From the Mountains to the Table E-Book

Kurt Bracharz

• Herausgeber: Löwenzahn Verlag
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Seitenzahl: 145

Beschreibung

Unmistakably good: what has made alpine cheese from Vorarlberg so special for 2000 years are the original method of its production and its distinctive taste, characterized by the grasses and herbs of the alpine meadows. In 'From the Mountains to the Table' Kurt Bracharz vividly describes why cheese and its production are so highly regarded in the west of Austria. He tells of the love of nature and hard work which have shaped the people and their traditions to this day. Sophisticated recipes from starred chefs Mike Schwarzenbacher and Florian Mairitsch as well as impressive photographs of life on the alp, of the cultivation of traditions, and of cheese production, make this book into a beautiful homage to the alpine dairy and its cheese. - Texts by Kurt Bracharz, published by Josef Rupp - Everything you want to know about the various alpine dairy products - Historical facts about cheese making in Vorarlberg - Insights into the alpine dairymen's work throughout the year - Cooking with cheese then and now - Numerous delicious recipes and atmospheric photos

Leseprobe

From the Mountains to the Table

CHEESE IN VORARLBERG

With Texts by Kurt Bracharzand Recipes by Florian Mairitschand Mike Schwarzenbacher

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Josef Rupp

What is Cheese?

Recipes with Milk, Cream, and Sour Cream

A brief History of Cheese Making in Vorarlberg

Recipes with Yoghurt, Buttermilk, Whey, and “Sig”

The Alpine Year

Recipes with Sour Milk Cheese, Quark, and “Seagen”

Cooking with Cheese

Recipes with Alpine Cheese, Bergkäse, Emmental, and Bachensteiner

Marketing

Team

Glossary

Illustrations

Bibliography

Imprint

FOREWORD

What motivates a cheese manufacturer to publish a book on alpine cheese in Vorarlberg? Because alpine cheese plays a relatively small role in our business activities. But alpine cheese is a matter close to my heart! The original method of its production, its quality as an enjoyable and natural food and its characteristic as a typical product of our alpine landscape make alpine cheese something distinctive and special.

My personal relationship and that of our private dairy with alpine dairies goes far beyond business interests. My grandfather Josef Rupp began his successful career as an alpine dairyman and throughout his life held the mountain dairymen in esteem, marketing their products with commitment and pride. And as a boy, I myself spent a number of months at summer pastures and alpine dairies in Vorarlberg as a cowherd boy and dairyman’s helper. Not only have good memories remained, in fact this intensive getting a taste of the alp led to an emotional relationship which revives during each of my regular visits to the alpine dairies and in conversations with the dairymen.

But not only emotional ties explain my great appreciation of alpine agriculture and alpine cheese. It is the unique and still largely undisturbed merging of nature and culture which can hardly be experienced in this unspoilt manner anywhere else. Our alpine dairies in Vorarlberg possess the natural charm and the artistic aesthetics of modern “Landart” and are, at the same time, examples of longstanding sophisticated agriculture. And what can be better than agriculture that respects the land entrusted to it while cultivating it moderately yet usefully. The production of alpine cheese is still based on the dairymen’s knowledge and skill, honed and developed over centuries and generations. It is they who refine the daily fresh milk—exclusively hay-milk—then and there into non-perishable and enjoyable products according to tried rules and recipes.

Our mountain dairies also have a touristic value: as an expression of our culture-historical and scenic regionality, as refreshment stations for hikers, and as small-scale production sites of a refined dairy product where natural cheese making can sometimes be observed. However, the alpine dairies are never false idylls or planned amusement parks, but rather always places where the livestock is considerately cared for and the landscape is tirelessly cultivated; places of traditional and therefore also arduous dairy farming in often hard-to-reach mountain landscapes; places today still exposed to nature’s wildness and the vagaries of wind and weather. Real, not staged life takes place on our alpine dairies, real, not show, cheese making. The daily processing of milk on our alpine dairies is a living, valuable tradition, not folklore. The dairymen are hardworking, experienced experts and not exotic yodelers.

I appreciate the product as much as I appreciate the work that goes on at our alpine dairies. My personal culinary preference for alpine cheese has deep roots, is enduring and signifies a taste experience which due to my profession I can happily pass on. And I do so gladly, because I consider our alpine cheese to be a stupendous and distinctive specialty of our region, and because I, from experience and knowledge of the European cheese landscape, dare to claim that Vorarlberg alpine cheese is second to none of the famous cheeses from France, Italy, or Spain.

For me personally, as well as for our family and company, this book is a contribution to the preservation of, and at the same time a valuation of, alpine dairies in Vorarlberg. We, together with our employees, want to actively participate in further developing the quality of this delicious product, to create sales markets, and to spread the good name of alpine cheese from Vorarlberg throughout the world.

It was important to me to assemble a cheese-literate and experienced team for the realization of this book project:

Kurt Bracharz as a renowned writer, food expert, and well versed Vorarlberg food critic. He has incorporated his knowledge and taste in an extensive contribution. Mike Schwarzenbacher and Florian Mairitsch, two of the most widely recognized chefs who have kept their kitchens in the stars for years, share their craft and reveal tempting culinary delicacies. Georg Alfare has captured the alpine dairies and Frigesch Lampelmayer the products in photographs that speak for themselves. The study collection of the vorarlberg museum provided the historic photographs by Franz Beer free of charge. Kurt Dornig as graphic designer created a congenial publication out of the texts and pictures. Julia Jussel handled all organizational matters for this book project with special commitment.

Thank you to all of them! Special thanks and my personal appreciation to all of those who work in the alpine dairies, keep the livestock healthy and care for the cheese until it is ripe to eat. And of course thanks also to the employees of our business who continually care for the quality of the great product, alpine cheese.

I wish the dairymen continued good luck in the barn and cellar, and I hope the book will find an interested audience.

Thanks

I would like to personally thank several companions and “fighters” for the preservation and development of Alp-and Bergkäse production in Vorarlberg.

First of all, Wolfgang Alge, who as our executive director for decades championed the cause of dairies in Vorarlberg. Then Hugo Waldner, farmer and ombudsman for the alpine dairymen, Ehrenfried Fuchs, dedicated cattle dealer and farmer as well as Franz Jakob Geber, farmer and former mayor of Schwarzenberg—without these three the Bregenzerwälder Käsekeller (Cheese Cellar) would not exist today. And without this project concerning the communal, optimal aging of alpine cheese and Bergkäse, we would not have the extraordinary quality we have today.

Of course I may not forget Jodok Wirt, Hans Kresser and Hans Meusburger here—without their decades of quality consulting for the alpine dairymen and the handshake quality of their transactions, this book could not have been published.

Josef Rupp

WHAT IS CHEESE?

Cheese is Milk that has come of Age

A general introduction about everything that can be made out of milk, from fresh soured milk to years-old hard cheese, and a bit about the biology, chemistry, and physics of cheese production. If you, however, are more interested in the history of Vorarlberg, in what goes on at an alpine dairy, and in recipes, then you can also skip this chapter.

When Milk Curdles

Words such as “milk” and “cheese” need no definition in everyday life— literally every child is familiar with these two staple foods from his or her own experience. On the other hand, one has also heard of almond milk and soy cheese—why are such vegetable products, far removed from any cow, called “milk” and “cheese”? What does omniscient Wikipedia have to say about milk?