If you’re looking for a soft, yummy, eggy bread recipe, this is the one. I have to admit failure here, though: I just can’t seem to get the stacked braids to stay upright when I cook them. I finally resorted to my old standby six-strand braid, and the results are much more attractive.

This vianočka is pretty close to the version you can buy in the shops in Slovakia, and it’s easy enough to make the dough in the evening then bake in the morning. It’s sweet, lightly flavored with lemon, and makes great french toast if you don’t manage to eat the whole thing before it gets a little stale.

Print recipe

Vianocka – modern version

This is a largeish recipe – I’ve taken to dividing it in two and leaving half the dough to sit in the fridge to bake a second loaf a day or two later. If you bake a half-sized loaf, it should be done in about 25 minutes. I often substitute about half a cup of oil for the butter when I’m in a hurry or low on butter.

Ingredients

Makes one loaf

• 4 cups/480 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 3 oz/85 g butter
• 3 eggs, plus one yolk for the egg wash
• 1/3 cup/80 g sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• zest of one lemon (about 1½ tsp)
• 1/3 cup/40 g raisins (optional)
• ¼ cup/20 g sliced almonds for topping (optional)

Method

• Warm the milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter has melted; set aside to cool. Stir together 1 cup of the flour and the yeast in a large bowl. When milk mixture has cooled to lukewarm, stir it into the flour mixture until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until it is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
• Add the three eggs, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Mix in the flour gradually until you have a soft dough that is still a bit sticky. Stir in the raisins.
• Turn out the dough and knead until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a large clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled, about two hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.
• When dough has doubled, divide it into 6 portions, each weighing about 6oz/180 grams. Roll each portion into a rope, and braid the six ropes together, pinching each end to seal.
• Cover the braid with a cloth and leave to rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees f/190 C.
• Brush the braid with the egg yolk mixed with about a teaspoon of water; sprinkle almonds over the top if desired (the loaf expands quite a lot when baked, so you can be generous with the topping!).
• Bake for 50-55 minutes or until top is a dark golden brown.

My mum used to make these amazing Slovak potato pancakes. She would come home during her lunch break and make lunch for us, so it would be waiting for us when we came home from school. She made sure there was some soup and a main course. By the time we would get home, Mum was back at work, but she always left a note about what she cooked and how much we can have — with three hungry boys she left nothing to chance. I still remember that we could have 5 pancakes each.

Print recipe

Potato Pancakes – Zemiakove placky

This traditional Slovak recipe is delicious as a snack or as a main course after a substantial soup.

Ingredients

Makes enough for 3-4 people

• 2 pounds/1 kg whole potatoes
• 1 egg
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp majoram – optional
• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 6 tbs flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
  • Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until you can just pierce them with a fork. Drain and let them cool for a minute or two.
  • Peel the potatoes and grate them on a fine grater.
  • Add egg, smashed garlic, pepper, salt, majoran, milk and the flour. Batter should be a thick liquid.
  • Preheat a crepe pan or a nonstick pan to medium low heat. Grease it and add about a ladle’s worth of batter. Fry 4 minutes on each side.
  • Enjoy

Method

We’re recruiting for the Emperor’s Crumbs Army on facebook. Don’t worry, this isn’t the draft; it’s a place to exchange recipes, photos, suggestions and more. We’re even offering an incentive! Anyone who becomes a member of the group Emperors Crumbs Army will be entered to win a selection of  classic Czecho-Slovak treats.

The winner will enjoy crisp wafers with various fillings, the weird and wonderful “soy stick”, unforgettable “Romanca”, indulgent chocolate “Fidorka” and more. You can bet we’ll be stocking up on these delicacies ourselves when we pack our bags for the big move to the US next month. So raise your butter-knife high and join up! The winner will be selected on March 12th, 2010.

