In England, differences of speech may distinguish one social class from another (see, for example, My Fair Lady—if you possibly can!) and in America fine social lines are drawn by the model and the horsepower of the car one drives. But in Vienna, where so much depends on food, the classes are divided according to what they eat, how they eat it, and what they call it.
The workingman takes time out for Vesper and eats his Vesperbrot, his light afternoon meal, while both Herr Müller, the good burgher, and the highborn Herr Baron, who dresses like his gamekeeper and speaks as much like a cab driver as he can, enjoy their Janse. To both the burgher and the baron, die Jausenstunde is that comfortable, beloved time that comes three hours after the midday meal and three hours before dinner or supper.
The street lights are just coming on, the children are home, and a little warm refreshment will draw the family and its various activities together again after the day's separation. The Jause is not a formal, elaborately arranged function in the living room, and requires neither teacart nor cake stand. It is an intimate family gathering around a brightly lighted and properly set dining-room table, a gathering whose Gemütlichkeit is enjoyed by every Herr and Fran Müller in Vienna.
Frau Müller draws the curtains and covers the canary's cage. A vibrant red glows from the open door of the old porcelain stove. Then, with Frau Müller's enormous Kugelbupf in the center of the table, the dining room becomes the most comfortable and attractive room in the house.
The family comes to the Jausentisch supplied with conversation and with the evening's occupation. The children bring their homework and the checkerboard. Frau Müller and her oldest daughters bring their Handarbeit and embroider next year's birthday and Christmas presents while they talk. In the intervals of correcting his sons' Latin and algebra copybooks, Herr Müller rolls cigarettes with his little machine. And everyone drinks tea and eats slices of the Bischofs-brot or Striezel which Anna bakes each Friday.
The same kinds of cake and coffee bread are baked almost every Friday of the year, but they never become monotonous, because they vary with the season and the occasion. With Easter and Pfingsten, or Whitsuntide, Christmas and Sylvester to consider, as well as the saints' days and birthdays of each member of the family, the program of yeast cakes and plain cakes is an ever-changing one. Besides, Frau Müller remembers a lime when the baking calendar Included the Emperor's birthday and his favorite recipes, and she still keeps them in her schedule.
For a holiday, the large Stolle is far more festively filled and decorated, naturnlich, than it is in a Lenten week. The plain two-egg Kugelbupf may do for a hot week in midsummer, but for Mädi's birthday it is improved with four more eggs, candied fruit, slivered almonds, and Zucker Glasur. For little Peter's first week in school, the Kgelbupf may get a dark hood of chocolate icing. On Herr Müller's Namenstag the Sebuecken are coated with sugar and filled with raisins, and a special nut filling in the Reindling marks a visit from Fran Midler's mother. All this docs not eliminate the baking of the special birthday Torten, of course; it only illustrates the ambiance of the week as Anna and Frau Müller sentimentally record in the kitchen the family feists and anniversaries.
On Thursday evening, Frau Müller unlocks her supply closet and metes out the raisins, almonds, spices, and sugar. These Colonial Waren and the other items that come from the colonies— usually the British colonies—are high-ly prized in Vienna. One buys them at the Colonial Waren Handlung, which also sells tea, coffee, candied orange rind, vanilla beans, and chocolate. Anna blanches and slivers the almonds, rolls the bread crumbs, and washes the butter that very evening. Before ;he goes to bed, she seals the kitchen, practically hermetically, and stokes the stove. Anna not only knows that all ingredients for baking with yeast must be warm, she believes implicitly that the cook and the kitchen must be warm as well.
On Friday the house is filled with the wonderful smells) of baking, and the last braided loaf or plain Kuchen is timed to come from the oven to the Jausentiscb at just the proper moment, so that it may be eaten while it is still warm.
Sometimes Frau Müller's Anna makes Nussbros or a Zopf, sometimes Auisbrot. And sometimes she makes Sandtorte. Sandtorte is exactly what its name implies— it is as hard te swallow as a mouthful of sand flavored with rum. But to the Viennese, the Sandtorse is a costalgic reminder of childhood, of the Kinderjausen when Mother or Fräulein would serve a piece of Sandtorte and a mug of warm milk or cocoa to drink with it. It is still traditional for retired governesses and pensioned nursemaids to bring a Sandtorte when they stop in to Jause with their middle-aged former charges. Many a stern head of the house who has not eaten sweets for years will happily munch Sandtorste with his old Fräulein while they recall old times together.
As the week progresses and Friday's baking grows staler, the cakes may be sliced, toasted, and served with butler and jam. If the baking gives out before the week is up, because of unexpected guests, the Viennese are always perfectly happy to substitute a Kaiser Semmel or a Hörncben from the baker who supplies the family's bread. Biscbofs-brot a nd Nussbrot are really cakes, called Bros only because they are baked in a bread-loaf pan.)
