Almost two years ago, when I joined Sebastian and the rest of the Küchengötter team for a cooking course at Heimspiel, I didn’t have a clue that one of the recipes on the menu would become an absolute favorite of mine. Sebastian had been in charge for dessert and we prepared Salzburger Nockerl (very typical sweet souffle the city of Salzburg, Austria, is famous for).
I’m sure that I’ve eaten them before that day, yet they hadn’t left a strong impression back then and I didn’t expect them to wow me like they actually did this time.
If you’ve never attempted souffle, this recipe is a great starting point, super-simple and quick to prepare. Just make sure to glimpse through the oven window from time to time to see the three Nockerl reaching astronomic heights (do not open the oven yet, your Salzburger Nockerl might collapse!).
Preheat the oven to 240 °Grad (~475 ° Fahrenheit). Pour the milk into a shallow pan or casserole dish (mine is somewhat oval with a maximum diameter of 28 cm/ ~11 inches) and add the vanilla sugar and the butter in small pieces. Put in the oven one level below medium (which is just starting to heat).
Divide the eggs. Together with a pinch of salt and half of the sugar (35g) whip the egg whites on until they’re just starting to become stiff, then add the other half of the sugar. Continue to beat them until creamy and stiff (you should be able to flip the bowl over your head, come on’ try it). In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks together with the grated lemon zest. In a third bowl mix together the flour and the corn starch.
Now pour the egg yolks over the stiff egg whites and sieve the flour/con starch mixture over both. Carefully fold it into the egg white with a large wooden spoon, making sure not to over-mix the batter (it still should be very airy!). Take out the hot vanilla milk (it’s very hot, be careful!). Using a large dough scraper, try to cut off large scoops of the batter and place them into the (hot!) vanilla milk – making sure to completely cover it (since Salzburger Nockerl symbolize the three mountains around Salzburg, you should aim for three mountain-shaped scoops).
Put in the oven (I usually reduce the temperature now to 225 °Grad (~440 ° Fahrenheit) and bake them for 10 to 12 minutes. This really depends on your oven and the scoops you’ve formed – they taste best, when they are still a little creamy inside – it takes a little practice to know when the moment is right. And don’t be tempted to open the oven door before they are done! They can collapse very easily – after all they’re a member of the souffle family ;)
Take out, dust generously with powdered sugar and serve immediately! We like to serve them with warm raspberry compote (heat frozen raspberries, a splash of water, lemon juice and sugar to taste).
Salzburger Nockerl
Recipe source: inspired by Sebastian
Prep time: ~30 minutes
Ingredients (for 2-3)
.
200 ml milk
20 g vanilla sugar (or 20 g sugar and scraped out seeds from vanilla bean)
50 g butter
7 eggs (medium)
a pinch of salt
70 g sugar
zest of 1/2 organic lemon
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp corn starch
serve with powdered sugar & warm raspberry compote
Mar 16th,
2010
I remember eating this in Salzburg and it was so large I had to share it with an adjoining table. You've brought back some nice memories.