Austrian cuisine


Austrian cuisine consists of many different local or regional cuisines. In addition to Viennese cuisine, which is predominantly based on the cooking traditions of the Habsburg Empire, there are independent regional traditions in all the states of Austria.
The Austrian cuisine shares similarities with its neighboring countries in Central Europe, but particularly with the cuisines of Hungary, Bavaria, Bohemia and Northern Italy. Dishes and preparation methods have often been adopted, integrated, adapted or mixed.
The Austrian cuisine is internationally known above all for its pastries such as Kaiserschmarrn and apple strudel, as well as for Tafelspitz and Wiener schnitzel.

Mealtimes

Breakfast is of the "continental" type, usually consisting of bread rolls with either jam or cold meats and cheese, accompanied by coffee, tea or juice. The midday meal was traditionally the main meal of the day, but in modern times, as Austrians work longer hours further from home, this is no longer the case. The main meal is now often eaten in the evening.
A mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack of a slice of bread topped with cheese or ham is referred to as a Jause; a more substantial version akin to a British "ploughman's lunch" is called a Brettljause after the wooden board on which it is traditionally served.

Popular dishes of Vienna

  • Rindsuppe, a clear soup with golden colour
  • Tafelspitz, beef boiled in broth, often served with apple and horseradish and chives sauce
  • Gulasch, a hotpot similar to Hungarian pörkölt. Austrian goulash is often eaten with rolls, bread or dumplings.
  • Beuschel, a ragout containing lungs and heart
  • Liptauer, a spicy cheese spread, eaten on a slice of bread
  • Selchfleisch, meat that is smoked, then cooked, served with Sauerkraut and dumplings
  • Powidl, a thick sweet jam made from plums
  • Apfelstrudel, apple strudel
  • Topfenstrudel, cream cheese strudel
  • Millirahmstrudel, milk-cream strudel
  • Palatschinken, pancakes similar to French crêpes, filled with jam and sprinkled with sugar or other toppings. They are also served in savoury versions, such as with spinach and cheese.
  • Kaiserschmarrn, soft, fluffy pancake ripped into bites and slightly roasted in a pan, served with compote, applesauce or stewed plums.
  • Germknödel, a fluffy yeast dough dumpling filled with plum jam, garnished with melted butter and a mix of poppy seeds and powdered sugar, sometimes served with vanilla cream
  • Marillenknödel, a dumpling stuffed with an apricot and covered with streusel and powdered sugar. The dough is made of potatoes or Topfen.
  • Saftgulasch, also known as Austrian or Viennese goulash, is an Austrian variant of the traditional Hungarian dish. Saftgulash is prepared exclusively with lean beef and a large quantity of onions, at least two-thirds of the quantity of meat used. No other vegetables are added and it must be slow-cooked for at least three hours. The end result is a thick dark brown sauce with very tender pieces of beef.
  • Wurstsemmel, sliced bread rolls containing a slice of ham, or sausage, or ham and cheese
  • Krautfleisch or Szegediner Krautfleisch, a ragout prepared from pork and Sauerkraut.
  • Krautspatzle, a dish consisting mainly of small noodles and cabbage.

    Meat

The most popular meats in Austria are beef, pork, chicken, turkey and goose. The prominent Wiener schnitzel is traditionally made of veal. Pork in particular is used extensively, with many dishes using offal and parts such as the snout and trotters.
Austrian butchers use a number of special cuts of meat, including Tafelspitz, and Fledermaus. Fledermaus is a cut of pork from the ham bone that resembles the winged animal. It is described as "very juicy, somewhat fatty, and crossed by tendons"; the latter makes it suitable for steaming, braising or frying after tenderization in a marinade.
Austrian cuisine has many different sausages, like Frankfurter, Käsekrainer, Debreziner, Burenwurst, Blunzn and Grüne Würstl. Green means raw in this context—the sausages are air-dried and are consumed boiled. Bacon in Austria is called Speck, and can be smoked, raw, salted, or spiced, among other preparations. Bacon is used in many traditional recipes as a salty spice. Leberkäse is a loaf of corned beef, pork and bacon; it contains neither liver nor cheese despite the name. Vanillerostbraten is a garlicky beef dish.

Game

Austria has an old hunting tradition since there are many woods across the country. In the autumn season many restaurants in Austria traditionally offer game on their menus, along with seasonal vegetables and fruits like pumpkins from Styria. Typical game are:
  • Deer : Hirsch
  • Wild boar: Wildschwein
  • Roe deer: Reh
  • Fallow deer: Damhirsch
  • Brown hare: Hase/Feldhase
  • Common pheasant: Fasan
  • Duck: Ente
  • Grey partridge: Rebhuhn
The German names of game animals followed by -braten signifies a dish of roast game: for example, Hirschbraten is roast venison.

