Strudel

Filed Under April 2007, columns 

To flake, perchance to strud.

Dear Word Detective: Having just heated up a delicious frozen strudel (from Trader Joe’s, naturalment) my partner and I got to talking. He wondered if strudel isn’t meant to contain some kind of cream or cheese. I told him that I think he is confusing strudel with danish. I said that it is defined as “strudel” because of the flaky pastry crust and because it is sweet. Are either of us correct? Or can strudel be filled with meat or other savories? — Anne.

Yo, do I look like Rachael Ray to you? Delicious strudel, huh? Must be nice. The nearest Trader Joe’s is 35 miles from here. The truckstop up at the interstate has doughnuts, but they taste like very small spare tires. Speaking of Rachael Ray, as they do constantly on TV these days, does anyone else find her hundred-watt hyper-perky good cheer enormously annoying? Maybe next week she’ll have $1.50 left over in her food budget and invest in some tranquilizers. How cool would that be?

So, anyway, “strudel” is a kind of European (Austrian, to be precise) pastry made from very light dough rolled out very thinly, then spread with filling, rolled up and baked. The “rolled up” part is what gives the stuff its name — “strudel” is German for “whirlpool.” The dough used to make traditional strudel actually has no sugar in it, so the sweetness of the finished strudel comes from its filling, which is usually fruit (as in the classic Apfelstrudel, with apples), but sometimes cheese or even sauerkraut. I found a recipe for shrimp and cheese strudel, so I suppose anything is possible, but I think a meat strudel would be pushing the envelope a bit. According to Wikipedia (famous last words), strudel may have actually originated in the Middle East and may be related to baklava.

A “Danish” (or “Danish pastry”), on the other hand, is made from very light dough rolled out very thinly, then spread with filling and baked, which sounds a whole lot like strudel but Danish are folded, not rolled, and the dough has pots of butter in it. Fillings for Danish include various fruits and cheeses, as well as custard and chocolate. Danish are popular in Denmark, but are said to have originated in Austria.

A “croissant” (French for “crescent”) is a bit lighter than a Danish or strudel, and can be filled with fruit, cheese, chocolate, spinach, or a variety of other fillings. Ham and cheese croissants are popular in the US. A story told about the origin of the croissant (only one of many, it must be said) is that its crescent shape (and name) was conceived as a celebration of the Austrian defeat of the Turkish army’s siege of Vienna in 1683, the crescent being the emblem on the Turkish flag.

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Comments

2 Responses to “Strudel”

  1. marcparis on April 12th, 2007 4:29 pm

    About those croissant fillings… While I suppose you could fill a croissant with just about anything edible, in these parts you find only a few standard fillings:

    croissant

    croissant beurre (made with butter, the real thing)

    croissant au jambon: filled with ham and a cheesy cream sauce, and topped with grilled cheese sauce

    croissant aux amandes: filled with an almond cream and topped with grilled almond slivers

    a chocolate croissant would be very odd indeed, since you get the same effect from a pain au chocolat

    Since Burger King has abandoned France, no croissandwiches here no more. Sigh.

  2. words1 on April 12th, 2007 4:37 pm

    Sad, but you’ll always have Pizza Hut.

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