Vienna and Graz

[Adam Balic]

I was in Austria for the weekend visting friends. One night in Graz, two nights in Vienna. What a great place, lovely people excellent food and a great deal of fun due to all the Chrismas markets.

In Graz we stopped of at a bar/deli "Frankowitsch", really nice vibe, loads of people of all ages.

The speciallized in bars snacks of bread with various toppings, similar to what I saw in Vilnius, but a little more refined.

This is not my beer - my beer was much bigger as this is the tiny 125 ml tankard. These are cute enough I guess, and it was nice to see tiny children drinking juice from them, but in general I don't approve of these small volumes.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

That night my friends mother cooked. This is wonderful, as not only was she a great cook, but as a vistor you get to try a different style of food to what you get in restuarants.

Dinner was:

Salad with the local pumpkin seed oil and toasted pumpkin (more of this delcious products later).

A "fan roast" of pork. In this case the pork is slashed longitudinally and ham and mushrooms are placed in the slits. This is roasted at a low heat and the end product is pork slices that look like a fan in cross section - delicious.

This was served with veg and a Serviettenknödel (Napkin Dumplings). The latter is an ultra light dumpling of bread cubes and egg cooked in a 'napkin'. These were excellent, so light they could float away.

Dessert was Christmas cakes and biscuits with 10 year old plum brandy from a local farmer.

[Adam Balic]

As you might expect the bakeries in Austria are pretty special. This is the facade of one sadly closed) version.

[ludja]

I was in Austria for the weekend visting friends. One night in Graz, two nights in Vienna. What a great place, lovely people excellent food and a great deal of fun due to all the Chrismas markets.

In Graz we stopped of at a bar/deli (forgot the name sorry), really nice vibe, loads of people of all ages.

...

The speciallized in bars snacks of bread with various toppings, similar to what I saw in Vilnius, but a little more refined.

This is not my beer - my beer was much bigger as this is the tiny 125 ml tankard. These are cute enough I guess, and it was nice to see tiny children drinking juice from them, but in general I don't approve of these small volumes.

...

Exciting to see your visit to Graz, Adam! This is where my grandparent's live and my Mom grew up; I've spent a lot of wonderful times in the city there.

The little bread canapes, called, at least locally, "brotchen", are one of my favorite things to eat there. Two of my favorites are the caviar and egg brotchen and the "fleischsalat" or meat salad versions.

I can't tell for certain from the photos, but it looks from the photos that it could be one of the best places for brotchen; a place called "Frankowitsch" in the center of the old inner city. Was there a small deli/store attached right to it by an inside door? Here is the website for Frankowitsch: click.

As my grandmother still makes the main meal midday, on the last night of our visits in Graz it is our tradition to buy a bunch of brotchen there and eat them at home with champagne. I also love to sneak in there during excursions downtown during the day as well for a few brotchen in the midst of shopping. They have beers of all sizes, but mid-morning, the small "Pfiff" size is just right!

(The word 'brotchen" has an umlaut over the "o" and it means "little bread", the "chen" ending being a general diminuative.)

[ludja]

That night my friends mother cooked. This is wonderful, as not only was she a great cook, but as a vistor you get to try a different style of food to what you get in restuarants.

Dinner was:

Salad with the local pumpkin seed oil and toasted pumpkin (more of this delcious products later).

A "fan roast" of pork. In this case the pork is slashed longitudinally and ham and mushrooms are placed in the slits. This is roasted at a low heat and the end product is pork slices that look like a fan in cross section - delicious. 

This was served with veg and a Serviettenknödel (Napkin Dumplings). The latter is an ultra light dumpling of bread cubes and egg cooked in a 'napkin'. These were excellent, so light they could float away.

Dessert was Christmas cakes and biscuits with 10 year old plum brandy from a local farmer.

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What a nice, regional meal from the area--Styria or in German, Steirmark.

[Adam Balic]

Ah exellent, thank you for the name of the Deli. What I wouldn't give for a place like that in Edinburgh. Graz is a beautiful city, great historical places, but also some interesting modern buildings.

December the 6th is St Nikolaus Day and in Austria St Nick has a companion in the form of Krampus, who is depected to look like a devil. These chaps are relatively widespread in Europe in one form or another and are thought to be the vestigial remains of earlier pagan deities that were celebrated at around the same time as the modern Christian ones, for obvious reasons. So in Greece in the early 20th century there was much were parts of the country were the people were scared to go outside at night due to centaurs - But in Austria Krumpus is made into a brioche type cake, larger versions depict him holding a broom.

