Central Europe · Volume 19, The Court, the Coffeehouse and the Alps Underneath It
Backhendl
Vienna
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 45 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Vienna. Attested in Austrian cookbooks since 1699, the signature dish of the Biedermeier period, so central to the city's identity that the era briefly earned the nickname "Backhendlzeit". Traditionally jointed into only four pieces plus the neck as a fifth, organ meats served alongside, genuinely nose-to-tail.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 45 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, jointed into quarters, or 8 pieces
- 2 tbsp, for marinating vinegar, for marinating
- as for Wiener Schnitzel flour, beaten egg, fine breadcrumbs
- a generous depth, enough to shallow fry pork lard or Butterschmalz, for frying
- 4, to serve lemon wedges, to serve
Method
- Marinate the chicken pieces briefly in a little vinegar and water, then pat dry.
- Flour, egg and crumb each piece as for Wiener Schnitzel.
- Fry in hot lard or Butterschmalz until deep golden and cooked through, around 12 to 15 minutes, turning once.
- Drain, serve with lemon and, traditionally, Vogerlsalat (lamb's lettuce).
What a modern chef changes
A two-stage cook that solves fried chicken's oldest problem, crisp skin against a cooked-through interior, using kit built for exactly this job
Rung 1
Method
- Confit the jointed chicken in duck or pork fat at 80°C for 45 minutes before crumbing, cooling completely, rather than frying raw joints straight through. This fully cooks the meat gently first, removing the risk of a dark, overcooked crust masking an underdone interior, so the frying stage that follows exists only to build the crumb and colour, not to cook the chicken.
- Crumb and fry only once fully cold, using the same loose-crumb, water-misted method as the schnitzel above, at 175°C, for a much shorter finishing fry, 4 to 5 minutes, since the meat is already cooked.
- Serve the reserved confit fat, warmed, as a dressing base for the traditional Vogerlsalat, rather than discarding it, a direct nod to the nose-to-tail thinking that runs through this whole cuisine.