Austrian Cuisine
Since
we were only a few hours away from Salzburg, Austria, we traveled there for two
days to check it out. It is the birthplace of Wolfgang Mozart, so we were
inundated with Mozart the entire time we were there. We saw his home, but it
was a little crazy how many things were Mozart themed. They had candies and rubber
duckies and all kinds of little trinkets. Austria is a very interesting place
because it not only has a large German influence, but there is also some
Italian influence because of the proximity to Italy. That being said, we didn’t
indulge in much Italian cuisine, but we did find some delicious plates of
Austrian cuisine.
One
of my favorite things about Austrian cuisine was the beer. We had the local
beer from Salzburg called Steigel. It actually mixed really well with fanta
limonata for their version of a shandy called a Radler. I was downing them left
and right every evening at dinner because it was so hot and they were so very
refreshing. It is definitely something
that does not taste the same outside of the real place.
I
hadn’t had any schnitzel while we were it Munich, so I decided to have some
when we were in Austria. I love schnitzel. The crispy crust that is formed on
the outside of the veal is amazing and it brings a really nice crunch factor to
the incredibly tender and flavorful meat. It was served with crispy oven
roasted potatoes and they were seasoned to perfection.
The
next day we were starving while we were walking around the city, and we
happened upon a small little restaurant that served a German specialty called
knodel. It is a potato dumpling that is usually either poached or boiled that
can be plain or stuffed with filling. Most countries have their own version of
them. This particular restaurant had an entire menu devoted to them, so it was
a pretty cool experience for me. There were a few that caught my eye, but I
decided to pick something that sounded a little lighter so that I could fully
enjoy my dinner and the many Radlers I knew would come later. I ordered Knodel
stuffed with trout and served in a chive cream sauce. What a combination of
flavor. A heavy potato dumpling like this would never be expected to taste this
light and fresh. The trout was very prominent and it was cooked perfectly. I
loved dipping the potato and fish mixture into the cream sauce. I love chives
in everything so they were very welcome in my palate. My fiancé had a
traditional apple soda for her drink and it was very interesting. It wasn’t
sweet like most sodas. It was fruity and bubbly, and also just a touch sweet.
It was a really nice meal to have before we had a bigger dinner later.
For
our final meal in Salzburg, we ate in the same beer garden we had dined in the
night before at the hotel. I wanted to switch it up a little bit, and have
something a little different, so I started with a cup of potato soup and moved
on to a thinly pounded beef with onion gravy, I think it was called zwiebl
rostbraten, and potato croquettes. It was quite a homey meal. It was so
deliciously flavored, and it was exactly what I was looking for. The beef was
very delicious and it was smothered in this delicious onion gravy. It was warm
and tasty and the potato croquettes only complemented the meal. Their crispy
exterior and fluffy interior were amazing, especially when dipped into the
leftover gravy. Who knew something that seemed so simple could be executed so
scrumptiously.
They
have a dessert in Austria that they are known for serving called Salzburger
Nockln. It is pillows of meringue, toasted deeply. It actually looks like brown
clouds protruding from the dish that they are baked in. They served it over a
bed of jam of some sort, but unfortunately it was not our favorite thing. As is
the issue with eggy desserts like that, it tasted too much like eggs. It wasn’t
quite sweet enough, and the fruit wasn’t enough to pick up the slack. The rest
of the meal was so delicious though we weren’t overly upset about the dessert
misfire.
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