A Handmade Jause

Location:Weinbauernhof Diem
Website:http://www.weinbauernhof-diem.at/HEURIGER/heuriger.html
Address:Maulavern Kellergasse, 2051 Zellerndorf
Status:Open (last checked on 16 January 2016)
Eaten:“Maulavern Jause,” ¼ Welschriesling, ¼ Zweigelt

Here is transparency in action: while sitting at a table in this tiny and, frankly, not particularly cozy Heuriger, you face the kitchen, where all the magic of preparing your special Jause is taking place. And it’s not an especially pretty sight, involving quite a lot of opening and closing of the refrigerator’s door and carefully arranging slices of sausage by hand. It’s a painfully slow process, too, involving two people. I want to think it was the fact that I was the only customer – apart from an old local, who was only drinking – that motivated the owners to prepare a masterpiece.

If they really wanted to spend so much time, I wish they had asked me in advance, what kind of spreads I preferred, because the liver one they served tested the boundaries of my liver taste tolerance. Had they been interested, I would have also told them that I really dislike finding pieces of cartilage and having to remove them from my Speck and Schweinsbraten.

This is about all the negative stuff I can say about the Diem’s Jause. On the variety front, it is up there with the best, containing two types of spread (the second one being a Liptauer), a few slices of cheese, and plenty of meats: Speck, Schweinsbraten, blood sausage, salami, pork jelly, Surbraten, Geselchtes, and Kümmelbraten (if I remember it right). Everything is very well presented, with a bit of onion and paprika here and there, though, sadly, no horseradish. At 5 Euro without bread the Jause is a complete steal, and the bread was so fresh and varied, that it was certainly worth the extra couple of coins. Diem’s wines are also very good and surprisingly cheap.

Most of the meats tasted great, though all of them were from pork, while the Heuriger’s main specialty is Angus beef. Unfortunately, I had neither time nor appetite to try their special beef sausages. The cold Schweinsbraten were the weakest of the bunch, and one or two sorts of sausage tasted too much of “storage” (very difficult to explain, but one feels it immediately if something has been in the fridge for too long). Still, this Jause was a nice diversion from the supermarket-originated stuff I have been recently facing in Vienna. Besides, Zellerndorf is very conveniently reachable from Vienna by train, so, especially in summer, one can experience a quality Brettljause as a pleasant half-day trip.

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