Saturday 26 May 2012

Austria you were wonderful…My tastebuds could easily enjoy living here for a while!

Well I have thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Austria. The smells and the tastes were well worth the trip and I would happily come back sooner rather than later.

Enjoy the ratings and video J
Preparation time: (how long does it really take?)
Wiener schnitzel
5 minutes – does not take long at all to set up your production line of bread crumbs, flour, and egg whites.
Sachertorte – 10 minutes – takes a little time to measure everything out and separate the eggs, but overall this is nothing compared to how long it takes to put it all together.

Ease to cook: (what does it involve?)

Wiener schnitzel Very simple –anyone could do this – place in a pan and turn it over. Place on paper towel to drain off excess oil… easy.  I cooked mine of the BBQ plate –just as easy and with a little less oil.

Sachertorte– This is one of those desserts that the end justifies the means. It took me over an hour to put this beast together. First you have to combine of all the ingredients and bake the actual cake – it is not as easy as putting everything in a bowl, stir it together and bake. As the recipe shows there are a few steps you need to follow.  Then there are the glazes to make and finally you have to put it all together to get the final result, but saying all that it is well worth it
Overall: (i'll use a scale of empty bowls - 5 empty bowls is the best - 1 empty bowl not the best J)

Wiener schnitzel 5 empty bowls. Simple and delicious the veal combined with the buttered potatoes and salad it made for a wonderful meal.  Easy to prepare and cook this is definitely something I will be making again.

Sachertorte – 5 empty bowls. This is one for the lovers of chocolate. I found it to be super rich and considering the amount of dark chocolate that what went into it the side of cream provided a nice balance to neutralise the bitterness of the dark chocolate. The apricot glaze added to the flavour. It wasn’t overpowering. More subtle, but you knew it was there. Was a just reward for all the effort that was required to make it happen.
As always it’s all documented through a video slideshow –there’s even a few snaps of my kitchen helper Baz – Enjoy! J.




Tuesday 15 May 2012

And the meals are....

To celebrate my time in Austria i'll be attemtping to replicate:

Main

Das Wienerschnitzel

-Wienerschnitzel served with garlic butter baby potatoes and salad.


And for dessert
Sachertorte

- Sachertorte

Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks in these pictures :-)

In the meantime here are some Austrian facts:

Capital of Austria

Vienna

Total Area of Austria

total: 83,870 sq km
land: 82,444 sq km
water: 1,426 sq km

Population of Austria

8,184,691 (July 2005 est.)

Languages of Austria

German (official nationwide), Slovene (official in Carinthia), Croatian (official in Burgenland), Hungarian (official in Burgenland)

Literacy in Austria

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: NA%
female: NA%

Religions of Austria

Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 4.7%, Muslim 4.2%, other 3.5%, unspecified 2%, none 12% (2001 census)

Life Expectancy in Austria

total population: 78.92 years
male: 76.03 years
female: 81.96 years (2005 est.)

Government Type in Austria

federal republic

Currency of Austria

euro (EUR)
Austria Flag

What is the flag of Austria?

Three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and red.

Coat of Arms of Austria

The Coat of Arms of Austria has been used since the end of World War I to symbolize Austria. The double headed eagle, symbolizing the old Austro-Hungarian Empire was replaced with a single headed eagle.
On the chest of the eagle is located the old shield of the Duchy of Austria, this same design forms the basis for the flag of Austria. The eagle's claws hold a golden sickle and a golden hammer. While at first sight this might lead to an association with communist symbols the golden mural crown on the head of the eagle makes it clear, that these three merely represent the unity of the three "classes" (workers, peasants and bourgeoisie) in the republic - not quite class war.
The broken iron chain between the two claws indicates liberation from the occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany (1938-1945) and was added after World War II.