I am not sure if comparing South Tyrolean Marende with Austrian Brettljausen is actually fair: after all, a typical Marende has only three ingredients, making it lose straight away on the variety rating. On the other hand, one of the best Brettljausen I have ever had was served to me in South Tyrol and was called a Marende, and it was more varied that most Brettljausen around.
The Brettl at the Kuhleitenhütte beats even the typical Marende’s meager variety standards: it has only two ingredients, Speck and cheese, featured as two thickly cut pieces each. At least the name of the dish truthfully reflects its essence. Apart from that, the Brettl contained only a small slice of a tomato with some creamy horseradish on its top and a pickled cucumber.
Writing more about this Brettljause would be unfair to all the other Brettljausen that have required much more effort to produce. I will just add that thickly cut Speck – at least in the case of South Tyrolean Speck – is much less pleasant to eat than a thinly cut one. The taste of the cheese was negligible.
I understand that people do not go to the Kuhleitenhütte for the sake of eating a Brettljause; they come for the view from 2361 meters, which is truly very beautiful. My recommendation would be: if you are hungry after climbing that high, order something else. Or bring your own food.
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