Grammelpogatscherl

On our summer trips through Austria, Gretel and my grandmother Eva always made sure we stopped in Burgenland. Not just for the wine, though the wine was reason enough. For the food at the Heurigen. Those vine-covered terraces where the winemaker's wife would bring out boards of cured meats, fresh horseradish, dark bread, and always, always a basket of Pogatscherl still warm from the oven. I remember tearing one open and seeing the little golden flecks of Grammeln, the rendered pork cracklings, baked right into the dough. Gretel always said Burgenland understood something the rest of Austria sometimes forgot: the simplest food, made with the best ingredients, needs nothing else.

Grammelpogatscherl are small yeast pastries, round and plump, with a soft crumb shot through with crispy bits of pork crackling and a good hit of black pepper. The name comes from Hungarian, pogácsa, because Burgenland spent centuries as part of Hungary and the cooking shows it. You find these at every Heuriger and Buschenschank in the region, served in baskets alongside cold cuts and pickled vegetables, meant to be eaten with your hands while you drink the local wine.

The dough is straightforward. Flour, yeast, milk, a little lard or butter, an egg. You fold the chopped Grammeln through the risen dough so they're distributed evenly, then cut rounds, brush with egg wash, and bake until golden. The cracklings render slightly in the oven, leaving little pockets of savory richness through the soft bread. The smell that comes out of your kitchen will make everyone in the house appear without being called.

I serve these at my restaurant in Salzburg when we do Heuriger evenings. A warm basket on every table, sour cream in an earthenware crock, a glass of Veltliner. That's Gemütlichkeit. That's good Austrian home cooking at its most honest.