The Jause is not the proper place at which to show off cultural achievements and intellectuality. Frau Müller regales her family with gossipy tidbits about their friends and neighbors. She is well informed because she has her news straight from Anna, who has it from the woman who brings the eggs and milk and from the butcher's boy. Herr Müller, who has taken time out to look at the Abendblatt, interrupts now and then with news of the outside world, the children relate anecdotes about school, and the oldest daughter reads bits of her letters to the company.
Friends and relatives stop in without invitation. A short visit, a op of tea, and a slice of Anna's Siriezel is a much pleasanter way of keeping in touch than a telephone all or a letter. Tante Louise Stops in so often during the week when there is Napfkucben that Frau Müller will think twice before she orders it again. Onkel Otto always brings apples for the children when there are Nuss Kipferln. But he repeatedly asks them to leave the room so that he can tell one of his stories. If he scans on a story while the children are there, Frau Müller warns him “les enfants Stmt ici” which they all understand perfectly well, since they are studying French in school.
If guests have been formally invited, the whole character of the Jause changes. It becomes a sort of tea party for which there must be elaborate preparations. The children are sent away to have a Kinderjause in their own room, and of course one cannot possibly serve the Kugelbupf with the huge wedge cut out of it. The napkins normally saved in their monogrommed silver napkin rings, or in linen napkin cases cross-stitched by the daughters, are put aside, the tablecloth is changed, and there is no happy family Jausentunde that day.
But the Viennese know that they are always welcome to stop in unexpectedly at Jausenzeit at any friend's house; they time their errands so that they will be passing the Wohllebengasse just in time for Jause with the Müllers on Monday, and the Kantgasse for a little Jause with Frau Schmidt on Tuesday. As uninvited but nevertheless well-received guests they participate in the family Jause, The ladies keep on with their Handarbeit and the children play their games or do their lessons. The heel of the Striezel, for which everyone has been waiting, may be served, and everybody makes a wish on the last piece.
After the Jause the youngest children go to bed and everyone else has a little rest. The family hour is over. The Müllers have “Ge-jaused” with their loved ones, and for the fourth time that day they have eaten well.
Striezel (Coffee Braid)
Dissolve 1 envelope of yeast in 1/3 cup lukewarm water, add 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat in ¾ cup flour. Put the sponge in a warm place to rise for ½ hour.
Mix 3 ¾ cups flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 cup raisins, and ½ cup slivered almonds in a large warm bowl. Stir in ¼ cup milk and 3 eggs. Bear in ½ cup softened butter and the yeast sponge. Beat the mixture with the hand or with a strong beater until it forms a soft smooth dough that will not stick to hands or bowl. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch the dough down on a (loured board, return it to the bowl, and let it rest for ½ hour. Divide the dough into 3 parts and divide each part into 3 pieces of graduated size, so that you have 3 large uniform pieces, 3 medium, and 3 small. Roll the 3 large pieces into strips 20 inches long and braid them together with floured hands. Roll the 3 medium pieces into 18-inch strips and braid them. Paint the first braid with melted butter and lay the second braid on it. Roll the 3 small pieces into 15-inch strips, braid them, and lay them on the second braid. Place the Striezel on a baking sheet in a warm place and allow it to rise for about 1 hour. Brush the coffee braid with a mixture of 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water and bake it in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 1 hour. Dust with powdered sugar. Do not cut the Striezel for 12 to 24 hours.
Nuss Reindling(Nat Coil)
Make the dough for Striczel.
Knead 2/3 softened cup butter and 2 tablespoons flour to a smooth paste. After the Striezel dough has rested half an hour, roll it out ½ inch thick on a floured board. Spread the dough with the butter-and-flour paste. Fold in the left third and right third of the dough, making 3 layers. Roll it out again, rolling away from you. Give the dough a half turn, so that it lies the long way from left to right, and fold it again in 3 layers. This is a “turn.” Let the dough rest in a cool but not cold place for ½ hour. Repeat the “turns” twice more and let the dough stand in a cool place for 1 hour.
Roll the dough out into an oblong, brush it with 2 tablespoons melted butter, and spread it with I cup walnuts, chopped, ½ cup light brown' sugar, and ½ cup granulated sugar. Sprinkle the filling with a mixture of 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ cup powdered sugar and with 2 tablespoons melted butter and roll up the dough. Coil the roll in a spiral in a round 10-inch cake pan, with one end in the center, and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 1 hour. Dust the Nast Reindlig with sugar. Let it stand for at least 12 hours and slice thin to serve.
Bischofs-brot (Bishops' Bread)
Beat 6 egg yolks light and creamy with 2/3 cup sugar. Stir in 1 cup sifted flour and add ¾ cup almonds, blanched and slivered. ½ cup each of white and dark raisins. ¼ cup chopped candied citron, ¼ cup mixed chopped candied lemon and orange rind, and 6 ounces sweet cooking chocolate, cut into small cubes. Fold in 6 egg whites, beaten stiff. Pour the batter into a buttered and floured loaf pan and bake the cake in a slow oven (300° F.) for 1 hour. Let the cake stand for at least 24 hours and serve in very thin slices.