[Adam Balic]

There are a lot of other Christmas bakery items in Austria (people must be baking for the rest of the year to produce them all). Including traditional cakes and some frivolous offerings. One of the traditional cakes is nearly exactly the same as a Scottish cake that is made around this time of the year. I will photgraph both later to make a comparison.

"Snowballs"

[Priscilla]

Oh my goodness how good everything looks. Including the teensy beer, how civilized.

Adam, I gratefully anticipate the pumpkin seed information. I am in the market to restock my Austrian toasted pumpkin seed oil so any possible online source would be SO appreciated. (Maybe Ludja, too, can help with this.)

Izzat little Krumpus up there a pretzel? Or is that pearl sugar?

[Adam Balic]

So the next morning after a two hour drive we arrived in Vienna. The very first thing we did, before going to the flat evern was to visit the Naschmarkt. I think that this translates as "Sweet market", but actually the range of produce is very diverse. There is large Turkish food presence there especially. In general the produce was outstanding and quite varied.

Root veg, including a long yellow turnip, a kind I have never seen before.

Artisan bread

Beautiful stuffed veg.

Interesting Turkish cheeses

The veg was espcially good quality.

Edited December 8, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

And should anybody wish to know what the basis for a soup/stock in Vienna is, now you know.

Two types of Pumpkin. I think (?) that the green striped type is the variety that produces the wonderful shell-less kernals that are local to Styrian region.

The pickled cabbage at this market was pretty special. It was described as "Champagne" cabbage, not sure if this refers to a grade or to the production process, but it was the best I have eaten. Not ouvert sourness and it was delcious raw.

[Adam Balic]

I must admit that I drank quite a bit on this trip. There are hot mulled wine and cider stalls everywhere and if this wasn't enough there are dozens of other fruity variations on the theme of drinking hot alcohol in public on offer. I had every one.

But, this is a slightly out of season treat "Sturm" ("Storm"). It is the new season wine, fruity slightly fizzy and delcious. It is also cloudy due to the suspended yeast cells. French friends inform me that this is what BNV is like if consumed locally, rather then the mass marketed stuff. In Austria Sturm comes as a red or white wine. I liked Sturm very much, but I am not sure it liked me.

[ludja]

As you might expect the bakeries in Austria are pretty special. This is the facade of one sadly closed) version.

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And if I'm not mistaken, this the Hofbackerei Edegger (unlaut over the "a" in backerei) also located pretty near the innercity main square, or "Hauptplatz" of Graz.

This photo shows the whole facade, taken in daylight, including the date the bakery was founded, 1569!

I had heard that there had been a fire somewhat recently that had damaged the facade but as confirmed by the photos and a recent trip of a family member to Graz, the damage was luckily relatively light and/or was able to be fixed. The bakery had been for many years a source of baked goods for Austrian royalty, hence the "Hof" or "court" prefix in the name.

Here is a link to their website: click

(Note: It is only in German, and not very navigation-friendly.)

Edited December 8, 2005 by ludja (log)

[ludja]

I must admit that I drank quite a bit on this trip. There are hot mulled wine and cider stalls everywhere and if this wasn't enough there are dozens of other fruity variations on the theme of drinking hot alcohol in public on offer. I had every one.

But, this is a slightly out of season treat "Sturm" ("Storm"). It is the new season wine, fruity slightly fizzy and delcious. It is also cloudy due to the suspended yeast cells. French friends inform me that this is what BNV is like if consumed locally, rather then the mass marketed stuff. In Austria Sturm comes as a red or white wine. I liked Sturm very much, but I am not sure it liked me.

...

"Sturm" is a great treat that starts being available in the autumn. In Styria, Graz and the rest of the state, they have a special Sturm made out of very local grape, Schilcher. This wine is made as a very dry rose, which is incidentally also very nice when bottled as the "non-Sturm" version. The "trick", I've heard, with Sturm is not to drink too much--it can upset your stomach if drunk in too large quantities!

[KatieLoeb]

"Sturm" is a great treat that starts being available in the autumn.  In Styria, Graz and the rest of the state, they have a special Sturm made out of very local grape, Schilcher.  This wine is made as a very dry rose, which is incidentally also very nice when bottled as the "non-Sturm" version.  The "trick", I've heard, with Sturm is not to drink too much--it can upset your stomach if drunk in too large quantities!