The second competition is a bit more involved but it is worth every effort. Try one of our recipes and make a photo or a video. Post it on any photo/video hosting site like flickr, smugmug, YouTube, or vimeo, add the tag emperorscrumbs.com, and in the description of the photo put a link to the recipe. You can enter as many photos/videos as you want, just link to your creations in a comment here so we know where to find them.  We will pick the best submission by March 19th. Along with the amazing and nutritious prize of a fabulous assortment of the best candies and wafers from Slovakia and Hungary, you and your artwork will enter history when we publish it here for everyone to admire!

Valerian got a funny Slovak cookbook a few years ago, Z Kuchyne starého Prešporka (from the kitchen of old Pressburg) by Peter Ševčovič. Pressburg is the German name for Bratislava, and the book is full of quirky cooking advice from the Bratislava of yesterday, collected from average and not-so-average people, since there are some recipes for living on the street, including how to cook pigeons and alley cats. I’ve skipped right over those to a recipe for a Slovak favorite, even today: vianočka, a kind of sweet braided bread.

The name vianočka means “Christmassy” but in fact this bread is an everyday item, something you pick up at the grocery store. Our kids are especially fond of an Austrian brand that we refer to as “squishy bread” because it’s packed full of artificial preservatives to keep it soft for for all eternity. When baking at home of course, we stick to natural ingredients!

The vianočka available these days is usually sweet and has a hint of lemon flavor. This old recipe from the book makes a rich, spicy loaf, delicious sliced and toasted or with jam.

Print recipe

Vianočka- braided sweet bread, adapted from Z Kuchyne starého Prešporka

The dough had a strange texture after the first rise; if you leave it to rise overnight in the fridge, give it plenty of time to warm up the next day before you start to work with it for best results.

Ingredients

Makes one large loaf

• 1 star anise
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 vanilla bean
• zest of one lemon
• 5½ cups/550 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 6 Tbs/80 grams sugar
• scant 1¼ cup/250 ml milk
• 4 oz/100 grams butter
• 2 egg yolks
• ½ cup/40 grams raisins

For topping

• One egg yolk beaten with about a teaspoon of water
• ¼ cup/20 grams slivered almonds (optional)

Method

• Using a mortar and pestle, pound the star anise, cloves, and vanilla pod to a fine powdery paste.
• In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter together in a small pan, until just below boiling. Turn off the heat and add the spices. Set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, and lemon zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk mixture. Add the two egg yolks. Mix well until a soft dough forms; add the raisins and mix until incorporated.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead until it is soft and shiny, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover the bowl with plastic and allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight.
• Divide the dough in half. Divide one half into four equal-sized pieces. Divide the other half in half again, then divide one of those pieces into thirds, the other in two. You will have nine pieces of dough in three groups of descending size.
• Roll each piece of dough into a rope; all the ropes should be of equal length, but fatter or skinnier depending on the size of the piece.
• Make a four-strand braid with the four biggest pieces. Make a three-strand braid with the medium pieces, and place it on top of the first braid. Twist the two smallest ropes together, and stack them on top of the two other braids. You may want to stick a toothpick at each end to pin the braids all together (I didn’t and the top kind of slid over).
• Place the loaf on a greased baking sheet and cover with a cloth. Allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/190 C.
• Brush the loaf with the egg wash. Sprinkle the almonds over the top, if desired.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes. If the top starts to get too dark, cover the browned parts with a piece of foil.
• Allow to cool completely before slicing.

It’s Carnival season around these parts – before Lent the shops are decorated, kids’ costumes are on the racks, and doughnuts – sišky, fánk, or vdolky, depending on where you are – seem to be frying up everywhere you turn. I’m not complaining, or maybe I am, because it’s hard to get enough exercise in the winter to work off those deep-fried treats; anyway, a warm sugary puff is a pretty delicious way to beat the snowbound blues.

