We are a nation that likes to eat. It is also becoming quite noticeable, but a lot of our fellow citizens are proud of their rounded tummies and don’t intend to change a thing. Our instructions on how to find a restaurant or tavern with good cuisine when traveling are very simple. Have a look at how many cars or lorries or vans are parked in front of the establishment. Their drivers mostly know the route very well and only stop at places they know and like. Once inside it is clear that not many people generally means that you probably won’t enjoy the meal. If we have any doubts, we also seek out the local Info Centre, where we ask the staff where they go for lunch. This always gives a good overview of where to go for food, naturally according to a certain taste. Recently the Czech Republic has seen an increase in the number of good vegetarian restaurants, and Mexican, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Greek and Japanese cuisine is also gaining popularity. But our Czech cuisine is still our favourite!
Here are a few tips to help you choose. Be inspired by our little epicurean hint and enjoy Czech cuisine. It may be a bit heavier, but it’s very tasty.
PRAGUE - Sirloin and Svíčkova sauce
You‘ll need:
750 g beef Sirloin (or rear), 50 g fatty bacon sliced thinly, salt, ground pepper, 1 large onion, 150 g carrots, 150 g celeriac, 75 g parsnip, 5 whole peppercorns, 3 berries of allspice, 3 bay leaves, a pinch of thyme, lemon juice, 150 g butter, 100 g of whole mustard, 2 spoons of fine flour, 250 ml of cream for whipping or milk for dilution, sugar, sliced lemon, serve with cranberry sauce and bread dumplings.
Preparation:
Unwrap and clean the meat, place the bacon on it, sprinkle on salt and pepper, cover in chopped onions, the cleaned grated vegetables, spices, sprinkle on lemon juice and pour the melted butter over it. Leave in the refrigerator for a day. The second day, cover the meat with water so it is completely submerged, cover with a lid and steam in the oven until soft. Take the meat out of the broth and remove the spices, especially the bay leaf. Place a casserole dish with the vegetables on the stove and slowly bring to the boil. Add mustard, sprinkle on about 2 spoons of fine flour, sauté. Pour in the whipping cream and boil slowly over a low heat stirring from time to time. If the sauce is too thick, dilute it with milk. In the end strain it. Add salt to taste, add lemon juice or sugar as needs be. To highlight the flavour we can add a little caramel to the sauce. (Caramelise a soup spoon of sugar. When the sugar melts and starts to turn brown, add a little water and parboil.) Slice the meat across the grain into individual portions, put it back into the sauce and heat up. Serve with bread dumplings and cranberry sauce, decorate with a slice of lemon.
BRNO - Patents - potato patties with plum puree and poppy seeds
You will need:
800 g of potatoes boiled and peeled the day before, 300 - 400 g of fine flour, 2 eggs, salt, 100 g of rendered pork fat, 200 g of plum puree (use water or rum if you need to dilute), 100 g of ground poppy seed, 50 g of icing sugar, salt, fine flour to line tray.
Preparation:
Grate the potatoes, add flour, eggs, salt and form into a dough that is in the shape of a cylinder. Split them into equal parts, hand work them into patties and roll them out into thin pancakes. Dry bake them on a hot Teflon griddle or stove on both sides until they form blisters. Once it is off the pan, brush with hot fat, spread on the plum puree (if it is too thick dilute with warm water or a drop of rum) and sprinkle on the finely ground poppy seeds mixed with icing sugar. Depending on regional customs, the pancakes can be rolled up or folded in two to form a pasty.
LITOMYŠL Ferdinand - rabbit or hare in wine and onions
You will need:
1 whole hare or rabbit without its head, freshly ground pepper, 150 g of whole mustard, 4 onions sliced into rings, 3 berries of allspice, 3 juniper berries, 125 g of melted butter, 200 ml of vegetable stock, 250 ml of dry red wine, fresh thyme, serve with potato croquettes or hairy dumplings.
Preparation:
Divide the rabbit or hare into six pieces. Add pepper to all sides, brush on a thick layer of mustard and place onto a baking tray. Cover with onion rings, allspice and the juniper. Pour over the melted butter, and leave in a cool place (refrigerator) for at least two days. After two days pour vegetable stock into the pan, bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for an hour with the lid on. Turn the meat once. Remove the lid and put the pan in a preheated oven at 180 °C and bake for an hour and a half or until the meat is completely soft. Turn the meat whilst cooking and baste with the juices. Take the meat out of the pan and keep warm. Add wine to the juices and onion and boil briefly stirring all the time. Soften with butter, add salt to taste. Put the meat back in the sauce - serve together, garnishing with thyme, ideally with potato croquettes or hairy dumplings.
KUTNÁ HORA- Pork - Dumplings - Cabbage
You will need:
1 kg of pork, salt, ground pepper, crushed caraway seed, 3 - 4 cloves of garlic, 2 onions, 1 sour apple, 2 spoons of fat, whole caraway seed, strong stock as needed
For the cabbage: pickled cabbage, whole caraway seed, salt, sugar to taste, 1 onion, lard and 1 spoon of semi-coarse flour for the onion roux.
For the potato dumplings: 1 kg of potatoes, salt, 2 eggs, 1 spoon of milk about 400 g of coarse flour, 3 spoons of coarse semolina
Preparation:
Salt the roast pork, add ground pepper, ground or whole caraway seed, crushed garlic and place into a covered roasting pot to be left in the refrigerator until the next day. Peel the onion, cut into half rings, slice the apple and put into the roasting pot in which the lard has been melted and bubbles with the caraway seed. Add the roast pork, cover and bake in the oven. Bake for about 3/4 of an hour, uncover and let it go pink on one side and then the other. Before turning over for the last time add the stock to the juices - the quantity depends on how much gravy we want from the roast. In the meantime, as the meat is cooking, prepare the pickled cabbage by draining, rinsing, cutting and cooking with a little caraway seed and salt. When the cabbage is done, sweeten to taste and thicken with the onion roux. Make the roux by heating the lard in a pan and gently fry the chopped onions until they turn pink, then add the semi-course flour and let it cook for a while. Then add it to the cooked cabbage. Sweeten according to taste.
Cook the potatoes in their skins the day before, peel, grate coarsely, add salt and mix with an egg that has been briefly whisked with a spoon of milk. Place the potatoes on a floured board and gradually add flour with semolina until the dough is no longer sticky. Form the dough into cylinders and cook them in salted water for about 20 minutes. Serve the sliced meat, dumplings and cabbage together, pouring the gravy from the meat over the dumplings.
KROMĚŘÍŽ - Valašská Kyselica
You will need:
400 g of pickled cabbage, 1/2 teaspoon of caraway seed, 300 g of sliced potatoes, bay leaves, 2 berries of allspice, a handful of dried mushrooms • salt, pepper, a handful of herbs (marjoram, thyme, oregano), 30 g of butter, 100 g of onions, 100 g of sausage, 100 g of bacon, a spoon of fine flour, 100 - 150 ml of milk, 150 g of soured cream, 2 eggs, lemon juice to season
Preparation:
Cook the cabbage and caraway seed in one pot and the potatoes with the bay leaves, allspice, mushrooms, salt, pepper and herbs in another. When the potatoes are soft, remove the herbs, bay leaves and allspice and add the cabbage to the pot (including the water in which it was boiled). Fry the onions, sausage and bacon in the butter and finally add two spoons of fine flour. Stir milk in to the mixture, pour into the pot with the potatoes and cabbage and bring to the boil stirring occasionally for about twenty minutes. Finally, add the sour cream, break 2 eggs into the soup, simmer and add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
