Customer Reviews

Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rick Rodger's new book is the genuine article. It presents a wide variety of exquisitely authentic recipes from the justly famous coffee houses and pastry bakeries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. All basic techniques are genuinely Mitteleuropean and not French or American adaptations of these techniques. As such, the book is a valuable contribution to popular culinary history, as important to the foodie interented in such things as the dozens of books on regional Italian and French cuisine.

The chapters cover:

Basic batters, doughs, and glazes 14 recipes such as puff pastry
Simple Cakes 19 recipes such as gugelhupf and roulades
Fancy Cakes 14 recipes such as Sachertorte and Linzertorte
Strudels 7 recipes such as apple strudel
Sweet Yeast Breads 11 recipes such as brioche
Sliced desserts 14 recipes such as berry meringue squares
Cookies and doughnuts 10 recipes such as vanilla cresents
Pancakes and sweet omlets 8 recipes such as crepes
Sweet dumplings and noodles 4 recipes such as prune pockets
Puddings 7 recipes such as chocolate pudding
Hot and Cold beverages 6 recipes such as coffees, wine, and tea
Glossary of ingredients, equipment, and techniques

Coffeehouse guide to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest
Mail Order Sources
Bibliography

Coming from paternal grandparents who were born 40 miles east of Vienna, this book made my eyes misty in rememberance of my grandmother's baking. The book does not rely on store-bought puff pastry and does not hold back on liquer flavorings. The book does give excellent recipe for strudel dough, but it does not go so far as to have you make your own filo dough. I guess that will be in his book on Greek or Turkish baking. A sidebar on properly handling filo sheets is invaluable.

The glossary of techniques is excellent. My only wish was that the author would have made some mention of chocolate sold by specific weight of cocoa butter, as Vahlrona and, I believe, high end American producers such as Sharfenberger and Jacques Torres do. This is so much easier than troubling over imprecise terms like semi-sweet and bittersweet. One concession to American home bakers is the exclusive use of measurements by volume rather than by weight. I really feel that if you are about to take the trouble to make strudel and make your own strudel dough, the effort needed to accurately weigh ingredients is of little consequence and may improve the results.

The photographs of old Austrian coffee house interiors are gorgeous. I would have really appreciated captions. One has simply no idea whether the room is in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, or Brooklyn. I'm sorry the editors at Clarkson Potter wouldn't have thought of this.

This book deserves a place in the serious cookbook library for both it fabulous recipes and it's historical perspective.

After eating up page after page of Kaffeehaus, I question the validity of the
quibbling reviews. People are knocking stars off this extraordinary book for
the publisher's decisions, which were obviously made to keep the price down.
Had the publisher satisfied the complaints, another set of grousers would
have said the book is too long and expensive. Three stars instead of five
because the photo captions are on another page and the type is too small (a
matter of opinion)? That's quite a knockdown, and undeserved. Not enough
photos? There are more than 50 photos in the book. I count over 25 photos
of the food, more than you would find in similar volumes, and most illustrate
the more unusual desserts like Apple-Poppy Seed Squares and Gerbeaud Slices.
What about some deserved extra credit for the fabulous world that Rodgers
(figuratively and literally) presents on a silver platter?

I have spent a lot of time in central Europe, and I can report that Rodgers'
recipes are the best in English...ever. The Brown Linzertorte he offers (with
a dash of cocoa for color, not flavor) IS the most popular one. Who really
needs a recipe for Eiskaffee (iced coffee with a scoop of vanila ice cream
and Schlag) or for Turkish coffee (requiring a special pot)? I have made at
least 20 of the desserts, and all were fantastic. Try the Linzertorte,
Apricot Coffee Cake (very simple, but still good), Orangentorte (made with
bread crumbs, almonds, and an unusual orange-curd icing), Leschanztorte (an
outstanding chocolate mousse cake), Ischl Tartlets, Vanilla Crescent Cookies,
and especially the Milchrahmstrudel (a warm farmer's cheese strudel).

