Salzburger Nockerl

This light and fluffy dessert really melts in the mouth!

Preparation time: 15 minutes	Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3	Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

5 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
A dash of lemon juice
3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
1 tablespoons of plain flour
2 tablespoons of icing sugar
Raspberry sauce (optional)

Special equipment

A whisk, preferably an electric whisk
A baking dish
A sieve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4.
Whisk the egg whites, salt and lemon juice in a clean glass or copper mixing bow. Continue whisking until the egg whites are thick and foamy.
Add the granulated and vanilla sugars to the egg white mixture. Whisk until stiff peaks form.
In a separate bowl, stir the flour and egg yolks together.
Use a spatula or large spoon to very gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture, making sure you don’t over mix.
Spoon the mixture into a baking dish. Use a large serving spoon to form the Nockerl into large dumplings.
Bake the Nockerl in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
Sieve some icing sugar onto the baked Nockerl. Then drizzle with raspberry sauce, and serve hot.
An guadn!

Tips

If desired, you can drizzle the Nockerl in raspberry sauce when you serve it. Alternatively you can pour some raspberry sauce onto the baking dish and spoon the Nockerl over it before baking.
Make sure the bowl you whip the egg whites in is glass or copper (not plastic) and has been cleaned thoroughly- egg whites can be finicky and if even a hint of grease gets into the mixture while it’s being whipped, they will collapse.

Background

Home: Austria
Pronounciation: (Soizburga Noggal)
Relatives: Soufflé (France), Floating Island (France)
History

Salzburg (‘Salt Fortress’) is the capital city of the State of Salzburg in western Austria. It’s situated in the Central Eastern Alps: its terrain ranges from hilly to outright mountainous. The city is situated on the Salzach (‘Salt River’), which was historically used to transport (you guessed it!) salt from the nearby salt mine. The mine, Salzbergwerk Dürrnberg, is dug under the Dürrnberg plateau near the village of Hallein. Salt had been mined at Dürrnberg for at least 7,000 years. Researchers have found organic evidence that suggests ancient Celtic tribes mined salt here during the Iron Age, and there’s evidence of human settlement dating back to the Neolithic Age.

Once a Roman municipium, by the 14th century Salzburg was a prince-bishopric and a territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The city greatly benefited from the local salt trade: it was able to levy tolls on passing salt barges, and excelled as a trading community. The celebrated 16th century prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau used the proceeds of the salt trade to enhance the city’s architecture, which would, over the coming two centuries, become famed for its Baroque style. As a result, the historic centre of Salzburg is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is also famous for being the birthplace of Mozart.

A lot of Austrian sweets are intricate cakes, like the Esterhazy Torte, Dobostorte and Sachertorte. Strudels, like the Apfelstrudel and Weichselstrudel, are popular deserts. Other desserts include the Danish Pastry (originally brought to Denmark by Viennese bakers) and the Vanillekipferl. Salzburg itself is the home of both the Salzburger Nockerl and Mozartkugel (Mozart Ball.) The latter is a ball of pistachio marzipan, wrapped in nougat and coated in dark chocolate. It was invented in the late 19th century by a Salzburger confectioner, Paul Fürst, who named his creation in honour of Mozart.

The exact origins of Salzburger Nockerl are a little more hazy. Legend has it that the dessert was invented in the early 17th century by Salome Alt, the common-law wife of prince-bishop von Raitenau. Alt, whose grandfather had been mayor of Salzburg, lived with von Raitenau at his Salzburg Residenz for long enough to have 15 or 16 children with him. The Nockerl is probably derived from the French Soufflé. It’s even been suggested that Napoleon himself brought the Salzburger Nockerl to Austria, though this seems a little fanciful.

The dish remains popular and integral to Salzburger culture, and can be ordered in every restaurant in Salzburg. In 1938 the Austrian composer Fred Raymond went so far as to compose an operetta about it, Saison in Salzburg – Salzburger Nockerln, in which he described the Nockerl as ‘Süß wie die Liebe und zart wie ein Kuss‘- as sweet as love and tender as a kiss.

The Nockerl is generally shaped into three dumplings which are dusted with icing sugar. This presentation represents the snowy peaks of Gaisberg, Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg, the three hills which surround the historic centre of Salzburg. Sometimes an extra ‘hill’ is added, which represents Untersberg.

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