How to Plan an Austrian Christmas Menu
If you love the adventure of tasting foods from other countries and wish to try some delectable Christmas dishes from the lovely nation of Austria, you've come to the right place. Whether you are hosting an elaborate Austrian Christmas extravaganza or celebrating your own Austrian heritage in an intimate family gathering, you'll want to include these traditional and very tasty Austrian recipes, adding a touch of comfort and Old World charm to your Christmas menu this season. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Almonds
- Apple juice
- Apples
- Apricot preserves
- Baking powder
- Brown sugar
- Butter -- regular and clarified
- Cabbage
- Candied citron
- Caraway seeds
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Cheeses
- Cocoa powder
- Coconut oil or lard
- Coffee
- Cooking oil
- Corn syrup
- Dried bread cubes
- Egg whites and yolks, separated
- Eggs, boiled
- Flours (gluten, all-purpose, whole wheat, and rye)
- Garlic
- Honey
- Hot cocoa
- Lemons
- Marzipan
- Meats -- bacon, carp, goose, ham, sausages, veal, pork, and/or chicken
- Milk -- regular and evaporated
- Molasses
- Nuts -- chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts
- Oranges
- Peas
- Pickles
- Potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Red wine
- Salt
- Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
- Sourdough starter
- Spices
- Sugar (regular and confectioners')
- Tea
- Tomatoes
- Vanilla
- Water
- Whipped cream
- Yeast
Instructions
-
-
1
A number of key ingredients are important when preparing Austrian foods. To create Austrian recipes, you will need several of the following ingredients:
A variety of nuts and seeds
Various fruits
Sugars
Assorted flours
Vegetables
Milk and different cheeses
An assortment of meats
Other baking ingredients, such as baking powder, yeast and spices
-
2
Appetizers often consist of open-faced sandwiches. Hors d'oeuvres
Traditional Austrian appetizers consist of open-faced sandwiches, made with bread and slices of cheese, ham, sausages, or boiled eggs, along with small cornichon pickles (dill, sweet, and sweet and sour). Breads in Austria are made fresh daily. Pumpernickel and rye breads are popular, along with Wiener Hornchen (like croissants), and sourdough (like French baguettes).
-
-
3
Gebackener Karpfen (fried carp) is popular in many Austrian homes during the holidays. The Christmas Eve Meal
Austrians traditionally celebrate Christmas Eve with a feast of Gebackener Karpfen (fried carp) or Weihnachtsganz (roast goose). Wiener Schnitzel is a popular dish any time of year.
-
4
Soups before a meal are a cultural norm in Austria. Side Dishes
Austrians have historically added cooked seasonal vegetables, such as boiled potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, and winter peas to their meals throughout the winter months. Soups are also characteristically eaten before meals and consist of classic soups such as pumpkin, tomato, garlic, and potato.
Two other standard Christmas side dishes are Rotkraut (red cabbage) and Servietten-knodel (dumplings).
-
5
Delicious Krapfen (or donuts) can be filled with almost anything or nothing at all. Desserts
Povitica (sweet bread) is a yeast sweet bread common in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and other regions of Eastern Europe. It is typically served on special occasions, such as Christmas, and it is often given as a gift as a sign of respect.
Sachertorte (chocolate-apricot cake) is a soft, fluffy chocolate cake with apricot jam spread thinly beneath a dark chocolate icing. It has become one of the most famous cakes in Europe.
Krapfen (donuts) or fried dough has a lot of variations in Austria and Germany. Fillings can include jams (raspberry, rose hip, plum or apricot), poppy seeds, hazelnut, chocolate or vanilla cream, apple paste, eggnog custard, champagne custard---or nothing at all.
Weihnachtsbaeckerei (Christmas cookies) are sugar cookies seen in almost every Austrian home at Christmastime.
The streets of Salzburg at Christmastime are filled with the scents of roasted almonds and chestnuts, hot spiced punch, baked apples, and gingerbread.
Heart-shaped Lebkuchen (gingerbread cookies) are popular in Germany and Austria, but they're not your usual gingerbread. Vary the spices in these cookies with ginger, anise, cloves, pimento, coriander, and cardamom.
-
6
Gluhwein (mulled wine) is on many Christmas beverage menus in Austria. Beverages
Gluhwein (mulled wine) is a winter holiday wine drunk warm, often after a day of skiing in the Alps. Nonalcoholic punch is also commonly served to children in lieu of Gluhwein. It consists of a warm fruit juice (orange or apple) with the same spices contained in Gluhwein. And, of course, hot cocoa, tea and coffee are also readily served in Austrian homes over the holidays.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
The Weihnachtsbaeckerei (Christmas cookies) are not as sweet as many cookies, so you might want to call them sweet biscuits. In fact, they taste very much like a scone.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bougie image by Courcelle Ludivine from Fotolia.com honey image by Maria Brzostowska from Fotolia.com appetizers image by StephenD from Fotolia.com fried fish image by Alexey Kuznetsov from Fotolia.com Steaming pumpkin soup ready to serve. image by Brett Mulcahy from Fotolia.com krapfen image by Silvia Bogdanski from Fotolia.com bier image by Dron from Fotolia.com
