Customer Reviews

Best of Austrian Cuisine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although the list of recipes is varied, the actual recipes are poorly written, inaccurate in measurements, and confusing. Many sentences are cut-off and end abruptly. The book badly needs an editor who actually reads the contents of the work.

Hmmm... My copy of this book doesn't have the problems mentioned below, but then it's a 2001 reprinting and is perhaps corrected.

In the late 1990s I rented a room in Vienna from an 80-year woman who cooked for me every Saturday. Since then, I've longed to replicate the delicious, savory, and often quite filling meals that we ate together. I've read dozens of Austrian cookbooks, and this is the best by far. Most others are either hopelessly out of date, written for non-American audiences (like Gretel Beer's famous but useless volume), or concentrate on what I'd call "restaurant food"--special, elaborate, time-consuming dishes that don't exemplify what a typical home-cooked Austrian meal is like. This book takes Austrian "Hausmannskost"--everyday food, the sort of thing you'd eat for Tuesday dinner--and translates it to the American kitchen. The recipes are perhaps a little vague here and there and assume previous experience in the kitchen, but the author's point usually is clear. And is it ever authentic; the kohlrabi recipe on pg. 79 is *exactly* my landlady's, and it's delicious.

The book includes chapters on meat dishes, 'Mehlspeisen,' organ meats (beloved in Austria if not in the US), fish, poultry, sauces, starches, vegetables (more varied than one might expect), and then of course the full range of desserts and "Süßigkeiten." The range is encyclopedic and varied. Special sections include menu planning, a description of Austrian wines, and a chapter on munchies for that afternoon 'Jause.'

A gourmet book this is not; if you want splash and glam, it will disappoint. But if, like me, you long to recover how your old Austrian host made cabbage taste so yummy, this book is the answer. Through it, you can recreate an Austrian kitchen in your home, which is a very nice thought!

Some photos would have been nice, but then I'm sure the book would have cost much much more, and the price is one nice thing about it. I also didn't have any of the problems of the first reviewer- it was all clear in my edition. I found some Austrian wines to go with the dishes at www.winemonger.com and had a great party!

The "Best Austrian Cuisine" is not the best text for newcomers to Austrian cuisine to cook with.

It has the briefest instructions on most recipes that I've seen in a good while. While this is fine for one accustomed to cooking Austrian cooking, it is not helpful to others new to the cuisine.

One problem is that it doesn't tell the reader when one cooking step is completed, as it's easy to greatly undercook or overcook with these brief instructions.

For example, there are 6 sauerkraut recipes, however each starts with "put the sauerkraut in water" or another says "melt the butter and brown the sugar in it. Add the sauerkraut.." Yikes, nowhere does it tell how to make the sauerkraut.."Obviously" any (Austrian) cook should know that!

For cheese soup, it says to "fry the flour lightly in the fat." Most writers would give an endpoint, such as "till light yellow", or golden brown or till some distinct change, and perhaps tell what may happen when it's been fried too long...not ging to find such assistance in this book.

For making dumplings, "roast white bread or rolls in about one ounce of fat. Mix the eggs with the milk and and pour over dumplings and leave for half an hour" Roast how long? Roast until what desired change happens? How exactly does one "roast" in this cuisine, anyhow?

This is a "reminder" type of a cookbook aimed at experienced Austrian cooks, and of little use to a newcomer to Austrian cuisine. A shame. It also lacks photographs, so best of luck trying to make an authentic presentation, if you are a newcomer to the cuisine.

Thus, it is clear, as the jacket says, that this was "originally published in Austria", for Austrians, and is ill suited to those not well acquainted with the techniques of proper Austrian cooking.

This is a very well written and practical cookbook for the very delicious and diverse Austriam cuisine. Austrian cuisine is such a mixture from all the lands of the old Habsburg Empire and almost all of the popular dishes served today are in here. It is especially written for English speaking people although thank God, the original Austrian food names are also included or I would have had trouble knowing what the exact dish the recipe was for. This book is recommended as a good introduction into one of Europe's finest culinary lands.

Being of Hungarian descent, I found a few recipes that I could use especially the desserts. Brought back memories of my childhood.

This book contains the recipes that I recall from growing up in an Austrian home in America. I am so pleased that I now have that one source as reference when I wish to recreate some of the recipes my mother made. This book brings back many childhood memories for me.