Kugelbupf
Dissolve 1 envelope of yeast in ¼ cup lukewarm water and add 2 tablespoons sugar. Put the cup in a warm place for ½ hour.
Sift 6 cups Hour into a warm howl. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup raisins, ¾ cup slivered almonds, and the grated rind of 1 lemon and toss these ingredients to combine them. Make a well in the center of the flour, pour in the yeast mixture, and stir. Incorporate as much flour into the liquid as possible. Stir 2 beaten eggs and ½ cup melted butter into the dough, continue to incorporate the flour, and work in gradually about 2 cups warm milk, to form a smooth dough. Dust the dough with flour, cover it with a warm towel, and let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours, or until it doubles in bulk.
Turn the dough out on a floured board, punch it down, and shape it quickly into a ring. Put the ring in a well-buttered 10-inch tube pan. Cover the pan and let the dough rise for 1 hour. Bake the Kugelbupf in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 1 hour. If the top browns too quickly, cover it with buttered paper. Dust the cake with powdered sugar and let it stand overnight before slicing.
For holiday breakfasts, bake Kugelbupf dough in well-buttered bread pans, slice the cake, toast it, and serve with butter and jam.
Sandtorte (Sand Cake)
Beat 8 eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1 ¼ cups sugar in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until the mixture is light, fluffy, and tripled in bulk. Remove the pan from the heat and continue beating until the mixture is cool. Fold in, little by little, 2 cups cake flour and ½ cup ground almonds. Add ½ cup melted butter, 1 ½ tablespoons dark rum or kirsch, and the grated rind of 1 lemon.
Line the bottom of a buttered 10-inch spring-form pan with buttered paper, pour in the batter, and bake the Torte in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until it tests done. Paint the warm Torte with melted butter and dust it with powdered sugar. Do not cut it for at least 24 hours, preferably for 3 or 4 days. Slice very thin to serve.
Gesundheitskuchen (Health Cake)
Beat 4 egg yolks light and creamy with 2/3 cup sugar. Add a pinch of salt and the grated rind of 1 lemon. Sift 2 ½ cups cake flour with 4 teaspoons baking powder. Stir the flour into the egg yolks alternately with 3 tablespoons heavy cream mixed with ½ cup milk. Add ½ cup floured raisins and fold in 4 egg whites, beaten stiff. Pour the batter into an 8-inch tube pan, buttered and dusted with ½ cup shaved almonds. Bake the cake in a moderate oven (350° F.) for 1 hour.
Nuss Kipferlu (Nut Crescents)
Dissolve 1 envelope of yeast in ¼ cup lukewarm water. Sift 4 cups cake flour, a pinch of salt, and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar onto a pastry board. Make a well in the center of the mound, put in 4 egg yolks, the yeast mixture, and ¼ cup warm milk and work the whole quickly into a firm dough. Utensils and ingredients should be warm. Grate the rind of 1 lemon over the dough and work it in. Flour the board lightly, roll the dough out ¼ inch thick, and CUE it into 2-inch squares. Cover the squares with a warm towel. This dough should not rise.
Mix 1 ½ cups equal parts of grated walnuts and almonds with 3 egg yolks. Boil 1 ¼ cups sugar with 5 tablespoons water until the syrup spins a thread from the end of a spoon (238° F. on the candy thermometer). Beat the syrup slowly into the nuts to make a dry paste. Place a spoonful of the paste on each square of dough, roll the square up diagonally, and shape the roll into a crescent. Bake the crescents on a well-buttered baking sheet in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 20 minutes. or until they are golden brown. Dust the hot cresoents with powdered sugar. Makes about 3 dozen.
Buchteln (Jam Pockets)
Dissolve 1 envelope of yeast in ¼ cup lukewarm water and add ¼ cup warm milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, and ½ cup flour. Let the sponge stand in a warm place till it rises and bubbles, about ½ hour.
Sift 3 cups flour into a warm bowl with ½ cup sugar. Make a well in the flour and put in it 3 egg yolks, ½ cup soft butter, and the yeast sponge. Sprinkle over the mound the grated rind of 1 lemon. Willi a wooden spoon, incorporate into the soft ingredients as much flour as possible and work the dough with the hand or a strong beater until it is smooth and glossy. Sprinkle in ½ cup more flour as you work, if necessary, to make a dough that can be handled. Cover the bowl with a warm cloth and let th dough rise in a warm place until i doubles in bulk.
Punch the dough down on a floured board and roll it out 1/3 inch thick Cut 3-inch squares with a floured knife and place on each square a generous teaspoonful of raspberry jam. Fold the 4 corners into the middle and pine the edges firmly together. Lay the Bucbteln, folded side down, side by side and touching each other in a generously buttered, deep 10-inch cake pan Brush each with melted butter as yo add it and pour a little more melted butter over the filled pan. Let the Buchteln rise in a warm place until they double in bulk. Bake in a moderate oven (350° F.) for about 25 minutes Turn the Buchteln out of the pan and serve hot.