Czech Cuisine
Czech cuisine is marked by a strong emphasis on meat dishes. Pork is quite common, and beef and chicken are also popular. Goose, duck, rabbit and wild game are served. Fish is rare, with the occasional exception of fresh trout and carp, which is served at Christmas.
SIDE DISHES
Dumplings (steamed and sliced bread-like side dish) are one of the mainstays of Czech cuisine and are quite often served with meals. They can be wheat or potato based, and are sometimes made from a combination of wheat flour and stale bread or rolls.
MEAT DISHES
Roast pork with dumplings and Sauerkraut is considered the most popular Czech dish. They can be prepared from scratch, from cabbage or from sauerkraut, which is most common. Red or white cabbage can be used.
Marinated beef sirloin (Braised beef, usually larded, with a thick sauce of carrot, parsley root, celeriac, and cream. This dish is often served with dumplings, whipped cream, a teaspoon of cranberry compote, and a slice of lemon.
SOUPS
Soups plays an important role in Czech cuisine. Czech meals usually consist of two or more courses: the first course is traditionally soup, the second course is the main dish, and then other courses such as dessert or compote may follow. Common soups you can find in Czech restaurants are beef or chicken broth with noodles (optionally with liver dumplings), garlic soup with croutons (optionally with minced sausage, raw egg, cheese) and cabbage soup with minced sausage.
SWEETS
Fruit dumplings are mostly made using plums or apricots. Whole fruit, in some regions including the stones, are coated with potato or curd dough and steamed, then served with butter, sugar and sometimes milled poppy seed, rarely also with cream instead of melted butter).
Kolache is a type of yeast pastry consisting of fillings ranging from fruits to cheeses or poppy seed on doughnut.
Bellow you can find a few apetizing recipes of Czech specialities :
Sirloin in cream sauce
| 750 g of the finest beef sirloin 150 g of carrots 150 g celery 75 g parsley 1 large onion 50 g bacon chopped into small wedges 150 g butter salt pepper 5 peppercorns 3 allspice berries |
3 bay leaves a pinch of thyme lemon juice sugar 100 g of rough mustard 2 tablespoons of plain fl our 250 ml cream milk for thinning the sauce if needed lemon slices cranberry sauce |
Clean the meat of any membrane etc, interlayer with the bacon, add salt, pepper and sprinkle on the chopped onion. Add the grated vegetables, spices and a squeeze of lemon juice, then pour over the melted butter. Leave for a day in the fridge. Next day pour a little water over the meat and braise in the oven until soft. Take the meat out and remove the spices, making sure you don't leave the bay leaf in the mixture.
Put the pot containing the vegetables on the stove and bring to the boil. Add the mustard, 2 tablespoons of plain flour then simmer. Pour in the cream and cook on a medium heat, mixing now and then. If the sauce becomes too thick, dilute with a little milk. Finally pass the sauce through a sieve. Add salt, lemon juice and sugar to taste. To enhance the taste you can add a bit of caramel to the sauce (take a tablespoon of sugar and simmer until it begins to turn brown. Add some water and boil until thick).
Slice the meat into portions, return to the sauce and heat up everything together.
Serve with a slice of lemon and a spoonful of cranberry sauce.
Others can be found on the following website:
