Mountains of Salzburg (aka Salzburg Nockerl) are the most famous and legendary dessert of Austria. The dessert has been served in fancy Austrian resturants for centuries. Two things that strike me about this dessert are that it is delightfully easy to make and, at the same time, very elegant and impressive in its presentation. It has a luxurious mouth-feel and the sauce formed on the bottom is scant but wonderful. This recipe was shown in the early 80’s on Public Television on a series “Great Chef’s of New York” by a jovial large Blond Austrian chef whose name escapes me. I wrote this down and tried it right after the show ended. Had I known I was going to write a cook book, I certainly would have made sure I got his name right which now I regret as most likely he has passed on by now. The chef said the meringue is stacked in three distinct mountain-shaped globs to resemble the Mountains of Salzburg, his home, and the powdered sugarserves as the snow. The chef mentioned that any jelly or jam works so use your favorite. You may want to give blueberry, boysenberry, or red currant a try too.
1 tablespoon per dish of heavy cream
1 level tablespoon per dish of seedless raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon per dish of sweet butter
6 large egg whites
small pinch of salt
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
3 large beatened egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 sprigs of mint
For more elegance, Paper doilies.
Place oven rack in the middle rung and preheat to 425°F.
Place a patty of butter, 1 tablespoon of cream, 1 tablespoon of preserves in each of the 4
individual small shallow gratin dishes. I recommend a small oval 8 ounce Au Gratin dish
in stoneware or porcelain. Allow eggs to warm up to room temperature. Beat egg yolks and vanilla until pale yellow. Set aside in another small bowl. Wash mixer bowl and beaters with hot water and dry thoroughly.
Beat 6 egg whites and a small pinch of salt at high speed to soft peaks, and then add the
fine granulated sugar a little at a time on medium. Increase speed back to high and beat to
stiff peaks. Remove bowl from mixer, shift in flour and fold it in gently with a spatula,
along with the egg yolks until the flour and eggs are just mixed.
Stack three sections whipped meringue over the preserves-cream-butter in each Gratin
dish. The chef used a flexible plastic bowl scoop to scope the whipped eggs. I cut out a
section of clean manila folder in a six inch square rectangle, and then cut a curved halfcircle
end on one side to more match-up the contour of the mixer bowl. It worked well as
a scoop. Try to make sure you get equal portions in each dish. Bake until the peaks are
golden brown- 12 to 15 minutes. Dust lightly with confectioner’s sugar. Place each hot
Gratin dish on another plate so they won’t burn the table. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
A later show on KQED and Golden Gate productions featured Vienna Chef Andy Kistler
from the now defunct Peter Grunauer’s Vienna ‘79 New York Restaurant preparing a
course of entries culminated with a lemony 9-egg version entitled Salzburg Nockerl that
looked equally enticing which was similar but bigger portions. It is my experience, that
given at a good Restaurant, come time for dessert, a patron is no longer hungry and
smaller desserts are very appropriate. The picture on this page comes from the web site:
http://www.austria-trips.com/Provinces/Salzburg_county.htm
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