Austrian Cooking: Schnitzel and Palatschinken

Helmut gives some cooking tips

Who wants to learn how to make Schnitzel?  How about Austrian crepes?  Helmut, one of the IES staff members was teaching a cooking class for IES students. “Die Schnelle Österreichische Küche” was what he was calling the class. The kitchen classroom that had been rented out was quite nice and gave us plenty of space to cook several dishes. Helmut had come prepared to make Schnitzel, Kartoffelsalat, Schinkenfleckerl, and Liptauer.

Frying in a good amount of oil, the schnitzel begins to crisp up and brown

We divided up the tasks and I was very pleased to be assigned to Schnitzel duty. Since there were quite a few of us, it was not long at all before we had quite a few tasty-looking dishes arranged on the table and a glass of Riesling sitting in front of each of us.  Helmut said a few words as we sat down together in front of our meal; “I just want  everyone to promise that before they open that box or package, they’ll just make something from scratch.  It’s really so easy and it is so much tastier––and healthier to know what is in your food!” None of us could disagree with this.

A spread called Liptauer is made with fresh farmer’s cheese, red onion, paprika, herbs, and cheese

The finished Schnitzel with an Austrian Erdäpfelsalat (“potato salad”)

We exchanged enthusiastic exclamations of “Mahlzeit” and “bon appétit,” before trying out the delicious food in front of us. The Schnitzel was nice and crisp and Helmut’s mix of 3 types of fat  for the frying oil certainly gave the breading a nice flavour. Though I don’t usually like Schnitzel made with pork, I will admit that this was nice.

Palatschinken flipping skills put to the test

The Palatschinken become beautifully caramelized in the pan

Our final project for the evening would be Palatschinken (Austrian crepes). We heated up a griddle and after Helmut tested the batter and showed the proper technique, each of us was allowed to put our Palatschinken flipping technique to the test.  The Palatschinken came out looking quite good––perfectly cooked so that there were beautiful caramelized designs covering the surface of both sides of the crepe. The finished dough was slathered with nutella and then sprinkled with pieces of banana before being rolled up.

Check out my food blog for the Palatschinken recipe: Cooking class with Helmut

The finished Palatschinken are rolled up and dusted with confectioners’ sugar