Over a glass of Zitronenlikör … with Katharina Seiser
For this edition of our series "Over a Glass with …" we are delighted to sit down for an interview with Katharina Seiser. The Austrian food journalist (www.esskultur.at) and cookbook author lives in Vienna and has been writing about food since 2001. To date she has published 17 cookbooks as author, co-author and editor, among them several bestsellers such as "immer schon vegan" (10th edition 2021), its follow-up "immer wieder vegan" (2nd edition 2021), published in autumn 2020, and "österreich vegetarisch" (8th edition 2021) – many of them recognised with cookbook awards.
Farthofer: What we have in common is a passion for rare, flavourful varieties and the joy of preparing them. You have sourced rum, gin, Mostello and most recently grain rice from us on several occasions, experimenting with them in your kitchen – for example, cabbage rolls with emmer rice and chestnut filling and a preserved-lemon celeriac sauce, or Buchteln with canary milk made with our rum. Something that particularly caught your attention recently was our Zitronenlikör, for which we source organic lemons from Sicily. Lemons and you. Tell us about this very specific love affair.
Seiser: I can't quite pinpoint the origin of my love of citrus, but I have loved it since childhood. For me, there is no more uplifting scent than that of the more "sour" or bitter citrus peel – lemon or Meyer lemon, yuzu, grapefruit or bitter orange. I love the aromas of these zests, the grated rind, and the acidity, fruitiness and occasional bitterness of their juice. When, about a decade ago, I had the chance to discover the citrus collection at the Austrian Federal Gardens in Schönbrunn and have since been able to work with it in tastings and workshops on many occasions, I was well and truly in citrus heaven. In my kitchen, outside of high summer when there is truly no season for it, there is barely a meal without citrus. And even in summer I am lucky enough to always have my jar of preserved lemons in the fridge – which, incidentally, go particularly well with grilled, skinned peppers. And there is always a piece of candied bitter orange or Meyer lemon peel to go with the espresso somewhere in our pantry.
Farthofer: You have already written 17 wonderful cookbooks, as author, co-author and editor. What is the most gruelling phase in the process of bringing one to life?
Seiser: The actual process of transferring my handwritten notes from the development of the recipe (often in several stages/versions) into the computer. Because with so many numbers (for quantities, ratios, temperatures, times) and preparation steps, dozens of errors can of course creep into any recipe. But since my personal ambition with every recipe is that no questions arise in the kitchen for the reader — that every possible ambiguity has already been answered by me within the recipe — I write with great precision. And the more precisely you describe something, the more potential sources of error emerge. Someone places their trust in my recipe — and therefore in me — trusting me with the preparation of a meal, perhaps for the whole family. That's why, after writing down the recipe, comes the long phase of what I call "polishing the manuscript": reading it again and again, improving it, formulating it more clearly. Very solitary work that demands intense concentration.
Farthofer: What dish is your comfort food?
Seiser: For me, that's extremely dependent on the season and can just as easily be — like this very week — a handful of wild strawberries, as it can be a perfect roasted cauliflower with a kind of gremolata at the Daberer in Carinthia, or the year's first Vignarola, a ragout of fresh Marchfeld artichokes, peas, broad beans and mint. Lots of olive oil, lots of really good white bread. But for me, almost every meal is comfort food when I prepare it myself, because I eat exclusively according to my mood and the season. That's an enormous luxury — though the luxury of eating what you truly feel like having is something you can learn and allow yourself (and it doesn't only depend on your wallet, by the way). For me, cravings almost always have to do with acidity/freshness, textures (crispy and/or crunchy) and good fat — so nearly any dish that takes those aspects into account is comfort food.
Farthofer: Which three foods do you think deserve more attention right now?
Seiser: Great question — but certainly lentils, because as a plant-based source of protein they are incredibly versatile and full of flavour, the easiest legumes to prepare and at the same time easy to digest. Even the aroma while they cook fascinates me every single time — that promising, peppery spice! Then there are grains like oats, barley and rye. The latter, I feel, is increasingly being left behind. There's so much more that could be done with it. (But always on a sourdough basis, because otherwise it's not easy to digest. I don't understand the current trend of using rye flour without fermentation — for example in baking cakes. We learned that lesson long ago in human history; there's no need to go back to square one.) And then: truly seasonal fruit. Nothing in Austria is harder to come by than properly ripe fruit from genuinely delicious varieties. I hardly need to tell you that ;-)
Farthofer: Has your business changed since Covid?
Seiser: No. I was lucky. Writing (recipes, books, columns) and talking (on TV) about food was booming, especially during the lockdowns and low-contact phases.
Farthofer: Vegetarian or vegan?
Seiser: Neither. I'm enormously grateful for the vast variety of foods we can choose from here in Austria every single day. I do eat vegetarian or purely plant-based very often — if only because we've now been shareholders in a harvest share from Gärtnerhof Ochsenherz for eleven years, meaning we get outstanding seasonal vegetables every week from biodynamic cultivation — but fundamentally I eat everything, as long as it's been freshly prepared from quality ingredients. What matters to me: when it comes to animal products, I try to choose only from animals raised outdoors to at least organic standards. For all foods, Bio is simply my norm and baseline, not the exception. To show that this is absolutely compatible with real enjoyment, I like to use #allesbio on my social media posts. But only when it genuinely applies to the dish shown.
Farthofer: Opera or musical?
Seiser: Opera, obviously — my husband is an opera singer ;-)
Farthofer: Upper Austrian or Viennese?
Seiser: I can't — and wouldn't want to — deny my roots in the Traunviertel, just as I love the Viennese way of speaking. It'd be a shame if we all talked the same.
Farthofer: Finally, let's turn to the "Seisernal Warenkunde". What's the question you get asked most often when it comes to food?
Seiser: Without a doubt: whether Bio is really better. Long story short: of course it is. But I'm always grateful for the question and for genuine curiosity, because I'm happy to make a detailed case for it — depending on the audience and the time available. The second most common question: whether we really cook at home every day? That still surprises me every time, because: how else am I supposed to get food of the quality that matters to me? "Cooking," though, can mean — especially in summer — wild, generous salads of every kind, with plenty of juicy vegetables, crunch and crisp, carefully seasoned dressings, different every time, a joy every time.
Farthofer: Thank you so much for the conversation!
Seiser: Thank you for the great questions, which got me thinking myself!
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