Page 34 - March & April

32 MYROUSESEVERYDAY MARCH | APRIL 2013
S alzburg, Austria may not be the
culinary capital of Europe, but
I was there to train with two
Global Master Chefs, so to me,
it was the culinary capital of the
world. The kitchen where we cooked, ate
and drank for four days was run by Helmut
Franz Josef Holzer, CMC, WGMC.
Holzer has been experimenting with a new
natural ingredient not yet available in the
United States. Qimiq is the first cream base
for cooking, baking and refining. It binds
liquids, emulsifies with oil, and can replace
cream, fat and egg either partially or com-
pletely. There’s no gelatin to dissolve and it
works in sweet and savory dishes.
When we weren’t cooking, or eating what
we were cooking, I got a taste of the local
cuisine. I had spaetzle, shnitzel, Käsespät-
zle, which is similar to our Mac & Cheese,
Goulash, Knödelgeheimnis (bread dump-
lings with sauerkraut and a fried egg), and
Liptauer cheese, which is spread on pum-
pernickel and rye bread.
It’s no secret that chefs like to drink, so Sal-
zburg’s classic beer halls were on our travel
agenda along with Hohensalzburg Fortress
and other famous sites. Braustübl, a pub at
the Augustiner Brau Kloster Mülln, has an
indoor beer hall and outdoor beer garden
and fills their steins with beer directly from
wooden barrels.
I can’t function without my coffee, and
Austria’s famous coffeehouses were a fa-
vorite. So was Restaurant Ikarus at Hanger
7 (home of the Flying Bulls vintage air-
craft). Ikarus follows a guest chef concept,
and in January, Italian chef Davide Scabin,
a pioneer of modern art and food design,
was in charge of the kitchen.
I was there the week of Mozart’s birthday,
and the huge celebration was attended
by many of the world’s best orchestras,
operas and conductors. I visited Mozart’s
Geburtshaus. I also visited Baroque
Mirabell Palace and Gardens, where some
of Mozart’s music was original performed.
It is also the setting for scenes from the
movie “The Sound of Music.”
And I skied. I can now cross skiing in the
Alps off of my bucket list.
After Salzburg, we took a short trip to
Holland to eat cheese. Amsterdam is one
of the prettiest cities in the world. Rem-
brandt Square. The Royal Palace. The
boats on Prinsengracht Canal. Trolleys
snaking through the city. We drank beer,
sampled cheese, and ate Indonesian food
at Blue Pepper (Amsterdam has fabulous
Indonesian food). We even did a short tour
of the Red Light District—I turned 50
shades of red.
On our second day in Holland, we took
a train through the countryside to one
of the oldest cheese houses in Europe.
Reypenaer’s aged gouda. Each cheese
is naturally matured in Reypenaer’s
100-year-old custom-built cheese ware-
house, using only natural variations in
temperature and humidity. Each piece of
cheese is individually hand turned, ev-
ery week by the Master Cheesemaker.
Talk about artisan craftsmanship!
The last day of our trip, was my most
memorable one. I went by myself to the
Luxembourg American Cemetery and
Memorial, which pays tribute to those who
fell in the Battle of the Bulge. It was an
emotional visit; my maternal grandfather
lost an arm in that battle. I could truly feel
his contribution to our freedom standing
on the ground where he stood nearly seven
decades before me.
Cooking with Master Chefs:
7 Days in Austria & Amsterdam
by JackTreuting, Culinary Director
Rouses Culinary Director Jack Treuting with Reypenaer’s owner Jans Wijngaard and Master Cheesemaker.
Hohensalzburg Castle