I have to think that the failures the baker in Albuquerque has experienced
are due to high altitude, or a lack of appreciation for the subtle palate of
central European desserts. Rodgers has opened up an entire new world of
tastes that you will not find in other books, even the very few books out
there on the same subject. His attention to the historical and cultural
elements around the coffeehouses and their desserts is nothing short of
amazing, and the kind of thing that elevates one cookbook above the others.

Rick Rodger's latest book, Kaffeehaus, is a charmingly beautiful cookbook, that has interesting stories about the Cafe's of Vienna, etc., but also has some great recipes from the four I have made and sampled. A great brunch dish is the Milchrahmstrudel (warm cheese strudel with vanilla sauce). Varying textures and flavors, a very different dessert/brunch item. One of my favorties was the Berry Meringue Slices. The blueberries stay so plump and firm, and the meringue melts in your mouth. Easy and delicious. The Chocolate Cake (Renrucken) was definately a dessert that can serve a large crowd, and worth the search for Red Currant Jelly. The next recipe I am going to try is the Ischl Tartlets. I'll let you know how those turn out!
And as for the font, frankly I can't read any cookbook lately without my reading glasses....I have a pair in everypart of my house, and two in the kitchen. Unfortunately I am not 20/20 anymore.....
Sue in New Jersey

I have made several recipes from this book, and everybody who samples my experiments agree. The recipes, and the results, are DYNAMITE!!! After exclaiming about the fact that I could pull this off without any real training, other than intuition, patience, and a little pioneer spirit, they demand more. My results get such acclaim that I have to tell them it's just a good recipe to get them to settle down!

While some of the recipes are complicated and require some patience and focus, the return on invested time, effort, and expense will pay off. This is not [a]Southern Living or Good Housekeeping recipe book with infinite mutations and bastardizations of boxed cake mix dressed up in Drag with shiny ribbons ... This is the real meal deal.

I agree that more pictures would be great, but that's expensive. The pages are thick and nicely glossed, so when the dough spatters a bit and hits the book it cleans up nicely. : ) The cost of the book is insubstantial to me compared to the results.

I have made the cover recipe, the 'X'-schnitten (buy the book) several times and neighbors and coworkers tried convincing me to open a bakery.

My hat is off to Rick Rodgers for making some VERY difficult pastries and tortes attainable and manageable for the mediocre middle-class experimentalist.

I bought this book three weeks ago and was duly impressed. Even after all the laudatory reviews of the majority of other readers, I still did not expect for the efforts to be that reasonable and for the results to be that delicious. I have tried three strudels, walnut crepes with chocolate sause (oh, boy! If I had not known an expression "culinary orgasm," I would have invented it now), plum squares, apple and poppy seeds pieces, blueberry-meringue pieces, and chocolate mousse cake with sour cherries. Already two friends asked for a copy as a birthday present and one neighbor ordered her own. My husband, who is from Europe, enjoyed everything, and neither him nor I mind extra working out or walking to sweat it off. BTW, none of the recipes produced anything heavy or too rich, just in California we are excessively health and slenderness conscious :). And, of course, if you are used to food and baked goodies like those from this book, you cannot go back to our artificial mass market cakes.
With regard to the font or how this book is edited and published - I could not have wished for a better one. It is beautiful, practical, is priced very reasonably, and what are those complaints about the font size? You cannot please someone who is 70+ and a cook with a normal or corrected vision at the same time.

Finally I can bake like Grandma! My maternal grandmother was born just out of Prague after the turn of the century and while my mother and aunt are good cooks in their own right they never learned how to make the pastries that Grandma made - most of them filled with prunes or poppy seeds. In this excellent and well written book the author has filled the gap for us who want to get back to those Eastern European roots. As I mention, the book is well written and I like the asides that explain the culture that goes along with the cooking. I wish there were more pictures - there never seems to be enough pictures in cook books - but it's a top rate effort.

