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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. In the 18th Century, French cuisine became influential in Vienna, along with French etiquette and diplomatic language. 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.
In the second half of the 19th century, cookbooks started to include Bohemian, Hungarian, Italian, Jewish, [7] [8] Polish, and Balkan features in Viennese cuisine. [9] 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." [9]
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). [10] This includes vegetarian food. [6]
Also, Turkish, Jewish, [7] 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." [11]
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.
Knödel or Klöße are boiled dumplings commonly found in Central European and East European cuisine. Countries in which their variant of Knödel is popular include Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. They are also found in Scandinavian, Romanian, northeastern Italian cuisine, Ukrainian, Belarusian and French (Alsatian) cuisines. Usually made from flour, bread or potatoes, they are often served as a side dish, but can also be a dessert such as plum dumplings, or even meat balls in soup. Many varieties and variations exist.
Chicken-fried steak, also known as country-fried steak, is an American breaded cutlet dish consisting of a piece of beefsteak coated with seasoned flour and either deep-fried or pan-fried. It is sometimes 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".
European cuisine comprises the cuisines that originate from the various countries of Europe.
Austrian cuisine is a style of cuisine native to Austria and composed of influences from Central Europe and throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austrian cuisine is most often associated with Viennese cuisine, but there are significant regional variations.
A schnitzel, colloquially known in Australian English as a schnitty, 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 is very similar to the dish escalope in France and Spain, panado in Portugal, tonkatsu in Japan, cotoletta in Italy, kotlet schabowy in Poland, milanesa in Latin America, chuleta valluna in Colombia, chicken chop in Malaysia, and chicken-fried steak and pork tenderloin of the United States.
Apple strudel is a traditional Viennese strudel, a popular pastry in Austria, Bavaria, the Czech Republic, Northern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, and other countries in Europe that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918).
A 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 traditional agri-food product (PAT) of South Tyrol.
Austrian culture has been influenced by its past and present neighbours including the present countries of Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
The Viennese coffee house is a typical institution of Vienna that played an important part in shaping Viennese culture.
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 cold climate, only crops such as beets and potatoes 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, or veal alla milanese, a popular variety of cotoletta found in the city of Milan. According to some sources it has a French origin and was brought to Milan during the Napoleonic Wars, where it was first known as cotoletta rivoluzione francese. 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.