The Hochkönig region is renouned for it’s culinary delights, and has many mountain restaurants with a great choice of food. Here are our top 10 Austrian foods we recommend that you try during your stay
Tiroler Gröstl
Great when you are skiing on the piste, or hiking up the mountain as very filling!
Fried potatoes, ham, onion, sausage chunks, herbs, topped with a fried egg.
You can get some variants to this, including ones with black pudding
Wiener Schnitzel
The traditional Wiener Schnitzel, from Vienna, is made from thin veal cutlets, breaded and fried in butter. However, due to the cost, and personal tastes, Schnitzel is also made from pork, chicken or turkey. The dish is served piping hot with a garnish of lemon and parsley. You can squeeze a little bit of the lemon over the schnitzel. The dish is usually served with either a traditional potato salad, parsley potatoes, or chips. You will be able to find Wiener Schnitzel in literally every place, so don’t worry about missing out!
Kaisersmarr'n
Our favourite Austrian food!
Kaisersmarr’n is fluffy pancakes – made with a pancake batter, and then with whisked egg white mixed in to make it fluffy.
It is then shredded in the pan, and served with icing sugar, and either Zwetschgen (plum), apple, or lingonberry (like cranberry) sauce
Schweinsbraten
This is a traditional Austrian dish that families tend to eat at the weekends.
It is usually 2 different cuts of roast pork, served with crackling, and a thin pork gravy sauce. It is usually served with semmerlknödel (bread dumpling), and sauerkraut (pickled cabbage)
Kasnocken
Kasnocken are small dumplings combined with melted cheese. In Germany, “Nocken” are called “Spaetzle”. they are served as a side dish to roasts. People from Austria and from the Allgaeu, a district of Bavaria next to the Austrian border, refined the original Spaetzle and made up their own variety. They added cheese instead of meat and thus created a main dish. In Germany, this dish is called “Kaesspaetzle”, whereas in Austria it is called “Kasnocken”. Today, the Pinzgauer Kasnocken are probably the most famous type of cheese dumplings in Austria, and they are popular among both locals and tourists.
Leberkäse
Leberkäse is like a meatloaf – made from chopped pork, corned beef and bacon, ground up and formed in a loaf shape.
It is either served in a roll as a quick lunch, or with roast potatoes, potato salad, or chips, and a fried egg on top.
Very delicious!
Brettljause
A type of ploughmans lunch, or tapas, made from local produce of cooked and cured hams, cheese, pickled vegetables.
It sometimes has Kren – grated horseradish as an accompaniment.
It is usually served with some local bread
Knödel
Austria is famous for it’s dumplings, and as well as them being accompaniments to a meal, they sometimes are the star of the meal.
The one pictured is a Bauern dumpling – filled with ham, cheese, and onion, and served with a gravy. You can also get Spinat Knödel – a dumpling with spinach and served with a creamy sauce.
There are also sweet dumplings – for example filled with apricot jam (Marillen), and served with a vanilla custard.
Apfelstrudel
Apfelstrudel, or apple strudel, is probably one of the best known Austrian foods abroad. Apfelstrudel consists of a very thin sheet of pastry, stuffed with apples, cinnamon, breadcrumbs, and often raisins. It’s usually served on its own but may also come with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, or vanilla custard. Other variants of strudel also exist, including Topfenstrudel (quark strudel), Nussstrudel (nut strudel), and many more.
Germknödel
Germknödel is a big yeast dumpling filled with Powidl (plum jam) and served with melted butter and poppy seeds. It may also be served with vanilla sauce.
You see many Austrians have this as a snack on the pistes as it is great for refueling you!
There are many more tasty dishes, but these are our Top 10 Austrian foods that we recommend you try when you are here!
If you would like some more recommendations, then please let us know and we will happily provide!
Other favourites include Goulash, Fritatten soup, Leberknödel soup, Wurst (sausage, of which there are many varieties!), and of course Sacher Torte.
The Hochkönig region offer culinary tours along the Königstour on their website. This is a great way to try out the local foods whilst you ski the mountains!