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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Zurich
Thin strips of veal sautéed and served in a cream, white wine and mushroom sauce. It’s the dish Zurich residents name first when talking about the city’s cuisine, almost always accompanied by rösti.
Traditional dish from Zurich, Zurich
Also known as: Züri-Gschnätzlets, Züri Geschnetzeltes, émincé de veau à la zurichoise
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Zürcher Geschnetzeltes — Zurich, Switzerland
Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, or Züri-Gschnätzlets in the Zurich spoken German, is the dish most associated with the city. The name describes the preparation: the meat is geschnetzelt, that is, cut into thin strips, and served in the Zurich style, in a creamy sauce. Locals cite it as the city’s traditional recipe, and it appears on the menus of many restaurants in Zurich and the region, each with its own version.
Mushrooms, present in almost every version, are sliced and sautéed together with the onion.
The preparation is quick. The veal is lightly dusted with flour, seared over high heat and removed from the pan; in the same pan, onion and mushrooms are sautéed in butter before adding the white wine, stock and cream. The meat returns at the end, only to warm through, and the sauce is finished with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon. A pinch of paprika and chopped parsley sometimes complete the dish.
The traditional recipe is made with veal; at home some people use pork or chicken. The most traditional version includes veal kidneys along with the meat. The classic accompaniment is rösti, whose golden crust contrasts with the sauce, but rice, pasta or mashed potatoes are also served. In many restaurants, the portion arrives in two stages so the dish does not get cold.
The dish has crossed the canton’s borders and is served throughout Switzerland and in neighboring countries, but the name retains its link to Zurich.
Zurich , Zurich
A dish named after the city and presented by Zurich tourism as the local traditional recipe.
Veal cut into thin strips, mushrooms (usually champignons), onion, butter, white wine, stock or meat jus, heavy cream, lemon, salt and pepper; sometimes veal kidneys, paprika and parsley.
Served very hot, with the sauce over the meat, accompanied by rösti; rice, pasta or mashed potatoes also appear. In restaurants, the portion may arrive in two parts.
A lunch and dinner dish year-round, common in traditional Zurich restaurants and home cooking.
Your questions
Zürcher Geschnetzeltes is made with veal and a cream, white wine and mushroom sauce. Other sliced-meat geschnetzeltes use pork, chicken or different sauces.
The classic accompaniment is rösti. Rice, pasta and mashed potatoes are also common.
The most traditional version includes veal kidneys along with the meat, but most recipes use only the veal.
Flavors of Switzerland
The solid chocolate bar that made Switzerland a world reference from the 19th century onward, with mechanized production by Cailler, Daniel Peter’s milk chocolate in Vevey, and Rodolphe Lindt’s conching in Bern.
Melted cheese with white wine in a caquelon, kept warm over a burner, into which each person dips bread cubes on a long fork. Promoted as a national dish from the 1930s onward, it is served across Switzerland in the cold months.
Hard honey biscuit with almonds, hazelnuts, candied orange and lemon peel and kirsch, covered by a thin layer of sugar. Mentioned in Basel at least since 1711, it is the city’s most closely associated sweet specialty.
Large platter with several cooked and smoked meats and sausages, served over sauerkraut and green beans, with potatoes. It is the festive dish of Bernese cuisine, traditionally linked to the victory at Neuenegg in 1798.
Grated potato patty fried in butter until a golden crust forms on both sides. It was the breakfast of peasants in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, including the canton of Bern, and became a symbol of German-speaking Switzerland, even lending its name to the Röstigraben.
Dry, crunchy meringues served with Gruyère crème double, a thick cream with at least 45% fat. The quintessential dessert of the Bénichon feast, it is one of the symbols of the Gruyère region in the canton of Fribourg.
Chocolate cauldron bearing the coat of arms of Geneva, filled with marzipan vegetables and sweets, which is broken at the end of the Escalade celebration in December. It recalls the legend of Mère Royaume and the defense of the city on the night of December 11–12, 1602.
Shortcrust pastry tart, closed on top, filled with chopped walnuts coated in caramel and cream. It is the best-known sweet specialty of Graubünden, linked to pastry chefs who emigrated from the Engadine to work elsewhere in Europe.
Chard leaf rolls filled with spätzli-like dough and Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef) or local salami, cooked in broth and milk and gratinated with cheese. Emblematic dish of Graubünden, originating in the Surselva, with as many recipes as there are families.
Puff-pastry dome filled with veal, meatballs, mushrooms and raisins in a creamy sauce. It’s named for the city and canton of Lucerne and is also called Fritschipastete, after the local carnival figure.
Dense cake made from day-old bread soaked in milk, with cocoa, amaretti, raisins, pine nuts and often a splash of grappa. Born from a desire not to waste bread, it is considered the quintessential Ticino sweet and every family has its own recipe.
Half a wheel of cheese held close to the fire, with the melted part scraped onto the plate and served with boiled potatoes in their skins, pickled cornichons and pearl onions. It originated in Valais and was presented as a Valais national dish in 1909.
Distilled from wormwood, anise, and fennel, green or colorless, served diluted with cold water and turning cloudy when mixed. Production began in the Val-de-Travers, in the canton of Neuchâtel, at the end of the 18th century, and it was banned in Switzerland from 1910 to 2005.
Rustic purée of leek and potato cooked in water and white wine, served with saucisse aux choux, a smoked pork-and-cabbage sausage. It is the best-known culinary specialty of the canton of Vaud and is part of its intangible heritage.
Layered cake of almond meringue discs and a sponge soaked in kirsch syrup, with buttercream, covered with almonds and powdered sugar in a diamond pattern. Created in Zug by pastry chef Heinrich Höhn, who advertised it in 1915.
A mixture of soaked rolled oats, grated apple, walnuts or almonds, lemon and milk, created around 1900 by physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients at his clinic in Zurich. It gave rise to the muesli eaten worldwide.
