Posted on September 2, 2010
Gretel Beer, who has died aged 89, was a Kindertransport refugee from Austria and became a highly successful writer of cook books; her Classic Austrian Cooking (1954) remains the standard work in English. It was the first in a series on cooking in her homeland, and introduced a British public still dogged by postwar austerity and rationing to the exotic delights of thick soups, Wiener schnitzel, veal goulash, as well as famous Austrian desserts such as dumplings, nut cakes and Sachertortes.