Salzburger Nockerl

Salzburger Nockerl is a sweet soufflé: egg whites beaten stiff with sugar, folded with yolks, a little flour and vanilla, piled into a buttered dish over a base of berries or milk and baked briefly, so it rises high and stays barely set inside. It is shaped into three peaks, said to represent the Mönchsberg, Kapuzinerberg and Nonnberg, the hills that frame the city, with icing sugar over them for snow. The tradition dates it to the seventeenth century and attributes it to Salome Alt, the archbishop's partner at Mirabell, which is a story rather than a documented fact. It collapses within minutes of leaving the oven, so it is made to order, takes twenty minutes or more, and is ordered for two or three people - a single portion is not really a thing.

What you actually see

• Three baked peaks - shaped for the hills around Salzburg, dusted with sugar.
• A soufflé barely set - crisp outside, almost liquid at the centre.
• Made to order - twenty minutes or more, and it falls if it waits.
• A shared dish - ordered for two or three, not as a single portion.

When to go

All year; order it at the start of the meal. A meal.

Honest expectations

It takes a long time and collapses fast - eat it as it arrives. It is very sweet and eggy, and enormous for one person. Some restaurants make it in advance, which is not the same thing.

Nearby

The Salzburg old town restaurants and the Mirabell gardens are minutes apart.