Chef Elsa
Apfelkren
Freshly grated horseradish folded with tart apple and lemon, the cold, sharp sauce that belongs beside every plate of Tafelspitz in Vienna and has done for as long as anyone can remember.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Dillsauce (Austrian Dill Cream Sauce)
Created by
A silky butter roux sauce finished with beef broth, cream, and handfuls of fresh dill, the way every Viennese grandmother serves it alongside Tafelspitz on Sunday.
Sauces & Condiments
Austrian
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
10 min
Active Time
15 min cook•25 min total
Yield4 servings (approximately 400ml)
In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, Dillsauce was the sauce that appeared whenever Gretel brought over a piece of good beef for simmering. It wasn't written down for years. Gretel would stand at the stove, melt the butter, stir in the flour, and pour in the broth she'd just ladled from the beef pot. A splash of cream, a fistful of dill, a squeeze of lemon, done. The whole thing took ten minutes. I'd watch the sauce go from pale blonde to something silky and fragrant, clinging to the back of the spoon, and I'd think: that's what dinner smells like.
Dillsauce belongs to the family of Einbrenn sauces that form the backbone of Austrian home cooking. An Einbrenn is just a roux, butter and flour cooked together, but in Vienna they built an entire world of sauces on that simple base. Dillsauce, Schnittlauchsauce, Semmelkrensauce. Each one a different herb or flavor stirred into the same reliable foundation. The technique is the same every time. Once you learn it, you can make any of them.
What makes Dillsauce special is how much work the dill does. It's not a background note. It's the whole personality of the sauce. You need fresh dill, and you need a lot of it. Dried dill in this sauce is like putting instant coffee in a Melange. You'll taste the difference, and not in a good way. Buy the freshest bunch you can find, chop it at the last moment, and stir it in just before serving so the heat wakes up the oils without cooking them out.
Dillsauce is part of the Viennese Rindfleischküche, the boiled beef tradition that reached its height in the 19th century when Viennese menus listed a dozen or more cuts of simmered beef, each served with its own specific sauce. The tradition of pairing boiled beef with roux-based herb sauces reflects the practical Austrian instinct of using the cooking broth itself as the sauce's foundation. Gretel Beer documented this tradition carefully, noting that a proper Viennese Beisl would offer three or four sauces alongside a single plate of Tafelspitz, and the diner was expected to try them all.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
plain flour
Quantity
30g
good beef stock
Quantity
300ml
warm
heavy cream (Schlagobers)
Quantity
100ml
fresh dill
Quantity
1 large bunch (about 30g)
finely chopped
white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon
granulated sugar
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
salt
Quantity
to taste
white pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| plain flour | 30g |
| good beef stockwarm | 300ml |
| heavy cream (Schlagobers) | 100ml |
| fresh dillfinely chopped | 1 large bunch (about 30g) |
| white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice | 1 tablespoon |
| granulated sugar | 1/2 teaspoon |
| salt | to taste |
| white pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy-bottomed saucepan (1.5-liter)
- •Wooden spoon
- •Whisk
- •Warm sauceboat for serving
Instructions
- 1
Make the Einbrenn
Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. When it foams, add the flour all at once and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. You're making an Einbrenn, the Austrian roux that's the foundation of half the sauces in Viennese cooking. Cook the flour and butter together for about two minutes, stirring the whole time. You want it to turn a pale straw color and smell faintly nutty, but not brown. The moment it starts to darken beyond that, your heat is too high. Pull the pan off the burner and keep stirring.
The Einbrenn is where the sauce gets its body. If you rush it or undercook the flour, the sauce will taste raw and starchy. Two minutes of steady stirring. That's all it takes to cook the flour through. - 2
Add the stock gradually
Remove the pan from the heat for a moment and pour in about a third of the warm beef stock, whisking vigorously. It will seize up and thicken immediately. That's normal. Keep whisking until the paste loosens into a smooth, thick sauce with no lumps. Return to medium heat and add the remaining stock in two more additions, whisking each time until smooth before adding the next. The stock must be warm, not cold. Cold liquid hitting a hot roux shocks the flour and gives you lumps that no amount of whisking will fix.
If you're making this alongside Tafelspitz, use the broth from the beef pot. It gives the sauce a depth that store-bought stock can't match, and it ties the whole plate together. Gretel always said the best sauces come from the same pot as the meat. - 3
Simmer until smooth
Let the sauce simmer gently for five to six minutes, stirring often. It should thicken to the consistency of pouring cream, coating the back of your spoon in a clean line when you draw your finger through it. If it's too thick, add a splash more stock. If it's thin and watery, simmer it a little longer. The sauce will continue to thicken slightly as it cools, so pull it just before you think it's perfect.
- 4
Finish with cream and seasoning
Stir in the cream and let the sauce return to a gentle simmer for one minute. Add the vinegar or lemon juice and the sugar. The acid is not there to make the sauce sour. It's there to wake it up and balance the richness of the butter and cream. The sugar rounds off the acidity. Season with salt and white pepper. White pepper because you don't want black specks in this pale, elegant sauce.
- 5
Add the dill and serve
Take the sauce off the heat. Stir in the chopped fresh dill. All of it. If you look at the amount and think it's too much, it's probably just right. The dill goes in off the heat because you want the warmth to release its fragrance without cooking it down to nothing. Thirty seconds on a hot burner and dill loses its personality. Taste, adjust the salt if needed, and pour into a warm sauceboat. Serve immediately alongside Tafelspitz, poached beef, or a piece of gently cooked fish. Mahlzeit!
Chop your dill at the very last minute. The oils that give dill its flavor are volatile, and they start fading the moment the knife hits the herb. A sharp knife helps too. Bruised dill turns dark and bitter.
Chef Tips
- •The quality of your stock is everything here. This sauce has four real ingredients, and the stock is doing most of the talking. If you're using store-bought, choose one with a clean flavor and no added sweetness. If you've just made Tafelspitz, you already have the best possible stock sitting in your pot.
- •Buy your dill the day you make this, or at most the day before. Dill wilts and loses its flavor faster than almost any herb. If the bunch in your hand looks limp and tired, it will taste limp and tired in the sauce.
- •Viennese cooks traditionally serve Dillsauce in a separate warm Sauciere (sauceboat) so each person can pour as much or as little as they want. It's not ladled over the meat in the kitchen. The diner controls their own plate. That's the Austrian way.
Advance Preparation
- •The Einbrenn can be made and the stock added up to two hours ahead. Let it sit covered off the heat. Reheat gently, add the cream and seasoning, then stir in the dill just before serving.
- •Do not add the dill in advance. It must go in at the last moment or you lose exactly the thing that makes this sauce worth making.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 110g)
Calories
200 calories
Total Fat
17 g
Saturated Fat
11 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
55 mg
Sodium
525 mg
Total Carbohydrates
8 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Austrian Sauces & Condiments
Browse the full collection
Chef Elsa
Bratensaft (Austrian Roast Pork Jus)
The clear, caraway-scented pan jus you pour over Schweinsbraten and Knödel, built from nothing but good pork drippings, honest stock, and the patience to let a roasting pan tell you everything it knows.
Chef Elsa
Eingemachtes Gemüse (Austrian Pickled Vegetables)
Crisp cauliflower, sweet carrots, and bright peppers in a spiced sweet-sour brine with mustard seeds, the jar you open first when the Brettljause comes out and the last one you put away.
Chef Elsa
Estragonsenf
Austria's sharp, herbal tarragon mustard, the golden-green condiment that belongs next to every sausage, every Brettljause board, and every cold cut platter you'll ever serve.