Apfelstrudel

Apfelstrudel is thin-sliced apples rolled in paper-thin pastry and baked until the crust shatters. It's Austria's national strudel, and the one dish most likely to appear on every café menu in Vienna next to a slice of Sachertorte.

What it actually is

A strudel dough is stretched by hand until it's almost transparent — thin enough to read a newspaper through, according to the old test — then laid flat and covered with thinly sliced apples, raisins, sugar, cinnamon and often buttered breadcrumbs to soak up the juice as it bakes. The whole sheet is rolled up around the filling, brushed with melted butter, and baked until the pastry turns deep golden and audibly crisp.

Getting the dough thin enough without tearing is the real skill; a strudel with a thick, doughy wrapper has missed the entire point of the technique.

How it's served

• Warm, sliced into rounds, the layers of pastry visible in cross-section.
• With vanilla sauce, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, one of which is nearly always on the plate.
• Dusted with icing sugar, a light finishing touch rather than a heavy coating.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag gluten and dairy; the pastry and butter carry both.
• Say if you offer it with vanilla sauce or ice cream by default, or as an extra — it changes the price and what a guest expects to see arrive.
• Note that it's best served warm; a cold strudel loses the contrast between crisp pastry and soft apple filling.
• Mention if you make the dough in-house; hand-stretched strudel dough is a genuine point of craft worth naming, distinct from a shortcut version made with filo or puff pastry.