1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (83 page)

The entrance of the Figlmüller restaurant in Vienna, Austria.

No one seems to be lukewarm about Wiener schnitzel. Some regard it as a tasteless, bland cliché, while ardent connoisseurs entirely disagree. Those who adore it study details such as the type of meat and how it was cut and pounded;
the proper thickness; the correct ingredients for breading; and the right oil or fat in which to fry it. Satisfying, savory, and subtle in its simplicity, schnitzel remains de rigueur on almost any traditional Austrian or German menu. Because it is quick to prepare and comforting to eat, it is also a favorite of home cooks.

The dish goes by many names internationally, from the American breaded veal cutlet to the French
côtelette de veau Viennoise
to the Italian
cotoletta de vitello Milanese.
But arguments as to its origin tend to be restricted to Austrians and Italians, the latter claiming to have invented their version in the twelfth century, after which it was adopted by the ruling Hapsburgs. There
are
differences between the two, mostly as concerns the style of breading. Italians like it very thin, and smoothly, tightly veneered to the meat’s surface. Although the Italians prepare it with
scalloppine
, the real McCoy is a pounded rib chop with a piece of bone left in. Austrians and Germans always use scalloppine, and prefer a fluffy breading that ruffles up over the meat.

When the name Wiener schnitzel is used in Austria, law dictates that the meat must be veal, but pork is far more flavorful and juicy, and less expensive. In fact, the best schnitzel in the world, and certainly the largest, may be the huge slab of breaded pork that overhangs its plate at Figlmüller in Vienna, where it is served with the traditional cucumber salad and warm potato salad.

As with all simple dishes, every detail matters. So that the meat for schnitzel will not come apart when pounded, it should be cut from the leg, slightly on the diagonal. It must be salted and peppered, dipped into flour, coated in beaten egg, and then with fresh, dry, fine bread crumbs (never the preseasoned packaged travesties), after which it should rest at room temperature for about twenty minutes. The schnitzel should be fried in unsalted butter with a few drops of mild salad oil—corn or sunflower—to keep the butter from blackening. Fried to a bright golden brown without any hint of black, it must be served at once, ideally with a wedge of lemon. Cold leftover schnitzel makes a delicious sandwich on toast, especially as a hair-of-the-dog breakfast.

Variations on the plain schnitzel include Holsteiner schnitzel—topped with a fried egg, capers, and anchovy fillets; cheese schnitzel, with grated Parmesan mixed with the bread crumbs; and
natur
schnitzel, which is dusted only with flour and topped with a pan gravy. Hunter’s schnitzel—
jägerschnitzel—
gets a topping of vegetables sautéed in the same frying pan, whereas cream or paprika schnitzel is rosy with a paprika-flavored cream sauce. Chicken or turkey schnitzels? The less said about those typically bland, dry impostors, the better.

Where:
In Vienna
, Figlmüller, tel 43/1-512-6177,
figlmueller.at
; Schweizerhaus, tel 43/1-72-80-1520,
schweizerhaus.at
;
in New York
, Wallsé, tel 212-352-2300,
kg-ny.com/wallse
; in Kansas City, MO, Grünauer, tel 816-283-3234,
grunauerkc.com
;
in Houston
, Charivari, tel 713-521-7231,
charivarirest.com
;
in Palm Springs, CA
, Johannes, tel 760-778-0017,
johannesrestaurants.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna
by Kurt Gutenbrunner (2011);
Lüchow’s German Cookbook
by Jan Mitchell (1996);
germanfoodguide.com
(search schnitzel);
saveur.com
(search schnitzel a la holstein; wiener schnitzel).

Awarm, silky, vanilla-scented chocolate sauce glosses hot-baked, tender crêpes enveloping a creamy cheese filling. Behold the
schokoladen topfenpalatschinken
, best accompanied by either a cup of strong mocha coffee or a glass of chilled Champagne. Although it is found in other parts of Austria as well as in Germany and the United States, this luscious mouthful is a traditional post-concert late-night treat in Vienna’s old-style supper clubs and restaurants.

The base of the dessert is the most gossamer version of a classic crêpe: an airy mix of flour, sugar, cream, milk, and eggs, gently gilded in butter until both sides achieve a pale golden, lacy pattern.
Topfen
—fine-grained pot cheese—is rubbed through a sieve and then folded into sour cream that has been whipped until frothy, joined by egg yolk, sugar, and, at the cook’s pleasure, raisins, chopped nuts, or nothing but grated lemon zest or cinnamon. Filled with this enhanced cheese mixture, the crêpes—
palatschinken
—are rolled and placed side-by-side in a buttered dish that goes into a hot oven for about ten minutes, or until the filling melts to a satiny richness. Once plated, the hot crêpes are sauced with a warm, bittersweet, vanilla-accented chocolate custard. In simpler versions, the cheese-filled crêpes may be dressed only with a spritz of lemon and a sprinkling of sugar, or garnished with fruit compote, apricots (
marillen
) being a special favorite.

The versatile
palatschinken
are almost as delectable in savory guises, made without sugar and paired with creamed fillings of spinach, mushrooms, and cooked or diced chicken, alone or in combination. Brushed with melted butter and a light sprinkling of finely grated Parmesan or Switzerland’s Sap Sago cheese, they are briefly baked to succulent perfection.

