Cookbook evokes lost traditions

Ursula Feist

Let’s talk about food. One of my favorite cookbooks is “Gourmet’s Old Vienna Cookbook” published in 1959. It was a present from my husband and his dedication gave me a message: “This document of European civilization from the one most likely to benefit its study. December 1960.” It makes me want to get into my kitchen, put on an apron and get the saucepans out, but I know that in today’s diet conscious world nobody would dare to prepare veal chops with walnuts that need 6 tablespoons of butter, 5 tablespoons of liver pate, ½ cup of heavy cream and more cream if necessary! Or veal kidneys in truffle sauce requiring 6 tablespoons finely chopped truffles, 3 egg yolks, 1¼ cups of heavy cream and served in puff pastry. There is a section on dumplings, noodles, different ways for serving potatoes and rice – every dish full of calories.The cake and dessert section have to be hidden from anyone with a sweet tooth, or reluctant weight watchers.

The famous Viennese “Sachertorte” needs a cup of butter, cup of sugar, 10 egg yolks, 8oz of chocolate, 12 beaten egg whites, 2 cups flour, apricot glaze and chocolate fondant icing served with sweetened whipping cream. Franz Sacher invented it in 1832 but the recipe got into the hands of Demel through inter-marriage. The fight was over whether the jam should be spread in the middle of the Torte or right underneath the chocolate glaze. A famous court case ensued and the judge ruled that Sacher call theirs “the original Sachertorte” and Demel theirs “original Demel’s Sachertorte”. There still is some bitterness about this decision. When we were in Vienna we tried them both – though not on the same day - and preferred the Demel one!

The section on sauces is mouth-watering especially the Hollandaise with the ingredients of butter, 4 egg yolks – all carefully prepared in a double boiler that needs the kind of time to cook that most people do not have. Vegetables, according to today’s dietary rules were routinely overcooked, usually prepared in a mixture of cream, flour and butter; nouvelle cuisine had not been invented yet.

It brings back delicious memories: mother sitting in her kitchen on her low stool holding a big bowl close to her body stirring the dough with a large wooden spoon. No cuisinarts, osterizers or mix-masters around to make life easier! After her death I found the mixmaster I had given her the way I had wrapped it.When she baked she tried to get me out of the kitchen but would keep the bowl for me to lick clean. I can still taste that dough and smell it. She lived until her 89th year on this kind of diet. One of my uncles got to be 103 and I remember my lovely maternal grandmother in her long white apron making fabulous dishes on an old-fashioned stove. I have a faded hand-written notebook with recipes my mother prepared before her marriage. Girls had to know how to cook before tying the knot in those days. “Love goes through the stomach” (Liebe geht durch den Magen) was what they were taught.

Going through my fridge now and deciding on fat-free cottage cheese and a lettuce leaf I feel virtuous but emotionally challenged.