| Location: | Edelrautehütte |
| Website: | https://www.edelrautehütte.at/ |
| Address: | Edelrautestraße 5, 8785 Hohentauern |
| Status: | Open (last checked on 4 September 2025) |
| Eaten: | Brettljause, a bottle of beer (Gösser Märzen) |
As I’ve written many times, an easy way to improve a Brettljause is to cut its ingredients – whether cheeses or meats – thickly. Not only are thicker slices juicier and generally have stronger flavors, but they also look more authentic, similar to those in the “Land der Berge” documentaries they keep on showing on ORF III.
However, there are exceptions, and the lovely Edelrautehütte in Hohentauern (a rather remote location I have always wanted to visit) is a case in point. Edelrautehütte’s thick slices of Speck, Geselchtes, cheese, Hauswurst and Speck may look good on a photo, but they were a real pain to finish. And the problem was not only that I had been provided with a rather useless butter knife that struggled to cut even through cheese, to say nothing of a hard Speck, but also that the dish was too big and ultimately very boring. Lacking any strong taste, such a Brettljause might be welcome by hungry alpinists who had been busy climbing peaks since 4am, but it tasted far too plain for someone like me, whose only physical activity today was a 15-minute walk uphill from the car park.
I do understand that my disappointment in this Brettljause was at least partly my own fault, but frankly, the cook could have improved the dish with a tiniest bit of imagination. And/or fresher ingredients, perhaps. At the end, the highlight of the Brettljause for me was the Steierkas, which is, in case you don’t know, a kind of gray powder that reminds you of a cow with every bite. This “cheese” indeed tasted strong and was memorable.
Despite its easy reachability, Edelrautehütte is a real mountain hut, providing sleeping places for hikers. Frankly speaking, such huts do not have to offer top-quality gourmet dishes as long as those are filling. Nevertheless, I have lunched at huts with much more exciting food. But don’t take me wrong, Edelrautehütte is not bad at all. Its location in not especially touristic Styrian Alps is tranquil, and the nearby Scheibelsee is very picturesque. Visit this hut for the surrounding nature, but not for its Brettljause.