While I was researching recipes, I found most of them call for filling the doughnuts with jam after you fry them, using a piping tool. That was definitely more trouble than I’m willing to go to these days, but I remembered seeing a method for filling doughnuts before frying. It was an unlikely source – a Martha Stewart recipe for Hanukkah sufganiyot – but it was effective.

A couple of the doughnuts puffed up around the seal, but none of them leaked any of their fillings of jam or nougat (like Nutella). Success!

Print recipe

Filled doughnuts

Ingredients

Makes about 12 doughnuts

• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 2 oz/28 grams butter
• 3½ –3¾ cups/400-420 grams flour
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 1/3 cup/60 grams sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, separated
• ½ cup jam and/or nougat (or even frosting) for the filling
• Additional sugar to roll the doughnuts in

Method

• Heat the milk and butter together in a small pan until just below boiling. Set aside and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• In a large bowl, stir together 3½ cups flour, yeast, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt. When milk mixture has cooled, add it to the dry ingredients along with the egg yolks (reserving the whites for later). Mix to form a soft dough, then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and still a bit sticky, adding more flour a tablespoon at a time if it’s very sticky. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours or until doubled (or in the fridge overnight).
• When dough has doubled, turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface and roll out to about 1/8″ (0.5 cm) thin. Using a 2″/7 cm round cookie cutter, cut out circles; you can re-roll the scraps until you use up all the dough; you should get about 24 circles.
• Brush a circle with the reserved egg whites, then place about a teaspoon of filling in the center of the circle. Top with another of the dough circles, and pinch along the edge to seal. Repeat until all the circles have been used.
• Cover the doughnuts with a cloth and leave for 20-30 minutes or just until puffed.
• In the meantime, heat about 2 cups/0.5 liter of vegetable oil in a large pan. When a scrap of dough sizzles when you drop it in, the oil is hot enough.
• Fry the doughnuts in batches, being careful not to overcrowd them. Cook each doughnut for about 3 minutes or until golden brown, then turn and cook another 3 minutes.
• Place the cooked doughnuts on a layer of paper towels to cool for a minute or two; while they are still warm, roll them in granulated sugar and serve.

It’s the quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s, a good time to introduce you to our family traditions for the holiday season. My in-laws – Valerian’s parents – are wonderful hosts. Even better, they are wonderful cooks, and there is no time of year we enjoy this more than Christmas Eve. There is a whole ritual to the meal, many courses, and then the grand finale: a crash from the living room, the door is flung open, and there’s the outrageously spangled Christmas tree, overflowing with gifts from Jézuska/Ježiško (the baby Jesus).

But let’s back up. A couple of weeks before, my mother-in-law starts baking the Christmas cookies. Chocolate bear paws, powdery vanilla kifli, iced spice cookies, a whole selection. These are deliberately made in advance so that they have some time to soften. Personally, I think they’re so delicious when they’re newly baked and still crisp I don’t know how it’s possible that they last until the holiday, but there are a lot of them.

The menu for the Christmas Eve feast itself is well established. We start with a toast, of course, everyone raising a glass and wishing one another good health – Egészségedre! Na zdravie! Then each family (Valerian has two brothers) chooses an apple and a walnut. These are split open: if there are no worms or blemishes, the nut predicts a year of good fortune, the apple one of good health. I admit I have gotten rather spooked the few times we’ve drawn a bad apple! The shells and other bits are put in a bowl in the center of the table; for each course, everyone is supposed to add a little off their own plate to this bowl, which is “for the birds”.

Next comes the oblatky, thin wafers called “spa wafers” as they are sold year-round at spas and baths. Valerian’s family always serves them with the peculiar combination of garlic and honey; I just rub a little garlic on the wafer and drizzle on the honey, but the less timid chop the garlic a bit and pile it on.

Rounds two and three are also sweet: makos guba, followed by plum pudding. Don’t forget to put a little in for the birds!

My favorite comes next, lentil soup. I always have at least two servings, even though eating too much of any one course leaves dangerously little room for what’s coming next. We usually take some soup home with us, murmuring a little prayer that it doesn’t overturn in the car on the way.

