Swiss cuisine

The Swiss cuisine combines influences from the German , French and northern Italian cuisine . However, it is regionally very different, with the language regions offering a kind of rough breakdown. However, many dishes have exceeded their local borders and are popular throughout Switzerland .

Regional distribution

German Switzerland

Hash browns

The so-called Rösti is an often used side dish in German-Swiss cuisine . The rösti is a flat flatbread made from grated, boiled ( boiled potatoes) or raw potatoes , baked in hot butter or fat in a pan , which is only bound by the starch contained in the potatoes.

Since the preparation of rösti is not part of traditional cuisine in western Switzerland , the border between German- and French-speaking Switzerland is often jokingly and ironically referred to as the Röstigraben .

The Glarner Pastete is a sweet pastry specialty from the Swiss canton of Glarus .

Appenzell

An Appenzell specialty is the beaver , a picture gingerbread that is pressed into a wooden model before baking. Also known are the Appenzeller cheese , the Appenzeller cheese flatbread that Appenzeller Siedwürste and Mostbröckli. The Appenzeller Alpenbitter and the Appenzeller Quöllfrisch beer are considered specialty drinks . Other drinks include Flauder , Wonder and Himml from the Appenzellerland.

Basel city

The best-known Basel dishes are Basel gruel soup , cheese flan (a flat cake with cheese and onions) and Carnival kiechli , all of which are traditionally served at Carnival, suuri Lääberli (sour, chopped liver ) and, as a dessert, Basler Läckerli .

Bern

Bernese plate

Bern contributes the hearty Bernese platter to Swiss cuisine , as does the dessert meringue , usually served with whipped cream. The traditional Zibelechueche belongs to the Zibelemärit . The distinctive feature of Bernese gingerbread is that it is prepared with hazelnuts . The sweet pastry Meitschibei is also made with hazelnuts .

Grisons

Graubünden nut cake

Typical Buendner dishes are Pizzoccheri (a stew of buckwheat noodles with various vegetables and cheese), Capuns (rolls from Mangold or Cos , filled with Spätzle) Maluns , Pizokels , Chur meat pie, the Birnbrot (a thin layer of dough filled with a mixture of dried fruit, nuts and bread dough) and the Bündner nut cake . Not to be forgotten are the Bündner barley soup (with bacon) and Plain in Pigna (a kind of rösti with bacon and sausage).

St. Gallen

The OLMA bratwurst comes from St. Gallen , the name is derived from the "Eastern Switzerland Agricultural and Dairy Exhibition" - today OLMA Swiss Exhibition for Agriculture and Food . Also known is the St. Galler Schüblig , also a sausage, and the St. Gallen bread . Ribel , a kind of porridge made from corn, which is prepared both sweet and salty, is also eaten in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley . As in neighboring Appenzell, the beaver is also known in St. Gallen . In addition, the almond fish is a well-known specialty , especially in the Fürstenland .

Central Switzerland

From Central Switzerland originate Älplermagronen (macaroni, potatoes, cheese, cream and roasted onions), different cheese dishes Lucerne Chügelipastete (a pie filled with forcemeat dumplings white in a sauce), stews as Hafenchabis and Stunggis and Zug cherry (with cherry and not with cherries ).

Zurich

The Zurich specialty is the Zürcher Geschnetzelte , veal, veal kidneys and mushrooms in a cream sauce, with hash browns. Also from Zurich comes from the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner in 1900 developed and known worldwide today Birchermüesli . The Zürcher Läckerli or Züriläckerli, which consist of an almond or nut mass, are less well known . At Christmas time there is Tirggel in Zurich , a dry honey cake that is baked in special picture molds.

French-speaking Switzerland

fondue

Cheese fondue , Valais raclette and cheese slices , which are now popular throughout Switzerland, come from French-speaking Switzerland . A kind of vegetable cake called cholera, made from potatoes, apples and cheese, for example, whose recipe is said to have been developed out of necessity during a cholera epidemic, also comes from the Valais .

In the area of Lake Geneva, Lake Neuchâtel and Lake Biel fish dishes are very popular, especially whitefish , perch and trout .

Various raw sausages, primarily made from pork , are popular throughout French-speaking Switzerland. They are sold under the name Saucisson and are either poached or cooked on vegetables. Lake Biel are in Brennkessel cooked Saucissons as Treberwurst offered.

In terms of desserts, the Gâteau du Vully (“Nidlechueche”) and the Moutarde de Bénichon , both of which have their origins in the canton of Friborg , should be mentioned.

Valais

Typical regional products of the canton of Valais are the round Valais rye bread , the lean, salted beef preserved by air drying, the Valais dried meat and the Valais saffron .

The Valais platter consists of thinly sliced Valais dried meat, Valais dry bacon and Valais raw ham made from pork, Valais dry sausage made from beef and pork, as well as Valais rye bread and Valais cheese ( semi-hard and / or sliced cheese ).

Another typical dish from the canton of Valais is the Gesottene (Valais German Gsottus ), which consists of air-dried and boiled Valais pork and beef, bacon and sausages and is served with sauerkraut or white cabbage and potatoes.

Typical wines are the Valais white wine Fendant and the Valais red wine Dôle . The Valais red wine varieties Durize and Eyholzer as well as the Valais white wine varieties Gletscherwein , Heida , Himbertscha , Lafnetscha , Mennas , Planscher and Resi are real rarities .