Sweets

Cakes

Austrian cakes and pastries are a well-known feature of its cuisine. Perhaps the most famous is the Sachertorte, a chocolate cake with apricot jam filling, traditionally eaten with whipped cream. Among the cakes with the longest tradition is the Linzertorte. Other favourites include the caramel-flavoured Dobostorte and the delicately layered Esterhazy torte, named in honour of Prince Esterházy, as well as a number of cakes made with fresh fruit and cream. Punschkrapfen is a classical Austrian pastry, a cake filled with cake crumbs, nougat chocolate, apricot jam and then soaked with rum. Tirolerkuchen is a hazelnut and chocolate coffee cake. Mohr im Hemd, while traditionally something closer to a chocolate custard, is now generally prepared as a steamed cake.
Image:Foto.Linzertorte.JPG|220px|thumb|Linzertorte
These cakes are typically complex and difficult to make. They can be eaten at a café or bought by the slice from a bakery. A "Konditorei" is a specialist cake-maker, and the designations "Café-Konditorei" and "Bäckerei-Konditorei" are common indicators that the café or bakery in question specialises in this field.

Desserts

Austrian desserts are usually slightly less complicated than the elaborate cakes described above. The most famous of these is the Apfelstrudel, layers of thin pastry surrounding a filling of apple, usually with cinnamon and raisins. Other strudels are also popular, such as those filled with sweetened curd cheese called Topfen, sour cherry, and sweet cherry and poppy seed.
Another favourite is Kaiserschmarr'n, a rich fluffy sweet thick pancake made with raisins and other fruits, broken into pieces and served with a fruit compote ) for dipping, while a speciality of Salzburg is the meringue-like "Salzburger Nocken". The Danish pastry is said to originate from Vienna and in Denmark is called wienerbrød. The Danish pastry uses a dough in the classic cuisine referred to as "Viennese dough", made of thin layers of butter and flour dough, imported to Denmark by Austrian bakers hired during a strike among the workers in Danish bakeries in 1850.
Viennese nougat is a softer form of the brown kind of nougat common in Central and Northern Europe. As "Wiener nougat", a form of it—now made with palm oil instead of the original cocoa butter—is mass-produced by the confectionery company Fazer in Finland, where it has become a common Christmas treat.

Drinks

Coffee

Austria is credited in popular legend with introducing coffee to Europe after bags of coffee beans were left behind by the retreating Turkish army after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. Although the first coffeehouses had appeared in Europe some years earlier, the Viennese café tradition became an important part of the city's identity.
Coffee is served in a variety of styles, particularly in the Viennese coffee houses. An Austrian Mokka or kleiner Schwarzer is similar to espresso, but is extracted more slowly. Other styles are prepared from the Mokka:
  • großer Schwarzer – a double Mokka
  • kleiner Brauner or großer Brauner – single or double Mokka plus milk
  • Verlängerter – "lengthened" Mokka with more water plus milk
  • Melange – half Mokka, half heated milk, often topped with foamed milk
  • Franziskaner – Melange topped with whipped cream and foamed milk
  • Kapuziner – kleiner Schwarzer plus whipped cream
  • Einspänner – großer Schwarzer topped with whipped cream
  • Wiener Eiskaffee – iced Mokka with vanilla ice cream, topped with whipped cream
Italian styles such as cappuccino, espresso and latte are also commonly served.
Traditionally, coffee is served with a glass of still water.
Drinking coffee together is an important social activity in Austrian culture. It is quite common for Austrians to invite friends or neighbours over for coffee and cake. This routine activity can be compared to the British afternoon tea tradition. It is also very common to go to a coffeehouse while dating.

Hot chocolate

Viennese hot chocolate is very rich, containing heavy cream in addition to chocolate, and sometimes thickened further with egg yolk.

Soft drinks

is an Austrian soft drink based on mountain herbs and with a flavour reminiscent of sambucus beverages. It is considered the "national drink of Austria", and is popularly used as a mixer with white wine or water. While Red Bull is popular all across the West, the energy drink company started in Austria. The headquarters of the Red Bull company are located at Fuschl am See near Salzburg.
Skiwasser is a traditional Austrian beverage, made by mixing water, raspberry syrup, and lemon juice. Skiwasser originated in Austrian Tyrol, offered in winter ski huts and lodges. It is usually non-alcoholic, but alcoholic variations have been created.