Now the main spread is set out. Fried fish is the centerpiece; at this time of year most of the supermarkets have live carp for sale since it’s traditional to serve fresh river fish on Christmas. Side dishes include two kinds of potato salad, one with mayonnaise and one without and some kind of vegetables for me and anyone else who wants them.

The little ones start to get restless at this point, and so after an exchange of meaningful looks among the adults, it’s time to check out what Jézuska brought. Sometimes it can be hard to decide whether it’s more important to finish dinner first:

We nibble the cookies and sip coffee and try to talk over the shrieks of joy/indignation as the kids examine their haul. It’s a smashing conclusion to a very satisfying evening.

Have you ever eaten a Chinese steamed pork bun? Imagine a sweet version, and you pretty much have buchty na páře (in Czech) or parené buchty (in Slovak). Instead of spicy meat, the fillings here are usually jam, sweetened poppy seeds, sweetened cheese (tvaroh), or chocolate. Buchty na páře just means steamed buchty, and buchty are, well, what they are – a kind of soft bread roll. (It’s pronounced something like book-tee, say the ch softly like in Loch Ness.) There are also baked buchty, which maybe we’ll cover another time. The dough itself is quite soft, and develops a rather tough, chewy skin while it steams.

That sounds a little unappetizing, doesn’t it? But it’s delicious, I promise! They’re usually served topped with vegetable oil, sugar, and cocoa powder that you stir together as you eat to make a chocolate syrup. Yes, initially I was kind of put off by the idea of pouring oil directly on my food and used melted butter, which for whatever reason seemed more palatable, but ten years in Central Europe and now I’m totally fine with dousing foodstuffs in oil. Of course there’s no reason why you couldn’t use ready-made chocolate syrup or any other topping, really, but at least once you should try saying “slather some oil on my buchty, baby”.

Print recipe

Buchty na páře/parené buchty
Ingredients

• 1 cup/ 2.4 dl milk
• 3 cups/280 grams flour
• 1 sachet instant yeast (7 grams)
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg

For the filling:

• jam, Nutella, or mini chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup poppyseeds ground together with 1/3 cup sugar

Method

• Heat the milk until it is almost boiling (“scald” it; this makes the yeast work better). Set it aside to cool. Meanwhile, mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. When the milk has cooled to lukewarm, pour it into the dry ingredients and mix. Add the egg and mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands; the dough will be very soft, but it should come together. If it’s too wet to work with, add a little flour.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place about an hour, or until doubled.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a warm place about an hour, or until doubled.
• In the meantime, prepare your steaming equipment. We have a flat-bottomed steaming insert for our big pasta pot, but any type of steamer works, including the kind that open like a flower. Brush some oil over the steamer, as the buchty can stick during cooking, and put a few inches of water in the bottom of a pot big enough to hold the steamer. I usually turn the water on while I’m making the buchty so they can cook straight away.
• When the dough has doubled in bulk, turn it out onto a (very) well-floured surface and roll out to about a quarter-inch (0.5 cm) thickness. Cut into squares that are about 4 inches (10 cm) square, 3 inches (8 cm) if you want smaller buchty. Larger buchty are more authentic but smaller ones may be more practical if you’re serving them as a dessert. Dollop about a teaspoon of filling into the center of a square, then gather up the edges and pinch to seal at the top, making a rounded sort of package. Continue adding filling and making the buchty until you’ve used all the squares.
• Now you’re ready to steam! Carefully place several buchty into the steamer; don’t crowd them, they’ll expand somewhat while cooking and can stick together. If you haven’t already, turn on the heat and once the water is boiling, put the steamer into the pot, cover and cook the buchty for 8-10 minutes and have developed a firm, slightly translucent skin. Using tongs or a couple of forks, gently lift the buchty out of the steamer and place them on plates to serve. You should cook all the buchty now, but you can freeze any that you don’t want to eat right away, and just steam them again (or even microwave them) to heat them through.