Ticino

polenta

Polenta comes from Ticino , a solid corn porridge that is traditionally mixed with cheese as a main course or as a side dish, as well as Marroni (sweet chestnuts), which are sold either roasted while hot on the roadside or as vermicelles (boiled ) throughout Switzerland during the winter months and sugared and then arranged spaghetti-like through a press) for dessert.

Division according to products

Meat specialties

Specialties that can only be produced in a mountain climate are Valais dried meat and Bündnerfleisch , air-dried Valais raw ham and Grisons raw ham as well as air-dried Valais dry bacon and air-dried Valais house sausage . Mostbröckli , smoked beef or horse meat seasoned with fermented apple juice, comes from eastern Switzerland . In the German-speaking cantons of northern Switzerland you can find the Schüblig , a hearty sausage. The cervelat is probably the most popular sausage in Switzerland.

Pastries

Confectionery and baked goods

Switzerland has a great tradition in the field of confectionery and chocolate production . German-speaking Switzerland tends to prefer milk chocolate and French-speaking Switzerland tends to prefer dark chocolate. Traditional Swiss chocolate is mostly in the form of a bar .

Typical bakery products are Nidelfladen and tart / cake / thinning / pancake / gateau, which are both sweet and salty prepared, a thin Mürbe- or puff pastry, which is baked with fruit or vegetables, and a cast eggs. Regional Swiss specialties are the Aargauer carrot cake (carrot cake) or the Zug cherry cake . Attention: Swiss cheesecake is not sweet, but salty: a flan without vegetables or fruits, only with a cheese and egg sauce, which often also contains chopped onions.

loaf

Switzerland has countless types of bread and even smaller bakeries usually offer a dozen of them. In French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland, white breads are preferred, in German-speaking Switzerland it is rather gray bread , which is mostly made with yeast . The Lucerne city doctor Hans Hartmann had already praised Zurich bread in the 15th century. Well-known types of bread that are available almost everywhere today are the crunchy Basel bread in long loaves, the round St. Gallen bread , the Ticino bread ("Tessinerli") with added oil, the "Luzerner Weggen" (a sourdough bread), the long-lasting, very dark Valais rye bread with sourdough and the "Züpfe" ( Bern German ) or the butter braid , a light braided bread made from lightly salted butter and yeast dough, which is usually eaten on Sundays. Most common in German-speaking Switzerland is Ruchbrot in regional variations of the mixed bread . Swiss bread has a significantly shorter shelf life than German bread, as it is usually not made with sourdough but with yeast. This fact also explains the fact that Swiss loaves of bread are significantly smaller than German loaves. "Walliser Roggenbrot" is the only bread in Switzerland to have a protected designation of origin (GUB, French appellation d'origine protégée, AOP ).

Wines and beers

Some high-quality wines are produced in Switzerland, but they are rarely exported. The best-known Swiss white wine is the Fendant and the best-known red wine is the Dôle , which come from the largest wine region in Switzerland. 40% of all wines produced in Switzerland come from the canton of Valais. Apart from Appenzell Innerrhoden and Uri , there are vineyards in every canton. In German-speaking Switzerland, beer is also a popular drink, although the Swiss lager is less hoppy than the German Pilsner.

coffee

Another typical drink is coffee with milk , half milk and half coffee, which can be drunk for breakfast. At other times, coffee is almost always made in restaurants and often at home with an espresso machine , with very small (ristretto), small (espresso) and larger cups of café crème (with coffee cream or gold bowl with milk) available. The typical Swiss espresso has a volume of around 50 ml.

cheese

Emmentaler

Of course, Swiss cheeses are also part of Swiss cuisine: the most popular in Switzerland is the Gruyère (or Gruyère) from the Vaudois Alps or from Friborg , which is available in mild and recent (strong) variants. In second place is the Emmentaler with large holes, which is made in huge loaves. Central Swiss Sbrinz , Bernese Alpkäse and Valais planed cheese are some of the extra-hard cheeses that are grated and sprinkled over the dishes or eaten in very thin slices. A cheese specialty from the Jura is the Tête de Moine (monk's head), so named because the rind is removed from the top of the cylindrical loaf, after which it is sliced into rosettes from top to bottom with a girolle . Vacherin Mont-d'Or , a fresh soft cheese, comes from French-speaking Switzerland . The Appenzeller cheese is particularly spicy, as he rubbed the tire with Sulz from wine, herbs and spices. The Glarner Schabziger , a hard cheese flavored with Schabzigerklee , is mainly used for seasoning.

Database

The database Culinary Heritage of Switzerland provides an overview of traditional Swiss cuisine .

Web links

Commons : Swiss cuisine - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Plain in Pigna

↑ htr.ch of February 19, 2009: A vegetable pie in the times of cholera ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 18, 2015

↑ Cholera - vegetable cake from Valais

↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: meat and sausage products

↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: Cervelat

^ Albert Pfiffner: Chocolate. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: Swiss chocolate

↑ www.schweizerbrot Brotsorten ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
^ Wolfgang Wegner: Hartmann, Hans, from Lucerne. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 537.
↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: confectionery and baked goods
↑ Specifications Valais rye bread. Federal Office for Agriculture FOAG, Quality and Sales Promotion Department, May 27, 2014.
↑ www.weinlandschweiz.ch
↑ Wines from Switzerland - quality without compromise , accessed on December 13, 2017
↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: drinks
↑ Gruyère ( Memento of the original dated August 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Agroscope @1@ 2
↑ www.schweizerkaese.ch Cheese range
^ Dominik Sauerländer, Anne-Marie Dubler : Cheese. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
↑ Switzerland's culinary heritage: cheese and dairy products

[1] Plain in Pigna