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.
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Kümmelsauce (Austrian Caraway Sauce)
Created by
The toasted caraway and garlic roux sauce that belongs next to every Schweinsbraten in Austria, built on a proper Einbrenn the way Viennese grandmothers have always made it.
Sauces & Condiments
Austrian
Weeknight
Comfort Food
5 min
Active Time
15 min cook•20 min total
Yield4 servings (approximately 400ml)
Every Austrian cook knows how to make an Einbrenn. It's the first thing you learn. Flour in fat, stirred over heat until it smells like toast, then liquid goes in and you whisk until it's smooth. That's it. That's the foundation of half the sauces in Austrian cooking. Kümmelsauce is what happens when you take that foundation and give it a soul.
The soul is caraway. Kümmel. Toasted in the fat before the flour goes in, so the seeds crack open and release that warm, earthy, slightly peppery smell that is, for me, the smell of Austria itself. Gretel always said you could blindfold her in any kitchen in the world and she'd know she was in Austria the moment someone toasted caraway seeds. I believe her. It's unmistakable.
In my grandmother Eva's kitchen in Kent, this sauce appeared every time pork was on the table. It wasn't fancy. It wasn't something you'd photograph. It was a small pot on the back of the stove, kept warm until the roast came out, then spooned over sliced Schweinsbraten with a pile of Knödel alongside. The sauce did two things at once: it carried the caraway flavor into every bite of pork, and it helped your stomach handle the richness. Austrians have known this for centuries. Caraway and pork belong together the way coffee belongs with a glass of water.
This is ten minutes of your time. Good butter, a handful of caraway seeds, garlic, flour, stock. You don't need a recipe to make it once you understand the Einbrenn principle, but I'd like to walk you through it properly the first time so you know what to look for, what to smell, and when it's right.
The Einbrenn, a cooked roux of fat and flour, is the backbone of Austrian sauce-making and has been documented in Viennese cookbooks since the 18th century. Caraway (Kümmel) has been cultivated in the Alpine regions for over a thousand years and became central to Austrian pork cookery not just for flavor but for its well-known digestive properties, helping the body process fatty meats. Kümmelsauce appears in virtually every Austrian Hausmannskost tradition, from Lower Austria's Gasthäuser to Styrian farmhouse kitchens, and Gretel Beer included it in her writings as one of the essential sauces any Austrian cook should master without thinking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
unsalted butter (or Schweineschmalz)
Quantity
40g
whole caraway seeds
Quantity
1 tablespoon
garlic
Quantity
2 cloves
finely minced
onion
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
plain flour
Quantity
30g
warm pork or beef stock
Quantity
400ml
salt
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
pinch
white wine vinegar or lemon juice
Quantity
1 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| unsalted butter (or Schweineschmalz) | 40g |
| whole caraway seeds | 1 tablespoon |
| garlicfinely minced | 2 cloves |
| onionfinely diced | 1 small |
| plain flour | 30g |
| warm pork or beef stock | 400ml |
| salt | to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | pinch |
| white wine vinegar or lemon juice | 1 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Small heavy-bottomed saucepan (1.5-liter)
- •Wooden spoon
- •Whisk
- •Fine-mesh sieve (if needed for straining)
Instructions
- 1
Toast the caraway
Melt the butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. When it foams, add the whole caraway seeds. Let them sizzle in the butter for about sixty seconds, swirling the pan gently. You'll hear them pop and crackle. The kitchen will fill with that warm, earthy, distinctly Austrian smell. This is the moment the sauce starts to become itself. Toasting the seeds in fat opens them up and releases their essential oils in a way that adding them later never achieves.
If you have Schweineschmalz (rendered pork fat), use it instead of butter. It's traditional and ties the sauce even more closely to the pork it's going to accompany. Butter is perfectly good if that's what you have. - 2
Cook the onion and garlic
Add the diced onion to the pan with the toasted caraway. Cook for two to three minutes, stirring often, until the onion turns translucent and soft. Don't let it brown. You want sweetness from the onion, not caramel. Add the minced garlic and stir for thirty seconds more, just until it's fragrant. Garlic burns fast in butter, so keep it moving.
- 3
Build the Einbrenn
Sprinkle the flour over the butter, onion, and caraway mixture. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. The flour will absorb the fat and form a paste. Keep stirring over medium heat for about two minutes. You want the raw flour smell to disappear and a light, biscuity, toasty aroma to take its place. The Einbrenn should turn a pale golden color, not dark. This is a light roux. If it goes brown, the sauce will taste heavy and lose the clean caraway flavor you're building.
Gretel always said the Einbrenn tells you when it's ready by smell, not by color. When it smells like toasted biscuits, move on. If it still smells like raw flour, give it another thirty seconds. - 4
Add the stock gradually
Remove the pan from the heat for a moment. Pour in about a third of the warm stock, whisking vigorously. It will seize up and look like a disaster. This is normal. Keep whisking. Once the first addition is smooth, return the pan to medium heat and add the remaining stock in two more additions, whisking after each one. The sauce will come together into a smooth, pourable consistency. Warm stock matters here. Cold liquid hitting a hot roux creates lumps that no amount of whisking will fix.
If you're making this alongside Schweinsbraten, use the pan juices from the roast in place of some of the stock. Strain them first. The sauce will taste like it was born to sit next to that pork, because it was. - 5
Simmer and finish
Let the sauce simmer gently for eight to ten minutes, stirring occasionally. It will thicken to the consistency of pouring cream and the flavors will meld together. The caraway will have softened slightly but should still have a gentle bite. Season with salt, a pinch of black pepper, and a teaspoon of white wine vinegar or a small squeeze of lemon. The acid is subtle but it lifts the whole sauce and cuts through the richness of whatever pork dish you're serving it with. Taste it. Adjust. If it's too thick, add a splash more stock. If it's too thin, let it simmer another two minutes.
- 6
Serve alongside pork
Pour the Kümmelsauce into a warm Sauciere or small jug and bring it to the table. Spoon it generously over sliced Schweinsbraten, alongside Semmelknödel or Erdäpfelknödel. This sauce is also beautiful with boiled beef tongue, roast pork belly, or simple pan-fried Koteletts. It keeps well for a few minutes on the back of the stove, but it's best served fresh and warm. Mahlzeit!
Chef Tips
- •Use whole caraway seeds, not ground. Ground caraway turns bitter when it hits hot fat, and you lose the texture that gives the sauce its character. Whole seeds toasted in butter are a completely different ingredient.
- •If your sauce has lumps despite your best whisking, pour it through a fine sieve and press it through with the back of a spoon. No one at the table will know. I've done it more times than I'd like to admit.
- •This sauce is meant to be light and pourable, not thick like a gravy. It should coat the back of a spoon but still run off in a steady stream. Austrians pour it over Knödel and sliced pork, and it needs to soak in, not sit on top like plaster.
- •Leftover Kümmelsauce reheats well with a splash of stock whisked in. It thickens as it cools, so you'll need to thin it back out.
Advance Preparation
- •Kümmelsauce can be made up to two hours ahead and kept warm in a covered pan over the lowest heat. Add a splash of stock before serving if it has thickened.
- •The sauce can be refrigerated for up to two days. Reheat gently with a little extra stock, whisking until smooth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 100g)
Calories
125 calories
Total Fat
9 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
22 mg
Sodium
500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
9 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
1 g
Protein
3 g
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