Recipe Salzburg Lake Charr

The cuisine of northern Slovakia is influenced by the harsh climatic conditions of the area, where it is usually intensively cold at least three months per year. This is one of the reasons why smoked meat, potatoes, sauerkraut, dairy products and pulses are typical for this cuisine. In Slovakia, the pulses belong to the oldest cultivated crops. The most famous dish, still popular of the Slovak kitchen, is the bean soup, which used to be part of the Christmas Eve dinner for many families.

The lake trout “swims across” national borders and makes itself at home in deep, oxygen-rich lakes: in northern Russia, in Scandinavia, in the Baltic states, in Iceland. And of course, in Austria’s lakes. The sea trout is truly a globetrotter. In past times, it was the main fish to be found in Austrian lakes such as the Weissensee or the Millstätter See. And it is a great favourite with Austrian chefs and gastronomes. There’s very good reason for which the sea trout is the “Austrian Fish of the Year 2013”.

This aubergine salad is served as a starter along with crust bread and various other ‘salate’ or on the table for a late summer barbeque. It can easily be made well in advance and make plenty, because it’s also extremely delicious just on its own for a lunchtime snack, and all the better with some crispy grilled ‘lipia’ bread (a kind of round thin bread, something like a flatbread or pitta). What’s more, it’s simple to make!

Provocative appearance and produced in an extremely interesting way is branch cake – Šakotis. Its taste is as impressing as its appearance. And no one argues about the taste of the Lithuanian branch cake – it’s fabulous. It’s for a good reason that it came to Lithuania in the beginning of the 20th century and in just over a hundred years have become the centerpiece of every Lithuanian wedding table and a mandatory sweet offering to the most honourable guests.