Austria trip, Part 3: the FOOD (!)

Woman vendor at the farmer's market near St. Polten's.


(Trip report continued from Part 1 and Part 2, also check out my gradually expanding Austria trip photo album.)

And now to an aspect of our trip I particularly relished: Austrian food.

Ah, the FOOD.

We were especially spoiled by Lazi's cooking at the Schloss. This man was a culinary whiz, and near the end of our stay, we were all moved to invade the kitchen en masse, chanting his name, clapping and cheering. He was quite taken aback but obviously pleased.

My favourite of his dishes was a spectacular chocolate souffle we had for dessert on the first night. Oh YUM, it was truly to die for. I had never had chocolate souffle before. I knew my broken German would be painfully inadequate in expressing my gratitude, so I drew a little cartoon instead, a doodle of me floating in euphoric bliss, dreaming of chocolate souffle.

Lazi ended up pinning it up on a kitchen shelf. I drew several similar cartoons over the week, and the Countess told me she planned to put my doodles in a frame to hang in the Schloss. :-)

A typical breakfast table at the Schloss:





There was hot tea, coffee, and hot chocolate on a side table, along with cold drinks, cereal and muesli, milk and cream. You could ask the staff to cook eggs; I usually asked for mine "gekocht" (boiled). The breakfast spread included radishes and baby tomatoes, both of which are relatively uncommon at North American breakfast tables.




Sugar pastries on display at a restaurant ini Grein.


Here are just a few of my favourite food experiences in Austria, and please note that any dishes made at the Schloss were cooked or baked fresh specifically for us:

- Chocolate souffle @ the Schloss.

- The BREAD. I'm not usually a huge bread eater, but I was completely converted during this trip. My favourite bread was a pumpkin seed roll shown in yesterday's Blathering, served fresh every morning at the Schloss.

- Fresh figs! Never had these before. Lazi put them in a salad along with cubed cheese and basil (I think it was basil) with a homemade dressing:





- Pflaume and ginseng tea (plum and ginseng).

- Kalbsgulasch und Spetzl (veal goulasch with spetzl) @ the Schloss.

- Chocolate brownie cake with blueberries @ the Schloss, drizzled with cream:





- Baked fig filled with orange custard (dessert one night @ the Schloss.).

- Marillenpalatschinken (rolled crepe filled with apricot jam) @ the Gasthof in Pottenbrunn.

- Chocolate souffle cake @ the Schloss.

- Chocolate mousse @ the Schloss. We got to choose what dessert we wanted one lunchtime, and Lazi whipped this up. And...holy toledo. This was the best chocolate mousse I've ever had: cold, frothy, smooth, not too sweet. One of our party chose this as her favourite dessert during the trip.

- The fruit was absolutely delicious, and all locally grown. In fact, the Schloss grounds had an abundance of fruit trees. The pears were especially good.

- Milchramstrudel in Durnstein: Topfenstrudel with hot vanilla sauce drizzled over top. Topfenstrudel is a flakey strudel traditionally filled with warm fruit fillings and cream cheese.

I did try some Sacher Torte in Vienna. It was okay, but Kardinalschnitte is still my favourite Viennese dessert. Lazi's chocolate souffle, however, remains my top food experience in Austria.

(Pause while Debbie wipes the drool off her keyboard here.)

Saw these deer in a yard in Pottenbrunn:





Judging from the number of times that deer played a role in the menus at the Schloss, I'm pretty sure they're not being bred as pets.

:-\

We ate most of our meals at the Schloss, but sometimes tried the cuisine in local restaurants. A few of the menus had pictures or English translations, but most were all German text. Here's the main course page from the menu at the Gasthof zu den Linden in Pottenbrun. I made heavy use of my culinary dictionary for this one! Click on the image for a larger version:





At the Gasthof, I ordered the "forelle", which means trout. It came as a whole fish, eyes and tail and all. Yummy, though the little bones were a bit of a pain. For dessert, I had the Marillenpalatschinken, which was served warm (some places apparently serve it cold), along with melange, coffee made with frothed milk.

Some differences I've noticed between North American and Austrian restaurants, or at least the ones I've visited:

- In Austria, you're charged per piece of bread taken from the basket; they're counted up at the end of the meal. Bread tends to come free with the meal in North America. But it isn't NEARLY as good.

- In Austria, you have to ask for the bill; they won't automatically bring it. They're much more patient about patrons lingering over coffee and dessert and a newspaper. When you do ask for the bill, the waiter will stand at your table while you count out your money. Also, I've noticed that bills tend to be very casual, sometimes just a few scribbled numbers of a scrap of paper.

- In Austrian restaurants there are no non-smoking areas, and a LOT of people smoke. This was one of the only negative aspects of the trip for me, but I only noticed it when we went out of the Schloss.

- Austrian food doesn't seem to be big on salads or low-fat cuisine. Good thing we were walking a lot on that trip. :-)

One of my favourite experiences in Austria was going to the local farmer's market with Ginny and Arline to buy ingredients for an outdoor picnic lunch. GREAT people-watching, and I very much enjoyed checking out the types of items for sale. Very few people spoke any English, and it looked as if we were the only tourists.

Here are a few photos:

























Back at the Schloss, we had our lunch outside by the moat on a temporary table set up by the staff at the Schloss. An incredibly scenic setting for a picnic, with the weeping willows, the moat, the horses grazing peacefully nearby. Our meal consisted of cold meats, a salad, cheeses, and fruit, and Lazi surprised us with two homemade apple tarts with some kind of cream cheese filling which were mouthwateringly delicious, still warm from the oven.

Arline and Ginny had also picked up a bit bottle of Stürm, fermented grape juice available in different flavours. The bottle they bought at the market had no sealed cap, just a piece of paper wrapped over the top instead. I tried several types of Stürm. It was good, but much stronger than it seems at first. Also, if I had more than half a glass, I got a headache. I generally stuck to Mineralwasser or Caffe Melange instead.








Lazi's homemade apple tarts.


If you haven't been able to tell, the food was one of my favourite parts of our Austria trip. The Austrians sure know how to eat.

And hoo boy, am I going to miss Lazi's cooking.

Especially that chocolate souffle...

* happysighdrool *

:-)

(Trip report to be continued)

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