7 Days of Austrian Food - A Tasty But Heavy Experience

Make food part of your everyday English routine… explaining the menu to a native-speaking friend… I’m going to London in summer… I have an idea!

After some thinking what I can do for this blog post I came up with a plan: I create a diary-like document explaining typically Austrian dishes which I’m going to give to my family’s friend in South East London when I visit her in summer. To make this an everyday routine I asked my mum if we could prepare at least one Austrian dish per day, whether it is a soup, a main course or a dessert.

First day:

My mum and I decided to just have some “Fritattensuppe” for lunch because we had some leftovers from the last time I made pancakes. First I wanted to find out what the English name for this soup could be. As expected my dictionary was useless. so I started to check on the Internet. I found out that it is simply called pancake soup, after realizing that I don’t even know how to spell it in German (it is actually spelled “Frittatensuppe”, so I misspelled the “t” the first time). Explaining how to prepare pancake soup is a lot easier than that. You just have to prepare some beef soup and then put some strips of pancake into it. If you like you can add some chives.

             (Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the food, so I tried to find some appetizing-looking pictures on the Internet instead)

Second day:

Since both my mum and I mostly don’t like to spend a lot of effort on cooking we agreed on taking it easy and go to an inn and have a “Wiener Schnitzel” there. It seems to me that this dish is something so typically Austrian that, at least according to my dictionary, there is no own English name for it. Wiener schnitzel is made of pounded veal escalopes which are dipped into flour. Then they are covered with a mixture of whisked eggs and bread crumbs and cooked in a frying pan.

Third day:

I was really looking forward to lunch because I had the idea to prepare one of my favourite desserts, “Apfelstrudel” (or apple strudel, to say it in English). It consists of two layers of puff pastry filled with grated apple, raisins, bread crumbs, cinnamon and sugar. After baking you have to leave it some time to cool but not too long because apple strudel is best eaten warm. If you have a sweet tooth you can add some powder sugar on top. Some people also put vanilla sauce on it.

Fourth day:

In the morning mum bought some “Sulz” at a farmer’s market for dinner. I had not known what it really consists of so I had to check on the Internet. Apparently “Sulz”, or meat in aspic, is basically just what it looks like, that is to say parts of meat and vegetables set into gelatin. At home I have always had “Sulz” with pork, however, there can be used various types of meat. I don’t know if people usually do this but I am used to put some sliced onion on the “Sulz”, add some salt and then pour some pumpkin seed oil on it.

Fifth day:

Dumpling day! Today we had “Grammelknödel” for lunch. I was quite surprised to find a translation for “Grammel” in an online dictionary. The English term is greaves, so I guess this dish can be called greaves dumplings. The dumplings are basically made of a mixture of egg, flour, butter and rolls and, of course, greaves. As side dish we had “Sauerkraut” which seems to have no own English name.

Sixth day:

I have to admit that I’m getting quite fed up with all that heavy food and actually just want to eat something light like a salad or some fruit. However, since I’ve come this far with my project I don’t want to stop now. That’s why today I decided to prepare some “Gefüllte Paprika” (stuffed peppers) for lunch. Another confession: by “preparing” I actually mean putting a ready-cooked meal into the microwave because I was too lazy to cook it myself. Anyway, stuffed peppers are peeled and pitted peppers filled with rice or minced meat, ham and sometimes mushrooms. The peppers are then braised in tomato sauce.

Last day:

Today we visited my mum’s cousin and his wife. To complete my project I asked them if they would be so kind to prepare an Austrian dish, preferably “Schweinsbraten” because in my opinion they make the best one in the world. The English term for this is pork roast. The name effectively says everything, it is a roast made of pork. I think it’s the seasoning which makes the Austrian version so special. Before roasting caraway, coriander, marjoram and garlic are added. What I personally like best about it is the crispy rind. As side dish dumplings or fried potatoes (not fries!) are quite common.

To sum up what I learned from that week I can mention the following two points:

First, by watching the food being prepared respectively cooking it myself I gained the insight into what dishes called typically Austrian really consist of and how they are prepared.

Secondly, I learned, or at least better became aware of, that traditional Austrian cuisine is really heavy and should not be consumed every single day. Which reminds me I should go and have a healthy snack now… Bye :)