Delicious Czech main dishes
“Svíčková”– Czech Republic’s national treasure
Certainly themost famous Czech main dish and also the most untranslatable food. Svíčkováis the name of a specific part of beef meat, but here it also represents thename of the whole dish. It is a traditional sauce made from blended rootvegetables and heavy cream, served with bread dumplings and a slice of beef. It is often paired with whipped cream on the side and cranberries.
Even thoughit is a bit heavy, it is still very popular in the Czech Republic and isordered by many tourists and Czechs in local restaurants. It is also atraditional wedding food, and the preparation itself requires a bit of talentand skill. In the past, it was also believed that as soon as a girl could cookthis meal well, she was ready to get married. The recipe itself may vary a little,but everyone will assure guests that theirs is the best – it really is anational treasure more than anything else.
Sauerkrautand dumplings – either with pork or duck
Anothervery common main dish or lunch in the Czech Republic is called "vepřo, knedlo, zelo",translated as “pork, dumplings, sauerkraut”. Dumplings are an altogether verypopular side dish to many different meals and not so easy to find in othercountries – in fact, it’s almost impossible. They bear no resemblance to Chinesedumplings, for example. Czech dumplings are made from a dough, similar to theone used for bread, which is then cooked and served sliced. Sauerkraut is also afairly popular side dish, it’s basically fermented raw cabbage cut into thin
pieces. Some like to eat their sauerkraut sweet, others prefer the sour taste,but overall, it is a common and healthy dish.
As already mentioned,one of the most popular dishes among Czechs, almost as popular as svíčková,is pork, dumplings, and sauerkraut. It goes great with beer (and the CzechRepublic has one of the best beers in the world!), fills your stomach and tastesdelicious. Another option is to pair sauerkraut and dumplings with roast duck or goose.This is a more festive meal, often eaten on holidays. But on 11 November, SaintMartin’s Day, it is almost a must. Legend has it that St Martin was to become anew bishop in the 4th century. To avoid the delegation, he hid in a duckpen, but the ducks started quacking and revealed him. Since that time, ducksare supposed to be roasted and eaten. This story is rather sad for animallovers, but this dish is a tradition and definitely a popular and delicious meal.
SteakTartare – scary but so good
A dish madeof raw minced or ground beef might seem unappealing at first. Sometimes it evenhas a raw egg yolk on top, which makes it even more questionable. However,served with well-chosen seasonings and eaten on fried or toasted bread rubbedwith garlic, it makes for a very popular food. It is most often found in pubsas a “snack” with beer, but it can also make up an entire dinner.
Thistraditional food actually comes from Italians who worked on the Czech railway.They brought their own bruschetta, but since there are no olives in the CzechRepublic, they toasted the bread in pork fat, took a clove of garlic, andrubbed it over the bruschetta. Now, steak tartare is something people are afraidto try at first and then cannot get enough of.
A sweet main course - Another Czech specialty
Fruitdumplings
Czechs, likemany other nations, have their own desserts. Something to eat with tea orcoffee, something for breakfast, but they are also known for having a sweetdish as a main course. Fruit dumplings are probably the best known – as you cansee, dumplings are very popular. This time, they are made from a similar dough,but round, and also filled with different kinds of fruit. Mostly blueberries,apricots, or strawberries. For the best taste experience, they are poured overwith melted butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar and/or cinnamon or cocoapowder.
Poppy seed cones
Anothercommon sweet dish is potato cones with poppy seeds, either sprinkled with thepoppy seeds or stuffed. In some countries poppy seeds are hard to find in stores,forbidden almost, but not in the Czech Republic. In Czech cuisine, it is astaple in the kitchen cupboard and used with many different sweet dishes. Thesepotato cones are also served with melted butter poured over them andsprinkled with powdered sugar to give them the best possible sweet taste.
Like manyother European countries, the Czechs have a variety of traditional soups. They cookmore common soups like lentil, pumpkin or bean soups, but they also have some specialties. "Kulajda", for example, is a soup made from mushrooms, potatoes and dill.It is creamy, often served with hard-boiled egg, and is on the border betweensweet and sour taste.
Anothervery well-known soup is "česnečka", witha very strong garlic taste. It also contains diced potatoes, raw egg and sometimes grated cheese.Česnečka tastes best when there are also croutons in it too – it givesthe soup the perfect crunch! Believe it or not, česnečka is believed tobe the best cure for a hangover, some people swear by it. Moreover, the soup isoften served to cure illnesses such as colds or flu.
Be the first
Subscribe to Raiffeisen Insights. Get an email with
the latest trends in the world of economics and business.
Information marked with * is required.
