Monday in Ramsau is not a good day for Brettljhause-searching, because quite a few potential locations are closed after the weekend. Monday the 13th of October is an even worse day, because most of the remaining places are closed because of the off-season, big “Betriebsurlaub” posters decorating almost every door.
This unfortunate fact brought me to the town of Radstadt, which while being officially in Salzburgerland, has not forgotten its Styrian roots and proudly prepares and serves a “Steirerjaus’n” to whoever asks for it on a gloomy mid-October day. And they do it well, too. In fact, they do it so well, that were there a book called “How to make a Brettljause,” the Stegerbräu’s team could very well contribute an article, if not an entire chapter. Their Jause had just the right size – not too big to make one sick, but bigger than average, – and the perfect number of ingredients: six. These included Geselchtes (tasting like slightly tough ham), Karreespeck, Schweinsbraten, Verhackertes (which I would have called Schmalz had I not read the menu), some bitter cheese and another type of less tasty cheese full of holes and sunflower seeds. All that came with a generous amount of picked cucumbers and butter as well as an almost full egg and three smallish slices of forgettable bread. All the meats, the Verhackertes especially (if it can be called meat at all) were of excellent quality, and the strong cheese was quite welcome, too. The sunflower cheese was more unusual than exciting, but in retrospective it was the sole most original thing on the Brettl. You see, sometimes you do not want things to be absolutely perfect; after all, you know what a very good combination of ingredients could be, and you want restaurants to surprise you rather than exactly meet your possibly high expectations. That is the problem with Stegerbräu: if anything, they made the Brettljause too well, and as a result, it lacked a bit of heart (not literally, of course) to make it special.
On my way to the railway station I passed by a butcher shop offering its own “Farmer’s autumn Brettljause.” I regretted I did not go there instead. Perhaps the pointless town of Radstadt deserves another visit…
Leave a Reply