I've recently read a number of books that attempted to capture the special appeal of the French café, and merge culture study, attractive photography, and enticing recipes into one volume. None of those attempts succeeded nearly as well as Rick Rodgers has done with his look at the classic Kaffeehäuser of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

An experienced, and expert, cooking teacher and cookbook author, Rick Rodgers also has ancestral connections to bakeries in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. He gives us a fascinating look at the coffee houses and their place in Central European culture, and explains how the recipes he's selected fir into the cultural and historical context (Rodgers explains that this cultural context is something the Austrians, in particular, especially value). The recipes themselves are enticing and interesting, with a nice combination of the familiar and the more exotic. Beautiful photography -- both of food and of cafés -- and insightful mini-essays on a variety of topics enhance the very attractive *mélange,* which is rounded out by the author's personal guide to Central European coffeehouses, a glossary of Viennese, Czech, and Hungarian coffee terms, and a useful list of resources and links. There's even a full bibliography of historical and culinary sources.

I've always been eager to visit Vienna and the other cities of the Empire. Until I get there, this book will keep my culinary, as well as my historical, interests fired up.

I find the book of Rick Rodgers exquisite, delightful, and practical. All recipes are easy to follow, with good breakdown of steps and excellent descriptions of techniques. Historical excerpts are highly educational and very entertaining. The design of the book deserves a special comment: each page is beautiful. Photographs are very artistic, but real. And yes, there is a list of which photograph depicts what, be it an interior of a cafe or a pastry. I just wish there were more books published like this one, especially for this price.

After spending summer in Budapest, I have been dreaming of its winding streets, rustic charm and great cafes. Stepping inside of them is to feel like a kid again, with your mouth watering, your eyes widening and you making painstaking decision -- which of the luscious desserts to pick! Well, thanks to Rick Rodgers I can bring a whiff of Budapest cafe into my house. So far I made a few things and they have turned out to be wonderful. Berry Roulade is a beautiful to behold and can be made with minimum effort. Indeed, both sponge cake and berry cream (I used frozen raspberries) were so delicious, I was tempted to eat them before rolling the cake! I have to note that I have some experience with baking, therefore I have not had troubles with instructions. I suspect that novice bakers might find some recipes daunting, however if you would like to learn, this book provides excellent instructions as well as methods for storing finished products and ways to organize your time. Even history bits were fascinating, and I read them as I was beating the eggs for the batter. I look forward to curling with a cup of tea and a piece of my Roulade this evening. For all of those who would like to recreate famous pastries and cakes, this book is a find. I could applaud Mr. Rodgers for compiling such a delectable collection of authentic and easy to replicate at home recipes.

My wife & I are not pastry chefs; however, we enjoy good pastry. We were on a trip to Budapest and had some Ishler at the art museum and tried to get the recipe, but could not. Today, we received our book and tried the Ishler and all I can say is that it was so easy! So much better than the sugar-filled cookies we Americans are fed from birth. When I first found this book on this website, I wanted to read an excerpt and when I clicked on that button - Rigo Jancsi popped up. Now this is significant because we have tried this one from other recipies, but one thing or another did not work out. We are anxious to try this out next. My wife is Hungarian and she spotted all the familiar pastries she has known all of her life. We had books from Hungary but could not really translate the specifics. This book takes the guess work out of recreating the deserts because it is in english - this is a little easier than translating terms and temperatures. Step-by-step it is well written. The photos are great for two reasons. First, they are realistic. When you look at the Ishler, someone has taken a bite out of it. When you look at others, you can see little imperfections like a corner missing from the cake slice. You can see the crumbs on the plate. This may seem small, but this impressed my wife and offered encouragement that we could do these deserts. Some books show "picture-perfect" deserts that look as though they are waxed. The second reason we like the photos is that they give a feel for the cafe environment. I can; however, understand others complaints about not enough food pictures. We are lucky, I guess, because she knows what the pastry is supposed to look like. The directions seem to be easy enough to follow. The historical references are very interesting. Also, the information about what chocolate to buy was very helpful. We will read other parts of this book before we shop for ingredients. We saved over [a bit] buying this book used, (over our local Borders store), the shipping was quick, and the book was in good condition. Our hats are off to Rick Rodgers and Kelly Bugden. Great job! Where else would you find a book like this?