Recipe Polish Wild Boar Roast

“Dining like Kings” under the Austrian monarchy did not necessarily mean fine dining. Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, for example, preferred simple meals. One of them was a simple Gugelhupf for dessert, which he loved to have served by his life-long confidante Katharina Schratt.

Culinary history has always been notable for successfully overcoming political boundaries. For instance, the history of the origins of the Tirol dumpling is in no way restricted to today’s Tirol. Although first recorded in a Tirol cookery book in the 16th century, spicy dumplings had been known fully 400 years earlier in areas of what is now Italy. This is demonstrated by a “fresco with dumplings” in the castle chapel in Hocheppan (Castel d’Appiano). What else but a delicious Tirol dumpling could have inspired the artist in question?

The Chestnut: sweet, healthy and low in calories. The Valle Isarco/Eisacktal Valley innkeepers show us the taste of the chestnut during the “Valle Isarco Chestnut Speciality Weeks” from the middle of October to the beginning of November when everything revolves around the fruit of the bread-fruit tree. Numerous inns all along the route of the Keschtnweg, in the traditional chestnut growing area of the Valle Isarco offer all sorts of tasty treats during this time, which are all prepared using the noble chestnut.

Ajdnek is a sort of cake or pogača. It is considered the best and the richest pastry typical in the Upper Savinjska Valley. Buckwheat flour dough and a filling made of walnuts, honey, vanilla sugar and cinnamon are a delicious match.