Cooking Austrian

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livingnote

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 12, 2007
Messages
1,048
Location
Berlin, Berlin
Austrians....

Arrogant, elitist, lovable, inimitably cynical and a lot worse than the French at "Aristo", it was them who put the devastating
cherry on top of Rokoko with Marie Antoinette (Who, by the way, said "let them eat cake" in all innocence because she seriously
could not comprehend why the people of France couldn't just switch to the sweet stuff if they'd run out of bread. Well, there's denial for you).

They have a knack for knowing what's drop dead awesome, irreverent, and are home to some high forms of political incorrectness
I'm not even going to mention here.

Perhaps best known for their Wiener Schnitzel (for which the Americans win the Ausländer award), here is one of their less
known works of incredible culinary gusto:


Steirischer Backhendlsalat

(Styrian Fried Chicken Salad)

In the version of the Dogana in Feldkirch.



First, you need chicken, or, like I used here, turkey:

backhendl1.jpg


Pound it out with a meat hammer, or if you don't have one, a beer bottle works wonders:

backhendl2.jpg


Now cover it in flour, kneading it in for good measure:

backhendl3.jpg


Breading stuff the good old way, egg+salt, breadcrumbs. Double-yolk eggs work best ;)

backhendl4.jpg


And that's how it should look - here's also the real Wiener Schnitzel if it were veal - procedure is identical:

backhendl5.jpg


Get some high-temp oil in a pan going (some say exactly 150°C but ymmv, it's right when breadcrumbs just start to sizzle
in the pan deep-fry style). Temperature control is paramount when doing this:

backhendl6.jpg


And now, evil:

backhendl7.jpg


And here goes no. 2 - boil an egg in parallel, you'll be using it for the salad.

Remove from pan and blot off excess oil with a tissue on a plate.

backhendl8.jpg


Further augmentations to the salad: Minced onions and the hard-boiled egg. Additional stuff would be pumpkin and sunflower seeds:

backhendl9.jpg


Here comes the dressing, basic triad of vinegar, pumpkin seed oil (very very important) and some old-style dijon mustard (Americans,
go for Inglehoffer at Publix, does the trick) - I used some mayonnaise in my dressing too:

backhendl10.jpg


Now cut the chicken/turkey into fine strips:

backhendl11.jpg


And toss everything together and drizzle with plentiful pumpkin seed oil:

backhendl12.jpg



Serve with a nice Stiegl or Spaten beer - or a Staropramen like I did. Considering that Austria has had more than
one attempt to take over the world together with Germany, Czech beer will work, albeit ol'Staro never will be what
you get from the tap at the U Fleku in Prague (go there, I swear).

This stuff will disappear very rapidly, and you'll thank yourself for making a second chicken+egg because you can warm
it up and knock it out tomorrow...and what's most amazing about it all...

It's actually healthy.
 
Yes there was a old joke about the US and the dangerous Kernöl in austria ... must have something to do with Kernwaffen ;)

Btw. you can also use small pieces of chicken and bake it. No cutting afterwards. This is another very common version. And of course instead of normal salad use "Vogerlsalat" and "Erdäpfelsalat". Feel free to translate ;)

And yes, the Kürbiskernöl is very important, must come from styria and should be the highest quality you can get. Its like buying good balsamico.

For dessert try a "steirisches Busserl" (styrian kiss). You put some very good vanilla ice (1 ball) in a V-shaped glass (like a martini glass), put a little bit of Kürbiskernöl over it and serve it. You have to try to believe  8)
 
Yes absolutely, Vogerlsalat - that is a must. I hadn't gotten one because I was kinda strapped for cash
while shopping, but certainly not to be omitted if you can get it.

Interesting that exactly pumpkin oil should be the specialty of the region - of all things conceivable...

Btw Vogerlsalat is Lamb's Lettuce and Erdäpferl is the "cute version" of Erdäpfel - "Apples of the Earth", in french,
literally Pommes de Terre - potatoes.

That Steirisches Busserl is now next on my list of curiosities I'm gonna have - it sounds delicious in a way
you can't really imagine until you try it ;) Like that aged balsamico and strawberries...

I remember when I was up in Steg and made a good ol' American ice cream soda, ordering a ball of vanilla
ice cream, Sprite (Citro, actually) and a tall glass. Upon making it I got the instant reaction "Dös is jo a
Eiskremfaschondlung".
 
That chicken loks great, nice color and crust. I went to Germany in 2003 and went to a place that served schnitzels bigger than the plate!!!!! They were great! Got i gotta go back one day.
 
The pumpkin seed oil is still odd to this Ami's tastes, even though I like the baked seeds and cooked veg.
But mixed with mustard and vinegar drizzled over fried meat- I'll give that a go.
Mike
 
Excellent job for a German  ;D

Jetzt wird's Zeit eine Kochaleitung für Beuschl, oder noch besser "a Bluntzgrestl" zu verfassen...

Christoph
 
For the styrian kiss: (sorry i have to do this in german, i never talk about cooking in english - lacking some vocabulary ;) ): Du kannst noch Pistazien nehmen, diese hacken und mit Butter karamelisieren, davon ein wenig drüberstreuen.
 
Come on.  ;D

No idea about käseknöpfle, but i can tell you something about Gugelhupf und Kaiserschmarrn mit Zwetschkenröster  8)


Btw. when you do this or Wiener Schnitzel next time, forget the oil. Do it with butterschmalz. Dont know if you can get it up north ;) but this really makes a huge difference!!!
 
Yeah - general rat of the planet with a nose for anything good ;)

Pretty much open to everything, and whatever ends up rocking gets kept.
 
Livingnote . . .



  Amen to that!



      AndyP


ps I love really really good Olive oil drizzled on perfect Italian Vanilla icecream. You HAVE to do this in Italy for some reason, it doesn't work here in the UK!!! Balsamic and strawberries can be great, but the real shizzle for me is Black Pepper and Strawberries . . . . . You simply MUST try . . .
 
Hi,



  just to say thank you for the inspiration! I just made chicken this way for lunch with great success. I couldn't find Pumpkin seed oil, so I used Walnut.


  Kindest regards,



    ANdyP ;D ;D ;D
     
 
strangeandbouncy said:
ps I love really really good Olive oil drizzled on perfect Italian Vanilla icecream. You HAVE to do this in Italy for some reason, it doesn't work here in the UK!!! Balsamic and strawberries can be great, but the real shizzle for me is Black Pepper and Strawberries . . . . . You simply MUST try . . .
I'll be trying those.

Alternate thin slices of avocado, and orange, then drizzle with balsamic and olive-oil --amazing!
Kiwi works well for a third fruit, but the original came from my mom, who's no longer with us.
 
A girl friend and I often speak of doing DIY cooking for musicians so they can eat healthy instead of fast food. When we design our meals we plan for the prep time not to exceed going to a fast food joint, except at home in our kitchen we're always using lots of free range chicken, organic raw veggies, cold water fish and lean grass fed red meats.
 
  You California people are funny. Didn't you see the beer mug made of bacon and cheese? That's how we do it on the east coast.

But seriously that looks delicious.

When I was recording my own band we lived on rotisserie chicken and french fries.

John
 

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