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ItalianoUpdated 10.05.2022
From bacon dumpling soup to Schlutzkrapfen and Kaiserschmarren: it is impossible to imagine the menu without the classics of Tyrolean cuisine - and they can be found all over the country in mountain pastures and huts, in down-to-earth inns and in many a gourmet restaurant. The fact that traditional dishes are far from being obsolete is also proven by the young chefs of the province, who bring the popular Tyrolean cuisine to the plate in a modern interpretation.
Innkeepers, star chefs and also the up-and-coming young chefs of the province rely equally on regional and sustainably produced food. They take up trends such as vegetarian and later vegan cuisine as a matter of course. Tyrolean cuisine may be hearty, but many dishes - such as Kaspressknödel, Käsespätzle or Kaiserschmarren - have always been vegetarian. And more and more restaurants and hotels are showing that vegetarian cuisine, completely without meat and dairy products, can also be tasty.Selected examples from the Tyrolean gastronomy scene show how the tradition of Tyrolean cuisine is successfully made fit for the future and interpreted in a modern way:
Oniriq - Vegetarian Cuisine at Hood LevelAseven-course tasting menu - and purely vegetarian. Although chef de cuisine Christoph Bickel also serves meat or fish, he only does so when explicitly ordered. Exotic ingredients are not served in his four-toque award-winning restaurant Oniriq in Innsbruck; instead, classics of Tyrolean cuisine are reinterpreted and prepared with regional ingredients. And preferably vegetarian. The Tyrolean picks many of the ingredients for his cuisine in the forests or mountains of Tyrol, but the good partnership with local farmers is also important to him.After several stays abroad, Christoph Bickel returned to his home country in 2017 with a special dream: to bring Tyrolean cuisine closer to the guests. "At Oniriq, I want to bring Alpine cuisine closer to the guest who wants to eat at a higher level. Actually, the way my grandma used to cook - only slightly spiced up or changed." And so, for example, the "Tiroler Gröstl" comes to the plate in the form of a poached quail ice cream with roasted onion mayo in a nest of raw potato threads.
The Wilderin - seasonal delights from the Alpine regionRegional, seasonal, sustainable - at the Wilderin in the middle of Innsbruck's old town, you only get what's available. Which means as much as: The fruit and vegetables that are cooked are those that are available in the fields around Innsbruck in the respective season - or rather week. Or was cooked in advance. And since animal meat is always purchased as whole livestock from farmers in the region, it can sometimes happen that the popular filet is out, but instead there are tasty cheeks on the menu.What drives the team around Claudia Kogler and the two chefs Christoph Zingerle and Thomas Michler is incidentally quickly explained: "The indescribable joy of the taste of the Alps, the devotion to the products of our agricultural partners and their livestock, fields, lakes and gardens, as well as the enthusiasm for passionate hospitality." So it is hardly surprising that the Wilderin has successfully earned a "Gault & Millau" bonnet with her special concept.
The Unterwirtinnen - Award-winning Slow Food in a historic buildingThe Unterwirt in the small community of Ebbs in Kufsteinerland has been on the mapsince1490. The history of the family business, which Sabrina, Maria and Katrin Steindl took over from their parents as "Die Unterwirtinnen", is just as rich in tradition. Since then, the sisters have transformed the Unterwirt into a family-run gourmet hotel with a slow food restaurant that has been awarded two toques. For the sisters, Tyrolean Slow Food means using regional and naturally organic ingredients as much as possible. These are then processed into contemporary interpretations and traditional classics of Tyrolean and Austrian cuisine. Of course, a schnitzel must not be missing from the menu: "The Viennese schnitzel is still a signature dish of our house and that is a good thing".Despite a clear vision for the future, the sisters do not forget their origins: "The direction our parents took with the "Unterwirt" a long time ago absolutely fits. They established this quality standard that we stand behind and for. We just have to adapt the philosophy for ourselves and the future and go full throttle." And so, with a bit of luck, senior chef Edmund Steindl will also be in the kitchen during a visit, who is considered a pioneer of the Slow Food movement and was awarded the first bonnet for the Unterwirt thirty years ago.
Quality seals for trade and gastronomyTomake the quality of Tyrolean products recognisable for consumers at a glance, two quality seals provide orientation. The "Qualität Tirol" seal of quality, which can be found in shops, stands for regional, sustainably produced food of the highest quality that is 100% grown and refined in Tyrol. In gastronomy, on the other hand, the "Bewusst Tirol" establishments bear witness to particularly high quality. The initiative of the Province of Tyrol and Agrarmarketing Tirol honours catering establishments that have demonstrably increased their use of products from the region. More than 220 businesses in the province are partners of the initiative, which sustainably strengthens and promotes the interaction between Tyrolean business and agriculture.
Further information on culinary delights in Tyrol, typical Tyrolean dishes and traditional as well as innovative businesses can be found at www.tirol.at/kulinarik.