To serve

• Valerian’s family tops buchty with a spoonful of cocoa powder, a heaping spoonful of granulated sugar, and then pours oil over the top. As you eat, you swirl the toppings together, delicious!

For me, Christmas is always associated with memories from my childhood. I will definitely make a special post about our customs, but before that I would like to introduce to you our Christmas candy. “Szaloncukor”, or as Slovaks know it, “salonky”, can be translated as “parlour candy”. They were hung on Christmas trees, usually in the  parlour. They were “invented” at the end of the nineteenth century, but the fashion did not pick up until the beginning of the twentieth century. And szaloncukor are still in style.  No wonder, because they are constantly changing – the first ones were just fondant covered with chocolate, wrapped in white paper and tinfoil, but since then plenty of flavors have been brought out. I clearly remember the introduction of the jelly szaloncukor (at the end of  the ’80s – beginning of  the ’90s) when we made special trips to Hungary to purchase this valuable commodity.  According to the customs regulations, we could bring only one or 2 boxes (about a pound), which was never enough for our big Christmas tree.

Since then Slovakia and Hungary joined the EU and the flow of szaloncukor is unobstructed. All the big candy manufacturers have their own szaloncukor on the market so everyone can find a favorite. Yes, you can get Tesco value and Tesco “color” brands,  Milka brand, Norbi Update brand (a Hungarian celebrity weight-loss program), szaloncukor for diabetics etc. The business is good.  The romantic, handmade and rock-hard fondant was replaced by an unbelievable selection of flavors spiced up with wide variety of additives and preservatives proudly printed on the package in E numberology. The flavors for 2009 are stawberry yogurt, caramel cream and the good old chestnut is still in.

One lucky reader can win a few of these gems from Emperor’s Crumbs to decorate your own tree! Details are in the next post. Feel free to indulge – it’s the right time of year. Right?

Disclaimer: No szaloncukor were harmed during the making of this post.

This morning we decided to do something special, something very Slovak. With this post I would like to introduce you to a great meal and also to the Slovak “miracle”, bryndza. Bryndza is an EU-trademarked Slovak ricotta-type sheep cheese. Recently it went through thorough tests and the health benefits were surprising. Bryndza apparently helps to lower cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure; it contains 20 types of probiotics in huge quantities (yogurt only has 1-2), vitamins B complex, and almost three times as much calcium as cow’s milk. It is a boost for your immune system. The only problem is that you have to get the unpasteurized version, since the pasteurized version is almost useless. Try not to buy it in supermarkets, because those are pasteurized and mixed with cow cheese.

So this morning we went to the market and bought some bryndza, together with some sheep cheese and mangalica bacon. As you can see the products from our favorite stand were approved by our little Celtic princess (she is Celtic because sometimes she behaves like a barbarian, but she is my princess after all). My theory is that if you get rich food into you, it should be worth it. Bryndzove halusky is definitely worth it.

Print recipe

Bryndzove halusky

I have to admit I found this recipe on the internet when I was researching the various ways to make bryndzové halušky. I liked this one because it is almost identical to my mum’s and I loved its name and how was the recipe written. This recipe is “Bryndzové halušky according to Juraj the shepherd”. The bryndza can be replaced with any crumbly sheep cheese. You can add more or less bryndza depending on how sharp you like it.

Making the halušky requires a special tool – a halušky maker (like a colander with extra-large holes). If you can’t find something like this, look for gnocchi (cut them in half) or spaetzle and cook them as directed.

Ingredients

Makes 3 portions or 4 as a side dish.

