Free-range chicken jointed into eight, dredged in flour, egg and Semmelbroesel, fried in clarified butter or pork lard until the breading puffs and crisps. Served with parsley potatoes, cucumber salad and lemon.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Backhendl was an aristocratic dish in the 18th and 19th centuries when chicken was a luxury; it became the Sunday plate of the Wiener bourgeoisie and a Heuriger staple. The Schweizerhaus in the Prater still cooks the canonical free-range version with potato salad; Plachutta runs the classical bone-in eight-piece preparation.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg
Tip from the editors. Frying the dark meat first then the breast keeps everything moist. A meat thermometer reading 70C in the thickest part of the thigh is your finish line.
Schweizerhaus in Vienna's Prater serves half a Stelze with sauerkraut for around €14, the cheapest serious pork-knuckle plate in town when the chestnut-tree.
Try: Half Stelze with sauerkraut
Tip: Order a small Krug of Budvar to start; the kitchen runs out of Stelze by 21:00 on busy summer nights.
Plachutta on Wollzeile in Vienna is the canonical Tafelspitz address, the boiled-beef pot served in copper pans with rösti, apple horseradish.
Signature: Tafelspitz, Beuschel
Order: Tafelspitz vom Schulterscherzel; the cut Franz Joseph is said to have favoured.
Tip: Open daily 11:30-23:30; the kitchen runs lunch through dinner without a break.
Figlmueller has hammered Vienna's most famous Schnitzel on Wollzeile since 1905, a plate-overhanging pork cutlet fried in three fats and served.
Signature: Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein, Kaiserschmarrn
Order: The Original Figlmueller Schnitzel; one is plenty for two appetites.
Tip: Book ahead; the room runs at capacity from 11:00 every day, kitchen closes at 21:30.
Lugeck on Lugeck square in Vienna's first district is the Figlmueller family's wider-menu room: the original veal Schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Backhendl and steaks.
Signature: Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb, Tafelspitz
Order: Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb; the veal version is what the dish was originally meant.
Tip: Less of a crush than the two pork outlets around the corner; book the Schnitzel Academy upstairs to learn the technique.
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