
find that what I missed the most was the wonderful food, at home as
well as in my favorite restaurants. The picture on the right depicts
me, my wife and daughter, my brother-in-law and my father at my
sister's home in the country, outside of Salzburg.
I will share some exotic Austrian recipes and extra links with
you to scratch the surface and lure you into my homeland. Austrians
like to start dinner with a soup. Here is a wonderful example which is
a very special Germanic recipe from my mother, Brigitte.
 | Beer Soup | |
Buy two of those Salzburger Stiegl beers on the
left, one for the soup and one to drink with your main course. This
beer is being exported, so just go to your local liqueur store. Other
ingredients:
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- 16 oz. Milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- pinch of salt, cinnamon
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- 3 tbsp. sugar
- 1 pkg. vanilla pudding
- 1 egg
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You might guess by now that this is a sweet soup. Eat the leftovers for dessert! It's great beer pudding once it's cold.
Open
the beer and leave it in the fridge for a day. It should have no fizz
left for cooking. Seperate the egg yolk and keep the whites. Mix the
yolk, pudding, sugar and salt with about 10 ounces of the beer, then
mix in the milk. Bring to a boil with low heat and constant stirring.
Let boil for 2-3 minutes and pour into a bowl. Whip the egg whites into
peaks. Scoop snow balls onto the top of the soup and sprinkle the
cinnamon over it. Enjoy! |
For the main course I got a recipe from my Salzburg friend Roland Essl,
chef and owner of the 500-year-old restaurant Krimpelstätter. Roland's
Gasthaus is where we always have our cast party of 200 people when I
travel to Salzburg to be a soloist for the Salzburger Adventsingen. He
is a genius. Roland's food is just tastier than anything else I've ever
had. Get ready to stock your fridge for a feast!  | Stuffed, gesurte ( ~ pickled) pork breast |  |
Oh, you haven't heard of pork breast? Tell that to the
cute guy below! But you're right if you live in the US, as the
illustration shows. This is the culture clashing dish. Now here is your
chance to develop a close relationship with your butcher...
(more on that below) |
Ingredients (15 portions): - 6 lb. pickled roast (boneless)
- 10 oz. white bread w/o crust
- 4 oz. milk
- 4 oz. half & half
- 2 oz. butter
- 4 eggs
- salt, nutmeg, parsley
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 | Cut
bread into cubes, mix with the lukewarm milk, half & half, melted
butter, eggs, and the spices. Let stand for a little while.
The
butcher can help preparing the roast for stuffing (try to explain...).
Stuff it and sew shut. Broil in oven at 375 degrees for about 2 hours.
Serve with potatoes and a warm bacon-coleslaw (no majo). |
Dessert and Coffee - In
the old times coffee in Vienna was served by color. In the cafe
Herrenhof there was a legendary waiter named Hermann who always carried
a varnisher's color palette with 20 different shades of color.
He then let the guests order the desired hue from the palette.
Minneapolis, MN
World's largest spoon |
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Chestnut
Dumplings | - Courtesy of SPAR, Austria - Ingredients: |
For the dough: 1 lb. soft potatoes2 egg yolks, 1 oz. butter1 tbsp. wheat grits 4 oz. fine flour | For the filling: 5 oz. rice & chestnut mix2 oz. powdered sugar
also: 4 oz. chopped walnuts
salt, rum, flour |
- Mix chestnut rice with powdered sugar and 1 tbsp. of rum; chill.
- Boil potatoes in salt water, peel and mash. Mix with egg
yolks, butter, grits, and flour. Knead well. Let rest for 15 minutes. - In the meantime make eight balls from the rice mixture.
- Heat
up new salt water. Work the dough into a rolled up loaf,
using some
extra flour. Cut into eight pieces and flatten them.
Put the balls on
top and cover them, making dumplings. - Put them in the boiling salt water, don't cover completely.
Boil on low heat for about 10 minutes. - Take out, strain well, coat with the walnuts. Serve with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce.
 | Wiener Melange | | This special cup of coffee (use a dark roast) is prepared to taste with:
One
part of coffee - one part of hot milk, with lots of milk foam on top.
Enjoy! On special request from my friend Donna
Mitchell. |
... that Mozart was a playboy and Schubert just the opposite?
Read
about it in my February article. Celebrate Valentine's Day with some
romantic anecdotes (with varied outcome) about three Austrian composers.
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