New recipes with linseed oil- a day in the two-star chef kitchen

When the chef Helmut Rachinger invites in his kitchen, that is truly a great honor! Happily we knock on his door at the Design Hotel Mühltalhof in Austria. With a friendly smile he let us in. On the stove simmers a huge pot of fish soup, meat is roasting in the oven. There are only a few hours left until the five-course dinner and Helmut Rachinger stares briefly in his black book. No book with recipes, just a calendar with some lines. And under the current date is still plenty of room! Today the chef is creating the menu spontaneously.

He stares at green asparagus, some half chickens and fresh trout. Suddenly the award-winnig chef smiles brightly and writes down the whole menu. Tartare of veal with green asparagus, trout soup and chicken (in Austria so called Wildhenderl) with spinach and “Orfisch”. Pardon? Curiously we ask the chef for this speciality. “Oh, that’s a poached egg”, the mid-forties smiles and gives some easy tasks to us. We are allowed to help the two-star chef for a whole afternoon. As I really like cooking at home I am pleased to be able to learn from the great master. I watch curiously how to cut the fresh strawberries for dessert in a perfect way.

Helmut Rachinger serves us delicious. On the side he cooks three chicken eggs and blanched green asparagus – a small dish is ready. You only have to put the asparagus into the soft yolk, add some salt – that’s absolutely delicious!

To this small snack he serves a small glass of red wine. At 6 o’clock the service starts and everyone gets a little frantic. Helmut Rachinger puts a trout on the plate, add a trowel of clear, Asian-inspired trout soup with ginger and lemongrass. “Off to new shores “, he baptizes his intermediate course today. At the end he trickles gently some shiny gold, cold-pressed linseed oil from the nearby Haslacher oil mill on the fish soup.

“The linseed oil gives a special taste and a local touch to my cuisine,” says the chef and recommends a visit to the historic oil mill. We like to follow this and the next morning we drive to the tiny town Haslach in the Austrian region “Mühlviertel”. Here we meet up with Sepp Schürz, the master of linseed oil. He cleans his dusty hands on his worn, light blue jeans and braces satisfied the arms into the sides, as the golden linseed oil shoots out a small metal tube. The hard work is done and the experienced oil master has to wait until the beige jug is full.

Relaxed he picks up his plate with linseed oil potatoes, takes a seat on an old wooden chair and dribbles a bit cold pressed linseed oil from a dark brown bottle over the traditional dish. The label shows the oil mill of Haslach, one of the last linseed oil mills in Austria. And this is where Sepp Schürz worked for over ten years. In the small village Haslach on the border to the Czech Republic the wheels of the oil mill have been turning since over 600 years. Earlier wheat was milled with hydropower, today turbines generate electricity for the machines of the press. Owner Gunther Koblmiller climbs the creaking wooden stairs. It smells intense, the air is stuffy. He rolls up the sleeves of his grey and white striped shirt and grabs a bunch of fibers.

“In the first step the linseed must be dried,” says the oil miller and points at a wicker basket with dark brown grains. Using the traditional hot-pressing method the seeds are ground and then stirred. Sepp Schürz manages all processes alone today and shovels the batter in a huge roaster.

The hydraulic press adopts the final, crucial step. “With up to 400 bar pressure I will get about eight liters of oil from one cylinder of flour.” Sepp Schürz knows the facts. On each working day he produces 45-50 liters of linseed oil, that means about 10,000 liters per year. The business is worthwhile, because linseed oil is now in high demand due to the high proportion of healthy omega-3. The production will increase by about 10 percent every year. Soon Theresa, the youngest daughter of Gunther Koblmiller will take over the business and continue the more than 250 years of family tradition.

“Now you have to try our linseed oil,” urges Regina Schürz, no relation by marriage with Sepp Schürz, but also working in the mill for 20 years. Quickly she serves two colorful plates with potatoes and linseed oil, happily recognizing that we enjoy her lunch. “My favorite is vanilla ice cream with linseed oil,” she says . We will try this at home, because of course we stopped at the shop of the mill. I am really looking forward to try some own linseed creations within the next few weeks.

Ölmühle Haslach

This text has been translated to the best of my knowledge into English.

Note: This trip was supported by the Mühltalhof. The report represents our own opinions.