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This is what I was going to say. I think they call it Sturm because that's what it causes in your digestive tract.

Schilcher is delicious. It's been quite some time since I've had some.

Adam how nice to see your photos of the Naschmarkt! I think that is one of my favorite markets in the whole world. There is a wonderful vendor of fine vinegars there called Gegenbauer* that would be a great place to stock up on some interesting souveniers to take home with you. I have a bottle of their Holunder Balsam Essig - a very nice mild Balsam vinegaric that I've been hoarding for some time. Big bottles of pumpkin seed oil that can be had at virtually any supermarket are pretty good to take home too.

I was just talking about how much I love the Gluhwein stands everyone on the thread about hot winter beverages. I wish we had those stands here! It would be heavenly.

*Naschmarkt, booth no. 111 - 114, 1040 Vienna,

Monday - Friday, 09.00 - 18.00 h, Saturday, 08.00 - 17.00 h

[Adam Balic]

The Sturm in the image is made from the Schilcher variety and the Rose is one of the wines I brought back along with some other stuff I will discuss later.

[Adam Balic]

What I really like about the Austrians I have met is is what a central position food seems have. Everybody seems to want to talk about it.

Still at the market, in the fish section you could eat cooked seafood or they could cook it for you. One needs something to go with Champagne it seems.

The fish itself was quite varied, including a large amount of salt water fish. When you think about the dismal selection of sea fish that seems to be the standard in the UK, it is one indication of how serious the food is taken in land locked Austria.

(Having said this, the fish in the centre of the image are freshwater char)

Edited December 9, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

Now another couple ofitems I tried at the market was a kebab from these chaps (who also sold large borek). They were very good and I can understand why the ex-pat Viennese I know crave these and make them into an totem object of home.

I drank this Glühwein (sp?) with the kebab - Austrian fushion cuisine.

One thing that I liked about Vienna and Austria is the diversity of the food and how it is intergrated. I bought a book on 'traditional Austrian foods', this included Hungarian, Slovech, Czech, Serbian and Croatian recipes. Obviously, all part of being an ex-emperial power, but still very interesting.

One last thing from the market were these dried pears. They seem to be included in many traditional dishes (I was told), but I not sure what these are - any suggestions?

[primowino]

Adam,

Surely the markets can't have been better than our very own German market on The Mound. Perfect if you can't be bothered to walk to the nearest real chip shop, or to a supermarket for your jar of Nutella !!

[anzu]

One last thing from the market were these dried pears. They seem to be included in many traditional dishes (I was told), but I not sure what these are - any suggestions?

My first thought would be Kletzenbrot/Birnenbrot/Hutzelbrot/ Birnbrot (the name varies from region to region. The names I've given cover the Austrian, Swiss and Black Forest region names). This is a yeasted bread with dried pears that is specific to this time of the year.

There is one recipe here for Hutzelbrot, others are with a rye sourdough, are meant to keep for quite a long time, and frankly sound more appealing to me than this version. I'm pretty sure I have one such recipe one somewhere here at home, copied from a book about traditional festive foods of the German-speaking world, but unfortunately don't have the time right now to search it out or translate from the German. If really interested, I could look it up, but it probably won't happen within the next week.

Question to you Adam: how do you manage the specifics of transporting foods back home when you travel somewhere? Like you, I bring back all sorts of local goodies when I travel, but am always limited by possible perishability of goods as well as lack of space (even though I tend to travel with near-empty luggage going out, and it is full of food products when returning). In a different thread you had various meat products (forgotten now what they were) that you had brought back from a trip. How would you have gone about packaging them for travel?

[Adam Balic]

Adam,

Surely the markets can't have been better than our very own German market on The Mound. Perfect if you can't be bothered to walk to the nearest real chip shop, or to a supermarket for your jar of Nutella !!

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What do you think?

[Adam Balic]

Question to you Adam: how do you manage the specifics of transporting foods back home when you travel somewhere? Like you, I bring back all sorts of local goodies when I travel, but am always limited by possible perishability of goods as well as lack of space (even though I tend to travel with near-empty luggage going out, and it is full of food products when returning). In a different thread you had various meat products (forgotten now what they were) that you had brought back from a trip. How would you have gone about packaging them for travel?

