Chef Elsa
Dillfisolen
Tender Austrian green beans folded into a silky, dill-bright cream sauce built on a proper Einbrenn. The Gasthaus side dish that quietly steals the whole meal.
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Kohlrabi in Rahmsauce
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Young kohlrabi simmered until tender and folded into a light, nutmeg-scented Rahmsauce with fresh parsley, the quiet Austrian side dish that makes the roast on your plate make sense.
Side Dishes
Austrian
Weeknight
15 min
Active Time
25 min cook•40 min total
Yield4 servings
In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, I learned that Austrian cooking doesn't hide its vegetables behind complicated sauces. It respects them. Kohlrabi in Rahmsauce is a perfect example. You peel a kohlrabi, slice it thin, simmer it gently in a little stock, and finish it in a cream sauce so light it barely coats the spoon. That's the whole dish. The kohlrabi tastes like kohlrabi. The sauce is there to carry the flavor, not replace it.
Gretel always said this was the kind of cooking that separates a good Austrian kitchen from a careless one. The technique is an Einbrenn, the Austrian roux, made with butter and a little flour, loosened with stock and finished with cream. Every Austrian home cook knows how to make an Einbrenn. It's the base of half the vegetable dishes in the country, from Spinat to Fisolen to this kohlrabi. Get the Einbrenn right and you can dress any vegetable in the house.
I serve this at my restaurant in Salzburg alongside Tafelspitz and roast pork, but it's just as good next to a simple pan-fried cutlet on a Tuesday night. Look for young, small kohlrabi if you can find them. They should feel heavy for their size and the skin should be smooth, not woody. If the leaves are still attached and look fresh, that's a good sign. A woody kohlrabi will fight you no matter how long you cook it. A young one practically melts into the sauce.
Kohlrabi has been a staple of Austrian kitchen gardens since the 16th century, and cream-sauced vegetables built on an Einbrenn (the Austrian roux) form one of the foundational techniques of Viennese Bürgerliche Küche, the middle-class home cooking tradition. The technique appears in nearly every Austrian household cookbook from Katharina Prato's 1858 'Die Süddeutsche Küche' onward, always in the same form: sweat flour in butter, loosen with stock, finish with cream. The vegetable changes with the season, but the method stays the same.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
kohlrabi
Quantity
3 medium (about 800g total)
peeled and sliced into 5mm half-moons
unsalted butter
Quantity
30g
plain flour
Quantity
1 tablespoon
vegetable or light chicken stock
Quantity
300ml
heavy cream (Schlagobers)
Quantity
100ml
salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon
nutmeg
Quantity
pinch
freshly grated
white pepper
Quantity
pinch
lemon juice
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fresh flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| kohlrabipeeled and sliced into 5mm half-moons | 3 medium (about 800g total) |
| unsalted butter | 30g |
| plain flour | 1 tablespoon |
| vegetable or light chicken stock | 300ml |
| heavy cream (Schlagobers) | 100ml |
| salt | 1 teaspoon |
| nutmegfreshly grated | pinch |
| white pepper | pinch |
| lemon juice | 1 teaspoon |
| fresh flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped | 2 tablespoons |
Equipment Needed
- •Medium saucepan with lid (about 2-liter)
- •Sharp paring knife for peeling
- •Wooden spoon
- •Fine grater or Microplane for nutmeg
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the kohlrabi
Peel the kohlrabi with a sharp knife, not a vegetable peeler. The outer layer is tougher than it looks and a peeler will leave woody fibers behind. Cut each bulb in half, then slice into half-moons about five millimeters thick. You want them thin enough to cook through quickly but sturdy enough to hold their shape in the sauce. If any pieces are noticeably thicker than the rest, halve them. Uneven slices mean some will be mush while others are still crunchy.
If your kohlrabi came with fresh, bright leaves still attached, don't throw them away. Wash them, strip the stems, and chop the leaves roughly. Stir them into the sauce in the last minute of cooking. Austrians waste nothing from the garden. - 2
Simmer the kohlrabi
Place the sliced kohlrabi in a saucepan, pour over enough stock to just barely cover, and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cook uncovered for twelve to fifteen minutes until the slices are tender when pierced with a knife but still hold their shape. They should offer just a whisper of resistance at the center. Drain the kohlrabi, but save every drop of that cooking liquid. It's now kohlrabi stock and it's going into your sauce.
- 3
Build the Einbrenn
In the same saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. When it foams, add the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon for about one minute. You're making an Einbrenn, the Austrian roux. It should smell toasty and look like wet sand, pale gold, not brown. If it darkens too much, your sauce will taste heavy instead of clean. The point of this Einbrenn is to thicken the sauce just enough that it clings lightly to the kohlrabi, nothing more.
White pepper, not black. Austrian cream sauces use white pepper so you don't see dark specks in the finished sauce. It's a small thing, but it matters to the look of the dish. - 4
Finish the Rahmsauce
Gradually pour in about 200ml of the reserved kohlrabi cooking liquid, whisking constantly. The sauce will seize up at first, then loosen into a smooth, thin cream. Let it simmer for two to three minutes until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the heavy cream, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg, and the white pepper. Taste it. The sauce should be delicate, not rich. If it feels too thick, add another splash of the cooking liquid. You want silk, not paste.
- 5
Combine and serve
Return the kohlrabi slices to the sauce and fold them in gently. Let everything warm through together for a minute or two over low heat so the kohlrabi absorbs some of the sauce. Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir once. The lemon is quiet here, just enough to lift everything without announcing itself. Scatter the chopped parsley over the top and serve straight from the pan. This belongs next to a roast, a Schnitzel, or apiece of good bread with butter. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •Choose small to medium kohlrabi, no bigger than a tennis ball. The large ones develop a woody core that no amount of simmering will fix. If you press your thumbnail into the flesh and it resists, it's too old for this dish.
- •Grate the nutmeg fresh. Pre-ground nutmeg tastes like dust compared to the real thing. You need the smallest amount, three or four passes over a fine grater. Nutmeg should whisper in cream sauces, not shout.
- •Don't skip the lemon juice. It doesn't make the dish taste lemony. It balances the cream and keeps the sauce from tasting flat. Gretel always said a good Rahmsauce needs a little acid to wake it up, even if nobody can tell it's there.
- •This is best eaten the day you make it. The kohlrabi softens overnight and the sauce thickens as it cools, losing that light, silky quality. If you do have leftovers, reheat gently with a splash of stock to loosen things up.
Advance Preparation
- •The kohlrabi can be peeled and sliced up to a day ahead, stored in cold water in the fridge. Drain well before cooking.
- •The dish is best served fresh, but the simmered kohlrabi and reserved cooking liquid can be prepared a few hours ahead and the sauce finished just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 230g)
Calories
200 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
730 mg
Total Carbohydrates
13 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
4 g
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