Where:
In Vienna
, Drei Husaren, tel 43/1-512-1092;
in New York
, Blaue Gans, tel 212-571-8880,
kg-ny.com/blaue-gans
;
in Kansas City, MO
, Grünauer, tel 816-283-3234,
grunauerkc.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The German Cookbook
by Mimi Sheraton (2014).

While outsiders consider Wiener schnitzel to be Austria’s national dish, inside the country, and especially in Vienna, that honor goes to the supple boiled beef called
tafelspitz.
It was the preferred lunch of the emperor Franz Joseph I,
and the populace apparently followed suit.

The name means “table point,” a cut of steer taken from a point just below the sirloin. Some opt for top round or chuck, and there the arguments begin. The food writer and journalist Joseph Wechsberg claimed that no guest who simply asked for boiled beef could be taken seriously in pre–World War II Vienna. At the then-famous restaurant Meissl & Schadn, one had to name the particular cut desired—and there were twenty-four to choose from. The juiciest, most unctuously rich is known as
bein-fleisch
, or bone flesh, coming from the leg.

Whatever the cut—and it must be large—it is slowly simmered with fragrant pot vegetables like carrots, leeks, parsnips, the parsley root called
petrouchka
, onions, celery root, and in some instances an unpeeled clove of garlic. Some chicken parts and a marrow bone may join the mix. Constant skimming ensures that the broth emerges as a sparkling clear and heady consommé that will be the meal’s only first course, served steaming hot in bouillon cups.

The dewily moist, tender, and savory beef is thinly sliced and sprinkled with gritty coarse salt, and placed alongside a few boiled potatoes and perhaps some carrots. Other sides include leeks or small white onions that were freshly cooked in a little of the broth; or alternatively, just the potatoes and some ruby pickled beets. Pungent grated horseradish, sometimes folded into whipped cream with grated apples or chives, is a luxurious sauce that brings out the pristine meat flavor; those with more rugged palates opt for the simplest condiment of grated horseradish in vinegar.

Leftovers, if any, go into piquant cold salads—usually as an appetizer with sprightly additions of chives, capers, gherkins, oil, and vinegar.

Where:
In Vienna
, Rote Bar at Hotel Sacher, tel 43/1-5145-6841,
sacher.com
; Beim Novak, tel 43/1-523-3244,
beimnovak.at
;
in New York
, Wallsé, tel 212-352-2300,
kg-ny.com/wallse
;
in Kansas City, MO
, Grünauer, tel 816-283-3234,
grunauerkc.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Cooking of Vienna’s Empire
by Joseph Wechsberg (1968);
Lüchow’s German Cookbook
by Jan Mitchell (1996);
nytimes.com
(search tafelspitz gutenbrunner).

Throughout Austria and Bavaria, local fast-food chains like Wienerwald offered this beloved, thin-crusted, crunchy fried chicken long before the advent of Colonel Sanders. In fact, when Kentucky Fried Chicken outposts opened in those areas, the colonel’s recipe had to be adjusted to appeal to more sophisticated local palates.

The story begins with chickens that are ideally super-fresh, organic fryers or broilers, absolutely no larger than two pounds each. Most traditionally, they are cut into quarters, but for convenience’s sake they are often cut into eighths, a practice that results in a less felicitous presentation and a higher ratio of breading to meat. The room-temperature cuts are given a light bath in sunny lemon juice and then patted dry, sprinkled with salt, and given successive dippings in flour and beaten egg and then the lightest coating of very fine, sieved bread crumbs. Then they are set on racks to dry for about fifteen minutes.

Next, they are fried in a deep iron skillet, with either lard (for true flavor) or a more healthful version of shortening such as vegetable oil, although it will not achieve the desired degree of crispness. When all of the pieces are golden brown and cooked through, they are doused with melted butter, set on racks in baking pans, and placed in a low (200°F) oven for fifteen minutes or less. The unsalted butter imparts a fresh sweetness as the breading benefits from a final crisping.

Lemon wedges, sprigs of fried curly parsley, cucumbers or green salad in a light sour cream dressing, and boiled new potatoes are the go-withs. With a dish so irresistible, one chicken is one portion, and a cool, fruity white wine is a better accompaniment than beer. Iced tea or cola need not apply.

Where:
In New York
, Blaue Gans, tel 212-571-8880,
kg-ny.com/blaue-gans
;
in Kansas City, MO
, Grünauer, tel 816-283-3234,
grunauerkc.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Gourmet’s Old Vienna Cookbook
by Lillian Langseth-Christensen (1959);
Lüchow’s German Cookbook
by Jan Mitchell (1996);
wein.info
(search backhendl fried breaded chicken);
bigoven.com
(search wiener backhendl viennese fried chicken).

Fluffy bread topped with the famous air-dried beef and mushrooms.

Whether as
bündnerfleisch
or
bindenfleisch
in German, or
viande des grisons
in French, this supple and silky mahogany-red dried beef is among the world’s most highly prized cured meats. A product of the alpine area of eastern Switzerland known as the Grisons or Graubünden, the boneless top round cut of locally raised, naturally fed beef is brined in white wine with allspice, coriander, cloves, black pepper, and garlic. Hung out to dry for several winter months in the pure, icy mountain air, out of the sun’s reach, its quintessentially beefy flavor intensifies as the moisture in the brick-shaped loaf evaporates.