Fat Bomb

Location:Wolitzenhütte
Website:No web site
Address:St. Oswald 5, 9546 Bad Kleinkirchheim
Status:Open (last checked on 3 September 2021)
Eaten:Brettljause, three beers (Villacher Märzen)

#1 Brettljause in 2021The walk from the top station of the Brunnach cable car to the Wolitzenhütte is not difficult but quite lengthy and should not be attempted by anyone who is scared of cows. These beasts are everywhere. Today they were peaceful enough, though one decided to follow me for almost half an hour before turning away for some urgent cow business. Reaching the hut does give you a strange sense of achievement, however. It is 500 years old and really looks that age. There is no printed menu; the beer bottles are kept cold by storing them in a long wooden bowl that cows normally drink from; and everything around shouts “basic” and “authentic.” (That is until you notice quite a few cars parked nearby and realize that the hut is easily accessible via a narrow road from the opposite side.)

The hut’s Brettljause is as authentic as it can get, but far from basic. By the look of it, it reminded me of the rich Brettljausen of the mountainous parts of Styria, but the presence of the “Glundner” cheese clearly identified it as Carinthian. This cheese does not have an appetizing appearance and tends to quickly glue itself to the wooden board, but when spread on the bread together with a lot butter, it is much more enjoyable as, let’s say, Tyrolean Graukas. Its taste is almost “normal,” while it is apparently quite healthy because of the low amount of fat it contains.

The rest of the Brettljause was a fat bomb, however. It had two thick slices of fat-rich salami, for example, and a hard Hauswurst that was at least 30% fat. One of the provided Specks had a fat layer of almost two centimeters wide, while the second was basically pure fat with some thin strips of meat inside. I tried eating the Speck with the fat, and the taste was fantastic, but after a few slices got too full and had to start cutting it off. I could not remove the fat from the Verhackertes spread, of course, but fortunately there was not too much of it, and the taste was just right.

I liked the other provided cheese, too. While not excessively strong, it was still strong enough to have a distinct taste. There were two minor disappointments, however. The second, “vegetarian” type of spread looked like something made out of eggs with spices, but turned out to be a simple cottage cheese with a slightly sour flavor. Besides, the slices of the “farmer bread” were not particularly fresh and were cut so thinly that they nearly “self-destructed” at the first attempt of spreading anything over them.

The meats and the cheeses were superb, on the other hand. Had I been I younger, I would have finished the Brettlause easily and happily and appreciated every piece of it. In my “advanced” age, however, I had to leave some of the stuff unfinished, and more than once thought that some green stuff would have made the Jause better. Vegetables were represented by a pickled cucumber and a very lonely radish, and this lack of greens made the Brettljause even heavier. I feel it was one of the best (if not the best) Brettljausen I had this year, but the amount of fat was slightly worrying.

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