Gebratener Hecht

This roasted pike recipe comes from an 1850 Austrian cookbook written by Marianka, the personal cook (Mundköchin) to the fictional Hans-Jörgel of Gumpoldskirchen. Her book captures both refined and rustic Central European cooking during a period of great economic upheaval ('in dear times'). The recipe exemplifies how resourceful middling households elevated everyday fish with luxurious touches like anchovy and abundant butter, reflecting Vienna's culinary cosmopolitanism and access to preserved fish products. It also demonstrates the period's approach to layering flavors and decorative garnishes like lemon zest. Marianka's book aimed to teach readers how to create both elegant banquets and homestyle fare that were affordable, practical, and still met contemporary tastes for refinement—revealing both the aspirations and constraints of a bourgeois nineteenth-century Austrian kitchen.

In mid-19th-century Vienna, this dish would be prepared using a heavy iron or copper roasting pan, liberally greased with fresh butter. The onions would be sliced with a sharp kitchen knife. The fish would be larded with anchovy using a small paring knife for making the slits. Cooking would be done in a domestic oven—referred to as a 'Röhre', which was a wood or coal-fired stove with a baking chamber. Basting could be done with a spoon or small ladle, and the lemon zest cut with a simple paring knife. The finished fish would be lifted with large serving forks or spatulas onto a fine serving platter.