Cooking Recipes & Gastronomical Information

Austrian Cooking Recipes

Austria stands at the cuisine crossroads, benefiting from a history that has brought it into contact with the kitchens of countries across Europe. Austrian cuisine is influenced by that of countries as diverse as France, Italy and Hungary. The wide palette of flavors and ingredients at a chef’s disposal—combined with convivial table company—make dining a highlight of local of life. To taste Austria in your own home, try one of the following recipes.

Ham Viennese
This easy Austrian dish sure to stick to your ribs. It can be ready to serve in about a half hour and serves four. The Austrian answer to risotto, this is a creamy ham sauce served over rice.

Ingredients:
· 1/3 kg ham
· 3 cups rice
· 2 cups sliced celery
· 1/2 cup chopped onion (more can be added to taste)
· 1 can cream of chicken soup
· 2 tablespoons butter
· 1 ½ tablespoons mustard sauce
· ¾ cup sour cream
· ¼ teaspoon dill weed

Directions:
Start cooking the rice, then add the butter to a large saucepan and sauté and the onion and celery. Cook until tender, but not brown. Stir in the dill weed, cream of chicken soup, mustard and sour cream. Add the ham to the saucepan and cook for five minutes. Leave the saucepan over low heat until the rice finishes cooking, and serve hot!

Salzburger Nockerln
Austrian pastries and desserts are easily lost in the truffle shuffle of Europe. While Austria’s close proximity to such pastry powerhouses as France and Germany may condemn it to living in those nations’ shadows desert-wise, what delicious shade it is. The Salzburger Nockerln is one of the best kept culinary secrets in Europe’s pastry kitchen, is a great desert to sink your teeth into if you’re looking for sophistication in addition to seductive flavor. Some consider a chocolate or fruit sauce the perfect helper for this fluffy cake, while others prefer to let the delicious batter do all the heavy lifting.

Ingredients:
· 9 large egg whites
· 4 large egg yolks
· 4 teaspoons grape jelly
· 4 teaspoons butter
· ½ cup flour
· ½ cup vanilla bean sugar
· ¼ cup white sugar
· ½ lemon, finely grated
· Powdered sugar (optional)

To prepare the batter:

Add the grated lemon and vanilla bean sugar into the egg whites. Beat them thoroughly until the meringue starts to stiffen.
Whip the white sugar into the egg yolks.
Stir the flour and yolks into the stiffened whites.

To bake and serve:
Grease the inside of an oval-shaped casserole dish with the butter and spread the grape jelly over the butter on the bottom of the dish.
Pour in the batter and smooth the surface with a spatula.
Place the dish into an oven preheated to 230°C and cook for eight minutes.
Cut servings fresh out of the oven, and sprinkle powdered sugar if desired.

Austrian Hussar
Toasting in Austria, like most aspects of Austrian life, comes with its own protocols. A toast can signal the start of a meal, and while spontaneous, is formalized with regard to who begins a round of toasting (usually the host or the eldest drinker). Equally important is that eye contact must be maintained while clinking glasses with your newfound Austrian friends. While such formalities may be disorienting at your first Austrian party, you’ll feel more at home if you’re already familiar with what you might find in Austrian glasses.

The Austrian Hussar isn’t a drink every bartender knows, but most well-equipped bars should be able to make it. Hussars were extravagantly dressed soldiers plying the plains of Bohemia in the 15th century. While their elaborate battle costumes inspired the uniforms of armies throughout Europe, you’ll find inspiration in this simple, classic, refreshing drink. Here’s how to make it at home.

Ingredients:
· 9cl apricot brandy
· Tonic water
· Lemon peel

This drink is best served in a highball glass. Add the brandy and fill to within a cm or two with tonic water. Garnish with a curl of lemon peel. Calorie watchers can substitute soda water for tonic. Be warned that like the soldiers they are named for, the Austrian Hussar is a sturdy drink.

Austrian Chocolate Cup

Austrian Chocolate Cup is a non-alcoholic belly warmer. It may take a couple practice batches to get everything just right, but your first taste will convince you that it’s worth the effort. This recipe makes ten servings.

Ingredients:
· 300g semisweet chocolate
· 4 small oranges
· 5 cups milk
· 1 cup whipped cream
· 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
· 10 cinnamon sticks
· Chocolate shavings

Grate the orange peel from the four oranges and break the chocolate into bite-size pieces.
Melt the chocolate in a pan with the ground cinnamon, orange peel, and a splash of milk.
When the chocolate has melted, stir in the milk over low heat. When the chocolate is melted and the entire mixture is thoroughly heated, ladle the hot chocolate into mugs.
Put a dollop of whipped cream in each mug, and crumble the chocolate over the whipped cream.
Place a cinnamon stick in each mug and serve.