Alpine Goats Roam the Pastures, Mountainaura Streams Whisper by and Wild Flowers Flavour the Local Schnapps
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GOURMET TRAVELLER VORARLBERG ALPINE Goats roam the pastures, mountainaura streams whisper by and wild flowers flavour the local schnapps. Vorarlberg is an Austrian idyll steeped in tradition, says Rosemary Barron PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY LathaM Above: the serene landscape of Bregenzerwald. Opposite: local horn players keep up an Austrian musical tradition 64 FOOD & TRAVEL FOOD & TRAVEL 65 GOURMET TRAVELLER VORARLBERG Left to right: cheese producer Brigitte Gmeiner; pretty cornflowers grow at Metzler’s dairy farm; taking a stroll on the promenade at Bregenz. Opposite, clockwise from top left: traditional horn player; views after taking the cable car; village of Bizau; looking towards Lake Constance from the stunning Bregenzerwald orarlberg is dramatic, in every sense of the word. To reach look out for Yellow Gentian, used in a favourite local schnapps. this small province of Austria from the country’s capital, Nearby, in the picture-postcard Bizau valley, chef Antonia V Vienna, a traveller needs to pass over or under the Alps. Moosbrugger tells me how she discovered her destiny. ‘I always F rom neighbouring Switzerland and Germany, the simplest route is loved to cook but the moment I heard a woman speak on cooking across Lake Constance (Bodensee), just like the one taken by the with herbs, I knew what I really wanted to do.’ ancient Alemanni (German-speaking) tribes who first settled here. Antonia’s kitchen, in the family hotel, Schwanen, is steps away Over the centuries, a magnificent landscape of tiny mountain fields from flower-filled meadows and a stroll from pine-forest funghi and vibrant meadowland has been shaped and nurtured by dairy and herb-covered slopes. Wild garlic, apple-scented geranium, farmers, and the fertile Rhine delta filled with lovely fruit orchards and chamomile, linden and fennel are just a few of the wild and garden productive vegetable gardens. herbs you can taste in her dishes of lamb, mountain cheeses, and A simple and pleasurable way to orientate yourself here is to take Lake Constance fish. ‘The animals are good to us, we must be a cable car up into the mountains. From Andelsbuch, less than an good to them,’ she says, when I comment on the fine flavour of the hour’s drive south-east from Bregenz, the province’s capital, there beef served with a nettle purée. are magnificent views across Lake Constance to the Swiss Alps. Later, Antonia uses the same skill in preparing a feast of game. From the cable car, a stroll along well-marked paths will take you For the hunters and cooks of Bregenzerwald (wald, meaning forest), across glaciated rocks past clumps of alpine herbs and flowers; a feast means the enjoyment of all parts of the animal, not just those we usually consider the ‘best parts’. It can also mean the most Travel information sought-after game of all, the chamois. A shy creature, able to meld into a background of craggy rocks, the chamois is a hunter’s joy. Currency in Austria is the euro and time is one hour ahead of GMT. Our feast, in a lovely old barn high in the mountains, begins with a Vorarlberg is the westernmost of the country’s nine provinces and carpaccio alongside thinly sliced wild mushrooms and tiny marinated shares its borders with Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Weather ones. Then comes a rich game consommé flavoured with roasted in May is warm with average highs of 19˚C and average lows of 9˚C. malt leftover from brewing a local beer, followed by course after course of wild deer, each cut having a distinct preparation. In the far GETTING THERE distance, we can see the sun setting slowly over Lake Constance, Ryanair flies from Stansted to Memmingen, Germany. ryanair.com as the breathtakingly beautiful landscape becomes safe once again EasyJet flies from Gatwick to Innsbruck, Austria. easyjet.com for the animals that call it home. This terrain isn’t yet easy to farm – for centuries, farmers have RESOURCES practised a three-stage transhumance. In spring, once the snow Vorarlberg Tourism is the official tourist board for the province and has melted, cattle graze on the valley pastures. As the temperature has useful information for planning your trip. vorarlberg.travel rises, they are moved to meadowland halfway up the mountain, Austrian National Tourist Office offers practical advice and ideas then again to the higher pastures for summer. In autumn, they return for exploring the country. austria.info to the valley, and the barn. These environments, with their diverse and unspoilt flora, provide the healthiest diet possible for the FURTHER READING livestock, resulting in aromatic milk and a fine PDO cheese, Across the Eastern Alps: E5 from Lake Constance to Verona Vorarlberger Bergkäse. PDO sibling Vorarlberger Alpkäse is made by Gillian Price (Cicerone, £12). Use this walking guide to tackle the from milk produced only in alpine meadows. whole trek, or just the lake and scenic parts of Vorarlberg. Brigitte and Thomas Gmeiner know the names of each of their handsome Friesland sheep. As we approach them, the curious CaRBON COUNTING animals stop grazing and come over to inspect us. ‘In winter, they’re Emmissions can be offset at climatecare.org, cost for this trip is £1.56. mostly kept inside because of the climate, but 66 FOOD & TRAVEL GOURMET TRAVELLER XXXXX ‘On higher moor, at about 750m, you’ll find plants thought to have originated over 2,000 years ago, a moss that replicates the work of a sponge (fun to walk on barefoot), and a tiny plant that eats flies, because it can’t get its food from the ground’ FOOD & TRAVEL 67 GOURMET TRAVELLER VORARLBERG Left to right: venison carpaccio; farmers’ market bangers; schnapps maker Harald Schobel; apricot crumble at Schulhus, Krumbach. Opposite, clockwise from top left: fishing on the lake with Franz Blum; Harald’s chewy dried fruits; Gabi Strahammer, Schulhus; her strawberries and cream; Bregenz; local fruit ‘Having by now become accustomed to eating meat that tastes clear and clean, ‘like it used to’, I’m not prepared for the delicious speck that Gabi has for us. Later, when taken to the much-appreciated pig’s former home, I’m not at all surprised to find the well-tended farm’ Where to eat they have a pen, too,’ Brigitte explains. Nothing is wasted: their wool Prices are for three courses with a half-carafe of wine. is made into all sorts of artefacts, some useful, some decorative, and soaps and lotions are made from the milk-whey. In the spirit of Fränzle’s Bistro Friendly, family-owned restaurant serving fish caught the area (and with a little help from the government), the nearby that day in the lake by fisherman Franz Blum. Try the fried felchen supermarket stocks these cheeses as well as other local produce. (whitefish) fillets and the smoked trout with horseradish sauce. £20. Towards the north-east of Bregenzerwald, glacial moraines Schanz 40a, Fussach, 00 43 664 911 04 62, fraenzles.at (ridges of small stones) have created an ecologically rich area of Pleifers Engel Chef-owner Klaus Pleifer sources quality ingredients moorland where an ancient past feels real and close. Meltwater locally and uses them to good effect. Try the imaginative salads and flowing into the moraine contains very few salts and the stones dishes made with the organic turkey from Flatz store nearby. £23. slowly become covered in layers of acidic peat. On a summertime Landstrasse 1, Hard, 00 43 5574 20 768, pleifersengel.at walk, you’ll find a wonderful variety of flora: orchids (farmers are Mangold Owners Michael and Andrea Schwarzenbacher serve dishes allowed to mow moorland fields only in autumn, so that orchids can that complement their elegant restaurant and plant-filled terrace. Try the reproduce), meadowsweet, wild cranberry, elder, and purple moor kalbsleber mit salbei (calves’ liver with sage) and bollito misto (made with grass, or ‘pipe cleaner’, named for its use in the old days. On higher a ‘backside cut’ of beef from an alpine cow). There’s a good selection moor, at about 750m, you’ll find plants thought to have originated of Austrian wines to try too. £33. Pfänderstrasse 3, Lochau, 00 43 over 2,000 years ago, a moss that replicates the work of a sponge 5574 42431, restaurant-mangold.at (fun to walk on barefoot), and a tiny plant that eats flies, because it Neubeck Fish of the day here is from the nearby lake, and there’s can’t get its food from the ground. Walks are signposted, and a well-sourced menu and choice of wines. The restaurant is located Krumbach is nearby, where chef Gabi Strahammer uses moor centrally, and has a welcoming atmosphere. £29. Anton-Schneider- plants to create enticing flavours in her restaurant, Schulhus. Strasse 5, Bregenz, 00 43 5574 43609, neubeck.at Having by now become accustomed to eating meat that tastes Restaurant Schulhus Chef Gabi Strahammer uses moorland and clear and clean, ‘like it used to’, I’m not prepared for the delicious homegrown herbs in her innovative cuisine. A fine speck (ham) is from speck that Gabi has for us. Later, when taken to the much- her family’s Duroc pigs, and refreshing fruit juices from nearby organic appreciated pig’s former home, I’m not at all surprised to see her orchards. £29. Glatzegg 58, Krumbach, 00 43 5513 8389, schulhus.at father’s well-tended farm, nor that their Duroc pigs show a friendly Schlosskaffee Hohenems Chocolate heaven in a stylish café with a interest in me. Gabi follows the speck with fresh noodles coloured large and attractive terrace. Owners Gunther and Petra Fenkart use fine green with very finely chopped home-grown lovage (leibstöckel, local products such as sig (see food glossary), pear schnapps and kirsch literally ‘love-stick’).