Most Austrian dumplings are round. These are flattened on purpose, pressed between the palms into thick little cakes and fried in butter, and the pressing gives them their name. They come from the Pinzgau, the high valleys of southern Salzburg, where they are entered in Austria's register of traditional foods and where, in the old farming calendar, three days of every week were dumpling days. Each valley uses its own cheese: a pungent beer cheese in Salzburg, mountain cheese or the sharp, crumbly grey cheese in Tyrol.

The traditional way to eat them is in two courses, one dumpling in clear broth and a second one on its own with salad, which locals describe as one by water and one by land. It is thrift turned into hospitality: yesterday's rolls, a knob of cheese and an onion become the dish that mountain huts are proudest of.

They also happen to be ideal race weekend food. The mixture can be made ahead, the dumplings freeze beautifully, and a bowl of hot broth with a crisp cheese dumpling in it is the sort of thing that keeps a person steady through a long safety car period.

The dumplings

Ingredients

• 8 oz (225 g) day old white rolls or bread
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter
• 1 small yellow onion
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) whole milk
• 3 large eggs
• 7 oz (200 g) Pinzgauer Bierkäse or Alpine cheese mix
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• a pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 to 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons (60 g) clarified butter

In broth

Ingredients

• 6 cups (1.4 liters) good beef broth
• 1 small carrot
• 3 tablespoons finely snipped chives
• to taste fine salt

With salad

Ingredients

• 1 small head butter lettuce or green leaf lettuce
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cold water

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