Two books that had an immense influence on Rudi Obauer’s life are Ikigai – The Purpose of Life and The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. The award-winning chef is convinced that you can do anything with willpower. Even get a hunting license. Still, he prefers to leave the procurement of game meat to his hunting colleague Christoph Burgstaller, who he got to know when they wrote a book together.
The two co-authors spoke to Juergen Schmuecking, the host of our Halb so wild podcast, about hunting and cooking. And about the meaning of life ...
Rudolf Obauer & Christoph Burgstaller
How the chef found the hunter
“Why does nature give us that animal with all its parts? There must be a reason,” philosophizes award-winning chef Rudolf Obauer, who loves to prepare venison and likes to experiment with meat so he can use as many parts of the hunted animal as possible. “Once, when Rudi and I were gutting a chamois, Rudi asked me what I was going to do with the tongue,” recalls professional hunter
Christoph Burgstaller. “I don’t do anything with it, I said. It stays inside. And he replied: that’s crazy, that‘s the best part.”
The chef and the hunter learned a lot from talking to each other, and this resulted in a co-authored book entitled The Hunter and the Chef (“Der Jaga und der Koch” in German). Their points of view are sometimes incredibly different, but they have one thing in common: they are true outdoorsmen, and they love what they do. You can sense their passion as soon as you talk to them, especially if you go for a walk with them around their home town of Salzburg, as Juergen Schmuecking did for the second episode of the Halb so wild podcast (in German only). In this region, both the hunter and the chef can name every peak, every valley, and every mountain range.
Christoph Burgstaller completed his apprenticeship as a professional hunter on these very mountains, and he still remembers the weekends when his instructor put him on guard duty up there. “We used to watch out for poachers,” he explains. “But they don’t really exist anymore.” Christoph originally wanted to become a ranger, but after a friend who was training to become a professional hunter took him hunting into the forest, his passion was awakened. “Going out into the woods, stalking, and constantly making mistakes,” he says. “You learn so much. And you get to know nature in a completely different way.” It is precisely this new perspective that the professional hunter now also observes as an instructor among his students, who come from many different backgrounds. In his classes, students can be anyone from a 16-year-old motocross fan to a super sporty doctor who is a vegetarian. “Many of them get their hunting license because they think it's cool,” says the hunter, who may not always be able to understand the motivation of the participants but is still happy to give each and every one of them a new understanding of nature.
“Hunting is never cool,” counters top chef Rudi Obauer. “It can be interesting, educational, it can help me in life. But it's not cool.” For him, the decision to become a chef was initially a rather pragmatic one. His grandfather was a baker, butcher, innkeeper, and, at some point, a farmer. So, an apprenticeship as a chef was not far off. “From my second year of training onward, I realized that this job gave me a purpose,” recalls Rudi Obauer. “I can see the world, get to know lots of people, and always learn something new.” Working as a chef in Zuers and skiing every day? For him, that was a dream come true. Until he got married and renovated an old farmhouse with his wife, to which he then invited co-author Christoph Burgstaller and podcast host Juergen Schmuecking for the interview. He could even live self-sufficiently in this house if he wanted to. “We have our own water, solar energy, and wood. And meat, too,” says the chef.
Integration in the kitchen and the forest
Rudi Obauer still appreciates company and chose to maintain the hiking trail that crosses right through his property. He enjoys talking to people and believes: “The kitchen is proof that integration exists.” For him, there is nothing better than local cuisine, no matter where he is. “When I come here, there is game. What could be more regional?” says the renowned chef, who knows exactly how much work goes into a hunted animal before it ends up on a guest's plate. It is precisely this regionality that has been important to him as a chef for more than 40 years.
“Nature doesn't create anything that is intended to be thrown away,” says the chef, and his attitude has inspired the hunter to not only use certain pieces of meat, but also to have the skin of deer shot in summer tanned naturally so something can be made out of the leather: trousers, a cover for an armchair, or a handbag.
On our podcast, the nature enthusiasts also talk about the ideal hunting season for game, the importance of shooting plans, cutting and storing game meat, hunting in Romanian forests, and Rudi Obauer’s cookbook, in which not only the hunter, but also 15 regional food producers have the chance to share their views. And Rudi, Christoph, and Juergen also celebrate game at the end. Listen to the German podcast to find out more!
Award-winning chef
Rudolf Obauer
Rudolf Obauer has been running the Restaurant-Hotel Obauer in Salzburg's Pongau region with his brother Kurt since 1979. After completing his cooking apprenticeship, the nature lover perfected his skills in haute cuisine in Austria and abroad and learned from some of the most renowned chefs in France. In 2012, he and his brother received a prestigious award and were named “Chef of the Decade” (“Koch des Jahrzehnts”). After releasing several books came The Hunter and the Chef (Der Jaga und der Koch in German) with Christoph Burgstaller in 2020. In 2022, he published another comprehensive cookbook called Total Obauer.
Professional hunter
Christoph Burgstaller
Born in Carinthia, Christoph is a professional hunter and grew up on a mountain farm with three brothers. After his eldest brother took over the farm, he completed an apprenticeship as a hunter in Salzburg and has never regretted his choice of profession. He has been passing on his knowledge to the hunters of tomorrow as an instructor for almost 15 years now. Christoph Burgstaller also spends one week a month working in a forest business in Romania, where he shares his hunting grounds with large predators such as wolves and bears.
Host Season 1
Jürgen Schmücking
Jürgen Schmücking is an Austrian journalist and photographerwith a special focus on food and its production. He pays particular attention to wine, distillates, beer, cheese, fish and meat. Jürgen is interested in where and how these foods are produced, how they taste, and the ways in which they reach the consumers' palates. And, of course, he is eager to hear the stories of those who harvest or produce them.
Fascinated by game meat and thanks to the many inspiring conversations with hunters and chefs, Jürgen decided to start his young hunter's training in 2022.