• 3 medium potatoes to make approximately 2 cups when finely grated
• same amount of flour as potatoes (about 2 cups)
• 1tsp salt
• 4 ounces or more bryndza
• 1 or more strip of bacon per person

Method

• Grate the potatoes, and add the flour, salt. You shoould get a goopy dough. That’s ok.
• Set a large pot of water to boil. When it has come to a boil, using a rubber spatula or board scraper (or the scraper that came with your halušky maker), quickly press the dough through the holes into the water, scraping back and forth until all the dough has gone through. When the halušky float to the surface, in 2-3 minutes, they are ready. Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the cooking water.
• In a small bowl, add the cooking water to the bryndza and mix well. Add it to the halusky.
• Fry the bacon until the fat is rendered. Add some of the fat to the halušky and top them with the crumbled bacon.
• Enjoy

Katy asked me to come up with a recipe for the day after Thanksgiving, something light, something to soothe a possibly upset stomach. My thoughts went to the time just after our son was born and he was not really happy about it. People told us, “he is colicky, make some caraway soup for your wife.” I always liked this soup and when my mum showed me how to do it I was shocked. It costs maybe a dollar to make it, and it is pretty good. I do not know if it really helps treat colic. It did not help us, but neither did gripe water or other medicines. But this soup is probably something new, and it really does help your digestion. Enjoy.

Print recipe

Caraway Soup

There are slight variations to this soup. One of them to cook in some potatoes, another is to add garlicky croutons on the top of the soup. For extra fancy soup you can use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. Experiment and make your own version.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1tbs flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups water
• 1-2 eggs

Method

• Crush the caraway seeds with a mortar and pestle. You don’t have to pulverize them, just crush them in order to help them release the essential oils.
• Heat the oil and toast the caraway seeds for approximately 3-5 minutes over low heat until you smell their aroma.
• Add the flour and let it brown a bit. Add the paprika and the water.
• Cook for 25 minutes.
• If you are picky about biting on seeds, it is time to strain the soup. If you are not picky skip this step.
• Beat an egg or two eggs for extra yumminess and pour them into the simmering soup. Stir gently and cook for another 3 minutes.
• Nothing left but to enjoy.

I have never seen this except in Central Europe. But here it is a classic, served as a side dish with deep fried items. My best combo: parsley potatoes, pork chops in flour (see the recipe) and peach or pear compote. Such a treat!

Print recipe

Parsley potatoes

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 2 pound of floury potatoes
• 2 large onions
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup or more fresh parsley, chopped

Method

• Peel and cube the potatoes. Boil them until soft, then drain. (5-8 min)
• Warm up oil in a large pot, add the onions and salt and saute them over low heat. Once translucent, add the drained potatoes and mix. Saute for another 5 min.
• While still hot, add the parsley, toss and enjoy.

With this recipe I plan to save the world from the economic crisis. Not because it is cheap to make, but because the tradition says that if you eat this soup on New Year’s Eve, the lentils represent coins. Your wealth next year depends on how many lentils you will eat. You guessed right, we eat tons of this soup. We try our best to eat many, many coins in order to pay for our dreams or blog hosting costs.

Before New Year’s Eve, we have this soup as a Christmas dish.  Most families in Central Europe have fish soup, but our and other cool families prefer this amazing lentil soup. Since Katy joined the family, we also have this soup many times during the year. My mum makes it the best, but I have gotten good at it too. And I even developed a vegetarian version especially for Katy.  Here I mention both, the classic with sausage, and the vegetarian version. Enjoy and get rich!

Print recipe

Lentil Soup – classic version

The only meat in this soup is a Hungarian-style smoked paprika sausage (not hot). Gyulai kolbasz or Debreceni kolbasz are ok. Do not skimp on the quality, since you need just a little bit of it. Please do not use fancy vinegars. The rule here is cheap white vinegar. You can use any mushrooms, no need for anything exotic, but for the most authentic results you can use dried European wild mushrooms. The more varieties, the better the soup. Instead of sour cream you can use cream or 1/2 cream and 1/2 sour cream. For a fancy occasion I go for cream, when I am making it just for us, I use sour cream.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 1 cup dried lentils
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp sugar – optional but good
• 7 cups water
• 1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 Californian one
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms or handful of dried ones
• 2 tbs white vinegar or 3 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 cup sour cream or cream
• 1 cup or more sliced Hungarian style sausage
• 2ts flour

