Sound of Music Food

I recently attended an Austrian classical concert here in NY and they concluded with a couple of Sound of Music songs. Ever since that concert, I have been thinking about Salzburg. In case you didn’t know, most of that movie was filmed in Salzburg, Austria. My husband Mark and I had the chance to visit Austria again last fall and we even went to Salzburg. Unfortunately we only had one day to see the city and scarf down as much traditional food as we could.

I talk about Austria a lot because that’s where I mostly grew up. It’s a beautiful country with very nice people and delicious food. The mountains are majestic and the lakes dazzle in the summer and take your breath away in the winter. I should be the country’s tourism spokesperson….

So the food is by far my favorite cuisine. The food we had in Salzburg did not disappoint of course. After checking out one of the Mozart museums (yes, there are multiples), we stopped at a local tavern to warm up. Since we were there late in the fall and this is a mountain town, it was drizzling, cold and not as pretty as in the summer. Nevertheless, we were determined to see the sights as best we could and eat until we could not see another dumpling (actually, I’m the dumpling person, my husband could very well never see another dumpling in his life). He ordered Cordon Bleu, which is pounded chicken or veal, filled with ham and cheese, breaded, fried until crisp and served with some sort of jam and potatoes. That’s Mark’s Austrian go-to meal. I ordered the beef Gulasch because it was pretty darn cold and we were sitting outside. I needed a warm meal as much as a warm spirit. We shared Gluehwein, which is mulled wine and something they call Orangenpunsch - basically hot, alcoholic orange punch. For dessert, we ordered the most traditional thing on the menu – Salzburger Nockerl. For as long as I had lived in Austria, I had never tried that dessert, so I was very excited to finally do so. The waitress came out with a behemoth of a platter carrying pillows of sweetness covered in raspberry coulis (sauce). It looked just stunning and almost too pretty to eat. We attacked the dessert and after the first bite, my husband and I looked at each other in anticipation. He had a funny look on his face, and I’m sure I probably did too. The dessert is similar to a baked Alaska, I’m assuming. Never actually had that but they look the same, so that’s what I’m going with. The texture however is funky. It fizzes and then melts in your mouth. My husband called it soda cake. It was so huge too that we could only finish a few bites after our heavy meals. Afterwards we walked off most of that and still munched on roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. We also had a few more cups of mulled wine (it was cold outside). Everything was pretty delicious (maybe the soda cake was questionable) and I wish we'd had more time to enjoy both the sights and the food.

Salzburg is one of the prettiest small cities of the world and definitely worth a visit. If and when you go, I strongly encourage you to check out any of the Mozart museums and to try the Salzburger Nockerl (now famous soda cake), just make sure you don’t fill up on a big meal beforehand. Also, try any of their stews or soups as well. The hills will be alive…with the sound of your happy tummy….

On the way to Salzburg

City Center 

Cordon Bleu 

Gulasch 

Salzburger Nockerl (soda cake) 

Gluehwein & Orangenpunsch