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Thanks for the information on the pears. I think that in Alsace they are are used in some savoury dishes too.

Tranport. Flight times are relatively short and although I transport meat products on occassion, these are mostly preserved in some way. Even "Fresh" sausages from Italy that I have brought back have enough saltpetre and are fermented to not worry about too much. If it is hot weather of get a frozen bottle of water and place this next to the item, them wrap the entire lot in a towel etc for insulation., then put this in a plastic bag.

Fragile things get transported as carry-on. I must confess that on this trip I bought back a very large bag of bread cubes to make dumplings out of, so maybe I am not the most practical person in the world.

[anzu]

The reference to Alsace reminded that the same type of dried pear bread is also made there. Do you read French? Recipes, including ones using rye flour can be found if you search for 'berawecke' or various spelling permutations thereof.

On the subject of Alsatian dishes, I'm also sure that I read a recipe for a version of Backoefe (again various spelling permutations) where the meat was cooked with potatoes and dried pears. Unfortunately, it was in a library book in a city I don't live in any longer, so a bit hard to follow up on... Hopefully it is not simply a figment of my fevered imagination, but the taste combination does sound possible.

Thanks for the info. on how you transport things back. The frozen bottle of water, etc. in partcular sounds useful.

And as someone who has brought back embarassingly vast amounts of Spanish pork cracklings from trips to Spain, transporting bread cubes for dumpling-making sounds perfectly reasonable to me! I'm presuming that they are sold ready-cut for dumpling-preparation purposes, as they are in southern Germany? When travelling there a little earlier this year I was also eyeing them speculatively - they're not sold that way in the North - but common sense finally prevailed, as each item bought meant the exclusion of some other potential item, and I still had quite a few days of travel before me.

[Adam Balic]

You just reminded me that I have a loaf of this bread, as part of my haul back to Scotland. I have a few books on the food of Alsace, so I will look up the recipes I have in mind. It would be fun to know how widespread they are.

The mother of my friend informed me that the bread in Edinburgh is not very good for dumplings (standard grade is sort of grey coloured and somewhat moist in texture). So obviously had to bring back some of the Austrian pre-made stuff.

[ludja]

...

One thing that I liked about Vienna and Austria is the diversity of the food and how it is intergrated. I bought a book on 'traditional Austrian foods', this included Hungarian, Slovech, Czech, Serbian and Croatian recipes. Obviously, all part of being an ex-emperial power, but still very interesting.

...

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Do you have the name and author of the book, Adam? I'm always on the lookout for new Austrian food/cookbooks...

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My first thought would be Kletzenbrot/Birnenbrot/Hutzelbrot/ Birnbrot (the name varies from region to region. The names I've given cover the Austrian, Swiss and Black Forest region names). This is a yeasted bread with dried pears that is specific to this time of the year. 

There is one recipe here for Hutzelbrot, others are with a rye sourdough, are meant to keep for quite a long time, and frankly sound more appealing to me than this version. I'm pretty sure I have one such recipe one somewhere here at home, copied from a book about traditional festive foods of the German-speaking world, but unfortunately don't have the time right now to search it out or translate from the German. If really interested, I could look it up, but it probably won't happen within the next week.

...

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Thanks also for the information on the various pear breads, anzu. I've had Birnbrot in western Switzerland (Graubunden) and it was delicious, but that is the extent of my experience with them. I asked my Mom about uses for dried pears and the first thing she said was, "Kletzenbrot".

Is "Hutzelbrot" the Black Forest version? The versions with rye flour sound very interesting; I suppose those might be more German? (I say this because I've noticed the use of rye flour and rye breadcrumbs more in German, rather than Austrian, dessert recipes.)

I wonder if dried pears might also be used in some strudels. I've seen pear strudels (filo dough type) but the ones I've had and seen were made with fresh pears. I could picture them more ground up as a filling in the "Germstrudel" (yeast strudel) type doughs. The latter idea is a complete hypothetical though, as I've not ever seen or heard of it.

[Adam Balic]

Do you have the name and author of the book, Adam?  I'm always on the lookout for new Austrian food/cookbooks...

Yep, the book is "The 100 Classic Dishes of Austria", produced for the Kuratorium Kulinarisches Erbe Osterreichs, edited by Ewald Plachutta and Christoph Wagner.