Kurbis Krazy OR 1001 Ways to Make Cream of Squash Soup

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Europeans take the concept of eating “seasonally” to new heights. In May, I blogged from Berlin about the white asparagus that were on every menu and at every corner vegetable stand. Last week I biked through the fields of Austria’s wine country and gaped at rows of pumpkins stretching as far as the eye could see.  Hotel Althof Retz, the medieval castle-turned-hotel where my husband, friends Chuck and Lu Landers, and I stayed for three nights even trimmed all its walkways with small squashes and had a picturesque pile of them in the entrance hof  (courtyard).

This is, indeed, kurbis country. The word refers primarily to pumpkins, but also to butternut squash and every other shape of the dense, bright orange-fleshed veggie with the plump, meaty seeds.

Around Retz, Austria, a primary town in NiederOsterreich (Lower Austria)’s wine country, vineyards packed with chardonnay, pinot noir and zweigelt grapes share space with fields covered with corn, sunflowers, potatoes, turnips and beets. But the superstar, at least at this time of year, is the squash.

 And there isn’t a restaurant, café, konditorei (pastry-and-coffee shop), or heuriger (casual eatery serving the owner’s own wine) that doesn’t pride itself on its kurbiskremesuppe, cream of squash soup.

For five days, we fueled our 60K rides through the fields and forests with kurbiscremesuppe for lunch every day. (OK, OK, so we had hot dogs, goulash soup and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, too.)

Taste one cream of squash soup, you’ve tasted them all, you say.

Not so.

Every soup  had its own personality, its own little “grace notes.” Sure, each was basically pureed squash and beef broth. But the choice of squash made a huge difference in taste, and the use of fresh herbs, pumpkin seed oil, tiny croutons, or whipped cream, (this IS Austria, after all) turned each potage into a memorable meal.

I continued my squash-soup-a-day quest when we arrived in Vienna and found it on virtually every menu, from museum cafes and Demel (one of the world’s best known pastry shops) to a trendy wine café and a rustic wooden villa in the Vienna Woods.

We kept a running tab of the winners. The unanimous Number One was at a typical gasthaus (restaurant with a half dozen rooms for overnight guests) in the weensy wine country town of Zellerndorf. Called Retzerlandhof, it’s owned and operated by the Graf family. We pulled in for lunch at about 3 p.m., after some three hours of riding in fields and vineyards wondering if we’d ever see civilization again.

Frankly, I would have been thrilled with a bowl of Campbell’s Tomato Soup. Instead, I was treated to kurbiskremesuppe that was a masterful mingling of flavors, textures and aromas. The not-too-sweet pumpkin puree was embellished with a puffy cloud of whipped cream sprinkled with finely chopped toasted pumpkin seeds and minced parsley, and a cluster of tiny,  buttery, crusty croutons.

Our group agreed on the first runner-up, too --  a striking presentation involving whole toasted seeds, whipped cream, chopped nuts and fresh herbs and a stylish swirl of toasted pumpkin seed oil. (Pictured above, left.)  It was served at the Oberlaa Konditorei near Vienna”s Museum Quarter. (Oberlaa is a small chain that bills itself as a “Kur” Konditorei, meaning Cure or Spa konditorei. I don’t quite see how Cure or Spa jibes with mile-high custard pastries and soups piled with whipped cream, but I’m certainly not complaining.

Singling (or doubling) out these two sensational soups really isn’t fair to the other dozen that I’ve enjoyed. But since it’s almost lunch time (and there are so many more kurbiscremesuppen to taste), I’ll just share one more photo of a delicious  squash discovery. At left is the slightly spicy kurbiskremesuppesoup drizzled with pumpkin and sunflower seed oils and served in a hollowed out pumpkin at Villa Aurora on the outskirts of Vienna city.

 

Comments

[Martha]

Oh, we love this soup in all its variations. Recently we traveled to visit famiy in Germany and enjoyed it at three homes.
Each one was unique and yummy.

[Maureen Clancy]

It's unbelievable how a soup with basically the same ingredients can taste so different in the hands of a different cook! I was in a restaurant last night for the first time since we returned to the US. The special soup of the day: Butternut Squash Cream Soup! With bits of chestnut and pancetta! Truly an international favorite.