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Viennese cuisine is the cuisine that is characteristic of Vienna, Austria, and a majority of its residents. Viennese cuisine is often treated as equivalent to Austrian cuisine, but while elements of Viennese cuisine have spread throughout Austria, other Austrian regions have their own unique variations.
Viennese cuisine is best known for its Wiener schnitzel and pastries, but it includes a wide range of other unique dishes. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Vienna has been the capital of Austria for more than a thousand years. It became the cultural centre of the nation and developed its own regional cuisine; as such, Viennese cuisine has distinct cooking. [5]
The variety of ingredients sold on the Naschmarkt might lead to the thought of a broadly varied cooking culture. In fact, dishes heavily depending on meat make up typical Viennese cuisine: Wiener schnitzel (veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried), Tafelspitz (boiled beef), Beuschel (a ragout containing veal lungs and heart), and Selchfleisch (smoked meat) with sauerkraut and dumplings are typical of its cooking. Some sweet Viennese dishes include Apfelstrudel (strudel pastry filled with apples), Millirahmstrudel (milk-cream strudel), Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancakes served with fruit compotes), and Sachertorte (cake of two layers of chocolate cake with apricot jam in the middle). These and many other desserts will be on offer at one of the many Konditorei of Vienna, where they are generally eaten with coffee in the afternoon. Liptauer as a spread, or Powidl also as spread or base for dumplings are also quite popular.
The Viennese cooking tradition developed from many different sources: "Viennese cuisine is all about—an eclectic mix of cuisines from Europe and beyond, of all regions and lands that were once part of the monarchy." [6]
Italian influence has been strong since roughly the early 17th century, and can be seen in the names of ingredients and dishes that are still in use today such as ribisi (from the Venetian "risi e bisi"), melanzani, maroni and biscotti. In the 18th century, French cuisine became influential in Vienna and the term "bouillon" became common in middle-class circles for soup. [7] The term "Wiener Küche" (Viennese cuisine) first appeared in German language cookbooks around the end of the 18th century, and it was mistakenly treated as equivalent to Austrian cuisine.
The croissant is also thought to have originated in Vienna after the defeat of the Turks in the Siege of Vienna. [8]
In the second half of the 19th century, cookbooks started to include Bohemian, Hungarian, Jewish, [9] [10] Polish, and Balkan features in Viennese cuisine. [11] Viennese cooking reflected foods brought in from various parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: "Viennese menus usually comprise the same group of dishes, sometimes Austrian in origin but often inherited from the various nationalities of the empire: Hungarian goulash ... wiener schnitzel ... south Slav ćevapčići... crêpe-like Palatschinken (claimed by the Romanians), and Powidltascherl ... from the Czechs, to name but a few." [11]
In modern Vienna, many chefs have begun to combine traditional Viennese dishes with the principles of nouvelle cuisine to create what is known as "Neue Wiener Küche" (New Viennese cuisine). [12] This includes vegetarian food. [6]
Also, Turkish, Jewish, [9] Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisine have influence on the city because of growing immigrant communities.
The Viennese coffee house is such an important part of the cuisine and culture of Vienna, [4] that the concept is listed as "Intangible Cultural Heritage" in the Austrian inventory of the "National Agency for the Intangible Cultural Heritage", a part of UNESCO. The Viennese coffee house is described in this inventory as a place, "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill." [13]
Typical Viennese dishes include:
Hungarian or Magyar cuisine is the cuisine characteristic of the nation of Hungary, and its primary ethnic group, the Magyars. Hungarian cuisine has been described as being the spiciest cuisine in Europe. This can largely be attributed to the use of their piquant native spice, Hungarian paprika, in many of their dishes. A mild version of the spice, Hungarian sweet paprika, is commonly used as an alternative. Traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits, bread, and dairy products.
Chicken-fried steak, also known as country-fried steak, is an American Southern breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of beefsteak coated with seasoned flour and either deep-fried or pan-fried. It is associated with the Southern cuisine of the United States. It is breaded and fried with a technique similar to the more common fried chicken, hence "chicken-fried". When deep-fried, it is usually referred to as "chicken-fried steak". Pan-fried versions are typically referred to as "country-fried steak".
Polish cuisine is a style of food preparation originating in and widely popular in Poland. Due to Poland's history, Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries to be very eclectic, and shares many similarities with other national cuisines. Polish cooking in other cultures is often referred to as à la polonaise.
European cuisine comprises the cuisines originating from the various countries of Europe.
Austrian cuisine consists of many different local or regional cuisines. In addition to Viennese cuisine, which is predominantly based on the cooking traditions of the Habsburg Empire, there are independent regional traditions in all the states of Austria.
Schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef, or turkey. Schnitzel originated as wiener schnitzel and is very similar to other breaded meat dishes.
Apple strudel is a traditional Viennese strudel, a popular pastry in Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Northern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries in Europe that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918).
Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions, since every region of Croatia has its own distinct culinary tradition. Its roots date back to ancient times. The differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those in mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by Slavic features and influences from the more recent contacts with Turkish, Hungarian and Austrian cuisine, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic. The coastal region bears the influences of Greek and Roman cuisine, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine, in particular Italian. Coastal cuisines use olive oil, herbs and spices such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and lemon and orange rind. Peasant cooking traditions are based on imaginative variations of several basic ingredients and cooking procedures, while bourgeois cuisine involves more complicated procedures and use of selected herbs and spices. Charcuterie is part of the Croatian culinary tradition in all regions. Food and recipes from other former Yugoslav countries are also popular in Croatia.
Strudel is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Habsburg Empire. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine and German cuisine but is also common in other Central European cuisines. In Italy it is recognized as a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale (PAT) of South Tyrol.
Austrian culture is characterised by historical and modern influences, including a history of interaction primarily between Celtic, Roman, Slavic and Germanic peoples. Austria is particularly known for its classical music, folk music, baroque architecture, coffee culture, winter sports and Alpine traditions.
In cuisine, cutlet refers to:
Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contemporary Czech cuisine is more meat-based than in previous periods; the current abundance of farmable meat has enriched its presence in regional cuisine. Traditionally, meat has been reserved for once-weekly consumption, typically on weekends.
Bavarian cuisine is a style of cooking from Bavaria, Germany. Bavarian cuisine includes many meat and Knödel dishes, and often uses flour. Due to its rural conditions and Alpine climate, primarily crops such as wheat, barley, potatoes, beets, carrots, onion and cabbage do well in Bavaria, being a staple in the German diet.
Wiener schnitzel, sometimes spelled Wienerschnitzel, is a type of schnitzel made of a thin, breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet.
The milk-cream strudel is a traditional Viennese strudel and a popular pastry in Austria and many countries in Europe that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918). It is an oven-baked pastry dough stuffed with a filling made from diced, milk-soaked bread rolls, egg yolk, powdered sugar, butter, quark, vanilla, lemon zest, raisins and cream and is served in the pan with hot vanilla sauce.
Veal Milanese is a popular variety of cotoletta from the city of Milan, Italy. It is traditionally prepared with a veal rib chop or sirloin bone-in and made into a breaded cutlet, fried in butter. Due to its shape, it is often called oreggia d'elefant in Milanese or orecchia d'elefante in Italian, meaning 'elephant's ear'.
Beuschel is a dish that is typically a ragout made from lungs and other organs, such as heart, kidneys, spleen, and tongue, from calf, beef, pork, or game. It is often served with a sour cream sauce and bread dumplings. It is a dish of Viennese cuisine but is widespread in all of Austria, Bavaria, and Bohemia.