Czech Food

Fifteen years ago, when I first put a Czech fork to my lips, I gained 15 pounds in the one month we were here - the combination of my love of Czech food and Czech grannies' love of cooking.  Well, we are not staying with any grannies this time around so we are not consuming 2000 calories meals on a daily basis, but we have eaten almost all of the classic Czech dishes.  Here is a summary...

Pork (vepřove), cabbage (zeli), dumplings (knedliky)
This is the Czech national dish.  The pork is roasted.  The cabbage (white or red) is cooked with bacon grease and vinegar (like you would get rot kohl at a German restaurant).  The dumplings are shaped as logs that get sliced up.  Kristine always packs a little of all three unto each forkful. We have not had this dish yet on this trip.  The young families we hang with don't eat such heavy food so much.  Also, we have only eaten out a very few times and the places did not have this (which shocked us).  I make the cabbage, but have only heated up pre-made dumplings (which are not bad).  We have had those as sides with other things, I have yet to try making pork roast here. 

Svičkova
This is Kristine's favorite dish.  It is a beef roast that first marinates in vinegar (similar to German sauerbraten) and vegetables.  The vegetables and roasting juices get made into a sauce with heavy cream.  It is eaten with knedliky.  The kids have had this already, but not Kristine nor me - until today.  I am making it with homemade dumplings.  Unfortunately for my pride, our friend Jana made svičkova today and brought some over at lunch time.  So, Kristine will go from hers to mine just five hours apart. 

Rižek
Known as milanesa in Argentina and wienerschnitzel in Austria this is meat dipped in breadcrumbs and fried.  I always make mine with chicken.  It's quick and tasty.  It also travels well (they sell milanesa - made with beef - sandwiches at bus stations in Argentina).



Duck
Expensive in the US this bird is very reasonably priced here.  And you can't go wrong roasting something with that much fat.  I'll have to try to convince Kristine's dad to keep a bunch of ducks so we can roast one now and again.

Rabbit
Had it before, but not yet on this trip.  It's in the meat section of most stores.  Some people still have the hutch out back where they raise them for food.  In fact, a fellow at the farmers' market sells young rabbits.  I almost bought one as a pet for Silas.

Carp
This noble fish is farmed in big ponds all over the place.  The kids have had it in school, but I have not yet (here).  The tradition is to eat carp and potato salad on Christmas.  I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Klobasa
This is the generic term for sausage.  This is common fair, especially at any festivals.  Lots of varieties.  Good, as long as it is not cold.

Mushrooms
We talked about this one before.  Best fried up in butter and mixed with cream for a sauce over knedliky.  It looks like the season is over as I did not see the mushroom man at the farmers market.

Fruit dumplings
Imagine a steaming pile of boiled dumplings with juicy seasonal fruit (strawberry, blueberry, apriocot or plum) inside, topped with powdered sugar, ground up poppy seeds, hard grated cottage-flavored cheese, and drizzled in melted butter.  The best part - this is not dessert - it's dinner.  We make these successfully back at home with strawberries or blueberries in a yeast dough.  Last week we finally made our own plum dumplings in a potato dough.  We got some tips from friends on how to improve them, so, next fall, you are all invited for plum dumplings at our place.

Fresh Veggies
While Czech men do not normally eat vegetables willingly, it is common to slice up red peppers (inexpensive here) or cucumber or other seasonal veggies to take along on trips to the country and snack on them. 

Beer
We've talked about this before also, but a post on food would be incomplete without it.  We have developed a taste for the Bernards Non-alcoholic Plum Beer.  Most men here say it tastes like juice and not beer, but we like it.  It is also seasonal and we will not be able to get anymore in a month or so.

Bread
One of the delightful aspects of life here is fresh bread.  We get it fresh most days.  Nice, brown crusty loaves that would be labeled "artisan" in the US.  Or little rolls in white or whole wheat.  Many mornings I eat just bread and butter for breakfast.

Well, the svičkova got cooked.  It was okay.  The beef got a little dry.  The sauce could have used a little more lemon.  The dumplings were ugly as sin and a little slimy, but they had a fine flavor.  I'll keep working on it and hopefully get it figured out before we leave.

Peter