As promised in the last post on Rauch’s Old Commercial Room, I’ll be talking about what tough men eat. Firstly, pardon the above picture – so keen were we to tug into the food that I forgot to take a shot in its original perfection.
But first let me introduce you to Wiener Schnitzel (the middle plate) which is a thin slice of veal coated in crispy breadcrumbs and fried. In English, it is known as Viennese cutlet and is a traditional Vienna dish. Squeezed a few drops of lemon on it and eat it like that or dab it with cranberry sauce. The crunchy crumbs and tender veal gave a good mouthfeel and as you masticate, brought out a pleasant meaty flavor. It was good though I would have preferred it a bit saltier to better really bring out the meaty flavor. For “like fresh meat loves salt” tragic Cordelia said. And because King Lear did not understand the meaning, he lost his kingdom and his beloved daughter. I sprinkled more salt.
When they told us they are going to serve food for tough men (which of course we were and are), I imagined great chunky lumps of bloodied meat or huge blades of ribs that you held with your hands and tore with your teeth. Ha! Barbarian macho. But what is this bloody pinkish goo with two obscene looking eggs staring at us? A few sad looking pickles and the awesome deep purple bleeding beetroot did nothing to enhance its visual appeal. Tentatively, I flicked a tiny bit from its edge and raised it to my mouth ready to screw up my face. The beer ready, standing by to wash it all down. And….
The sticky mash melted over my tongue. And my Goodness! It is unbelievable! And totally unexpected - the best corned beef I’ve ever tasted. Nothing even came close. While the corned beef is the dominant taste, there are subtleties behind it. Other flavor that I could not quite picked out. What a sensation! I normally hate gooey stuff but not if it is as rich in taste as this. For this, I’ll lick it off the fork.
And to think it used to be called “meal for a rough customer” because they were popular for seamen. Legend has it that when there were nothing left in the kitchen to cook, the chef just threw everything in with corned beef and mashed it all up. Behold! A new dish was created. The sailors loved it. Which reminded me of a saying – “Necessity is the mother of invention” or we are all victims of the cook’s mistakes (in this case, a deliberate and happy one).
Just so you do not think this ghost only eats Western food, next I’ll be writing about “The Dirty Duck of Bali”. Check it out.
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