Trześniewski Brötchen (Viennese Mini Open-Faced Sandwiches)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp bread knife
• •Small palette knife or butter knife for spreading
• •Wooden serving board
• •Small glasses for Pfiff pours (125ml)

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the bread

   Slice the dark rye bread about seven millimeters thick. You want it thin enough to eat in two bites but sturdy enough to hold a spread without bending. Cut each slice into rectangles roughly eight centimeters by four. If your loaf is round, trim the crusts to get clean edges and eat the offcuts yourself. Line the rectangles up on a board and cover with a damp cloth while you work on the spreads. Schwarzbrot dries out fast and a dry Brötchen is a sad thing.

   Look for a proper dark rye at a German or Eastern European bakery. You want bread that's dense and slightly sour, not the soft, sweet 'pumpernickel' sold in plastic trays. Real Schwarzbrot has heft. If you pick up the loaf and it feels light, it's the wrong bread.
2. 2

   Make the Eiaufstrich

   Lower the eggs into boiling water and cook for exactly ten minutes. Transfer to ice water immediately. This gives you a yolk that's fully set but still bright and creamy, not chalky with that grey-green ring. Peel and chop the eggs finely. You want a mince, not a mash. Mix with the mayonnaise, mustard, minced onion, and half the chives. Season with salt and white pepper. White pepper because you don't want black specks in a golden spread. The consistency should hold its shape on a spoon. If it's too loose, you've added too much mayonnaise.

   Gretel always said the onion in Eiaufstrich should be invisible but essential. Mince it so finely it dissolves into the spread. If someone bites into a chunk of raw onion, you've minced too coarsely.
3. 3

   Make the Liptauer

   Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until completely smooth. This is the base, and it needs to be silky. Add the sweet paprika, sharp paprika if you want warmth, chopped capers, crushed caraway seeds, and finely minced onion. Mix thoroughly. The color should be a warm, earthy orange from the paprika, not a timid peach. Taste it. Liptauer wants to be assertive. Add salt if needed. Let it rest in the fridge for at least thirty minutes so the flavors have time to find each other.

   Liptauer is one of those dishes where the Hungarian roots of Austrian cooking are right on the surface. The original comes from Liptov in Slovakia and traveled to Vienna through the empire. Use genuine Hungarian paprika, not the decorative dust that sits in most spice racks for three years. Good paprika smells like sweet peppers and stains your fingers.
4. 4

   Make the Heringsaufstrich

   Pat the herring fillets dry with kitchen paper. Chop them finely, then mash with a fork until they break down into a rough paste. Work in the softened butter, sour cream, minced shallot, and lemon juice. You're looking for a spread that's smooth enough to hold on bread but still has texture. Season with white pepper. Go easy on salt because the herring brings its own. The finished spread should taste of the sea, not of salt.

   Matjes herring is the traditional choice. These are young herring fillets cured in a mild brine, tender and less aggressively salty than rollmops or pickled herring. Find them at Scandinavian or Eastern European shops, or in jars at well-stocked supermarkets. If you can only find pickled herring, soak the fillets in milk for an hour to pull out excess salt before chopping.
5. 5

   Make the Speckaufstrich

   If using Speck, trim any rind and cut into small pieces. If using smoked bacon, cook it in a dry pan over medium heat until the fat renders and the edges crisp, then drain on kitchen paper and let it cool. Either way, chop the meat as finely as you can manage, then blend or mash it with the cream cheese, sour cream, grated horseradish, and diced gherkin. The spread should be chunky and smoky, with a sharp kick from the horseradish that clears the back of your nose.

   Tyrolean Speck is cold-smoked and air-dried, which means you can use it straight without cooking. It has a deeper, more complex flavor than regular bacon. If you can find it, use it. It's worth the search.
6. 6

   Make the Forellenaufstrich

   Flake the smoked trout into a bowl, running your fingers through it to check for any small bones. Mash it with a fork, then work in the cream cheese, sour cream, lemon juice, and chopped dill. Season with black pepper. This spread should be the lightest of the five, pink and flecked with green, with a clean smoky flavor that finishes with citrus. Don't over-process it. A few visible flakes of trout are a good thing.

7. 7

   Assemble the Brötchen

   Uncover the bread rectangles. Spread each one generously with your chosen Aufstrich, using a small palette knife or butter knife to create a smooth, slightly domed surface. The spread should cover the bread completely, edge to edge, with no bare patches showing. At Trześniewski, every Brötchen is a perfect little canvas. Top each one simply: a few chive tips on the Eiaufstrich, a light dusting of paprika on the Liptauer, a tiny dill sprig on the herring and the trout, a thin cornichon half laid lengthwise on the Speck. A single thin radish slice works on any of them. Don't overload the garnish. These are small bites. Restraint matters.

   Arrange them on a wooden board in rows, grouped by spread, so your guests can see the full selection at a glance. Five rows, six Brötchen each. The visual impact when you bring out thirty of these is worth the work.
8. 8

   Serve with a Pfiff

   Serve the Brötchen at cool room temperature. Not fridge-cold, because the spreads seize up and lose their flavor. Set them out fifteen minutes before your guests arrive. If you want to do this properly, pour Pfiff-sized beers: fill small glasses about one-third full with a light Austrian lager. A Pfiff is an eighth of a liter, barely more than a few mouthfuls. The idea is one small beer per sandwich, so nobody's glass gets warm. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •Make all five spreads the day before. Every single one of them improves overnight as the flavors settle and deepen. Pull them out of the fridge thirty minutes before assembling so they soften enough to spread cleanly.
• •The bread matters as much as the spreads. Austrian Schwarzbrot has a dense crumb and slight sourness that stands up to strong flavors. If you substitute a lighter bread, the spreads will overwhelm it and the whole balance falls apart.
• •Keep the Brötchen small. The temptation is to make them bigger so people feel like they're getting a real sandwich. Resist this. The beauty of Trześniewski is that each one is two bites of something different. Size is the discipline. You eat six varieties, not one big sandwich, and that's the whole experience.
• •A Pfiff of beer is not optional, it's part of the dish. A small pour of something light and cold between each Brötchen resets your palate. If you don't have Austrian beer, any clean pilsner works. No IPAs. The hops would fight the herring and everyone loses.

Advance Preparation

• •All five spreads can and should be made one day ahead. Store covered in the fridge. The flavors develop overnight.
• •Bread can be sliced and cut into rectangles up to four hours ahead, covered with a damp cloth and stored at room temperature.
• •Assemble the Brötchen no more than one hour before serving. The bread absorbs moisture from the spreads if they sit too long, and nobody wants a soggy Brötchen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)