Gourmet Salzburg

Despite what the Italians might tell you, coffee entered Europe through Vienna.  The Austrians also invented espresso and cappucino.  So of course we had to go to Cafe Tomaselli in Salzburg; this Cafe is old enough that Konstanze Mozart ate there (stayed there? Not sure).

I had an espresso and apple pastry.  The full Austrian coffee service includes fresh cream, sugar, and water to clear your throat afterwards.  The apple pastry was excellent, well-spiced and flavored with some kind of liqueur.

The Austrians are also rightfully famous for chocolate.  Demel is one of several Salzburg native chocolatiers, and well-known since the 19th century.

Above is the haul I brought home to my wife: dark chocolate "cat's tongues" and "coffee bones" from Demel, strawberry-pepper chocolate bar from Erdbeer-Pfeffer, and a couple of Mozart truffles from Furst.  The latter are a distinctive product of Salzburg, and the cheap mass-produced brand, Mirabell, are hawked in every tourist shop in town, as well as internationally.  Furst claims to have actually invented them, and is a small hand-produced chocolate shop.  I'll tell you if they really are better after I eat one.

Also in this picture is an Austrian Christmas tradition, Punsch.  This is a fruit-fortfied liqueur which is traditionally diluted with hot water and drunk during the holidays.

Grilled cheese, Salzburg style; with ham and tomato ... and beer.  We had an afternoon snack in the 7th-floor roof bar of a hotel in Old Salzburg whose name I've lost, overlooking the river.  Trummer Pils is apparently actually an Austrian brewer (who knew?) and of course tastes little like the Trummer Pils you buy in the US.  I suspect that the US variety is actually made in Canada.

Another boozy Salzburg tradition is zirbenschnaps, a liqueur fortified with the cone of the stone pine tree of the high alps.  Harvesting these pines is technically illegal, but widely done.  Zirbenschnaps is actually available in restaurants, but never on the menu.  It's an interesting taste; I don't know that I'd want a bottle, but I'm glad I tasted it.

Unfortunately, I was in Salzburg a week too early for the annual Christmas Market which covers a lot of the old town.  This chestnut roaster set up early, though, so I got some fresh-roasted chestnuts.  These are better (and easier to peel) than they are in the US.

The chestnut seller wasn't the only street vendor.  In the old city of Salzburg ... and Bolzano, and many other old European cities ... street booths for produce and perishables are the rule, not the exception. 

You can also see the greatness of Germanic baked goods.  Every bakery has this many breads, or more, and they are always fresh -- more Austrians and Germans would rather fast than eat days-old factory-produced bread.

Austria, like Germany, loves wurst.  I must say, a foot-long sausage hanging out of a small round roll is amusing.

The two other staples of Austrian food, eaten many times per day, are kase (cheese) and speck or ham.  Speck is a distinctive Alpine product.  It's lean, salted, dry-cured ham, like Prosciutto but leaner and meatier.  Even as a mostly-veg, I find it tasty.  Unfortunately, the Department of Agriculture confiscated it on the way back into the US.

Note, though, that November is possibly the worst month to visit Salzburg.  The majority of touristy activities (including cable cars, most museums, and several restaurants) are closed in November and reopen for the Christmas season.  And it rains.