Viennese cuisine

Viennese cuisine is the cuisine that is characteristic of Vienna, Austria, and 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 pastries, but it includes a wide range of other unique dishes.

History

The Vienese cooking tradition developed from many different sources. 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. In the second half of the 19th Century, cookbooks started to include Bohemian, Hungarian (particularly with Gulaschsuppe, originally a Hungarian stew), Italian, Jewish, Polish and Southern Slavic features in Viennese cuisine. The croissant is also thought to have originated in Vienna after the defeat of the Turks in the Siege of Vienna.

Modernistic Viennese cuisine

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"). Also,Turkish, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisine have influence on the city because of growing immigrant communities.

Viennese dishes

Typically Viennese dishes include:

* Apfelstrudel (an apple-filled pastry)
* Topfenstrudel (a quark cheese-filled strudel)
* Palatschinken (Viennese crêpes, from the Hungarian "palacsinta")
* Powidl
* Buchteln (yeast and butter bakery filled with apricot jam)
* Wiener Schnitzel
* Sachertorte (a chocolate cake)
* Tafelspitz (boiled beef, often served with apple and horseradish sauces)
* Gulasch (a hotpot similar to Hungarian "pörkölt" - "gulyás" is a soup in hungary)
* "Selchfleisch" (smoked meat) with Sauerkraut und dumplings.
* "Rindsuppe" (beef soup)
* "Beuschel" (a ragout containing calf lungs and heart)
* Liptauer cheese

The Danish pastry is said to originate from Vienna and in Denmark is called "wienerbrød" (Viennese bread). But that is probably because it uses a certain kind of dough consisting of butter and flour in the classic cuisine referred to as "Viennese Dough".