Method

• Wash the lentils, put them into a pot together with water, 3 cloves of crushed garlic (just hit it hard once with your palm), bay leaf, salt, sausage and mushrooms.
• Cook on low heat. When lentils get soft (40min to 1 hour). Add the sour cream/cream. In order to prevent curdling, put the sour cream into a bigger bowl and gradually add some of the hot soup, maybe a quarter-cup at a time to bring up the sour cream’s temperature. Then add the mixture back into the soup and bring it to a boil. (boil it for 2min)
• Now soup is almost ready. Let it cool a bit (like 5-10 min) and then add the vinegar and sugar.
• Depending on your taste, add more salt,vinegar or sugar.
• You can serve it with more sour cream and parsley.

Print recipe

Lentil Soup – vegetarian version

This is a vegetarian version of the amazing lentil soup. The quasi roux is for imitating the spiciness of the sausage. You could try adding a little Spanish smoked paprika (pimentón) for even more sausaginess. As above, use cream, sour cream, or a mixture according to your taste.

Ingredients

Makes 4 portions

• 1 cup dried lentils
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 7 cups of water
• 1 tsp sugar -optional but good
• 1 Turkish bay leaf or 1/2 Californian one
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms or hand full of dried ones
• 2 tbs white vinegar or 3 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 cup sour cream
• For the roux
• 1.5 tbs of vegetable oil
• 2tsp flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Method

• Wash the lentils, put them into a pot together with water, 1 clove of crushed garlic (just hit it hard once with your palm), bay leaf, salt, and mushrooms.
• Cook over low heat. When the lentils are slowly getting soft (cca 30min) make the roux. In a separate pan add oil, and start to fry smashed garlic and the black pepper. Add flour and when the flour is a bit brown, add the paprika, stir and add it to the soup. The process has to happen fast, because you do not want to burn the garlic or the paprika.
• Continue simmering over low heat. When lentils get soft (40min to 1hour). Add the sour cream/cream. In order to prevent curdling, put the sour cream into a bigger bowl and gradually add some of the hot soup, maybe a quarter-cup at a time to bring up the cream’s temperature. Then add the mixture back into the soup and bring it to a boil. (boil it for 2min)
• Now soup is almost ready. Let it cool a bit (like 5-10 min) and then add the vinegar and the sugar.
• Depending on your taste add more salt,vinegar or sugar.
• You can serve it with more sour cream and parsley.

One of the most famous famous air foods all over the area is coiled cake. You can find it under different names. In Slovakia it runs under the name trdelnik, in Hungary it is kürtös kalacs. This tube-shaped cake originates in Transylvania (the Hungarian part of Romania). A strip of dough is coiled over a wooden pin, sugar sprinkled over it and then grilled over a heat source. Once the sugar has caramelized, the kürtös kalacs is dipped into ground walnuts. Modern versions might be dipped into cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, etc. If you have a chance, try to get one which is grilled over charcoals – it makes a difference.

Other traditional food item is medovník/mézeskalács, spice cookies. Buy a Huszár (soldier) for your son, a dolly for your daughter and heart for your wife or girlfriend. Nowadays you can get all shapes and forms, although I could not find a huszár (my son did pick out a large tank-shaped balloon, though). Mostly they have only sentimental value. You can eat them and we did, but you will not experience any gourmet revelation. We’ve posted a recipe, so you can experiment with making a more delicious version yourself.

A new fair item is zsanna-manna products. These sweets are made of dried fruits, nuts and seeds. They are handmade, taste and look great.

Sugar candies and lollipops are a very old tradition at the fair. The funny thing is that regardless of the color, they all taste the same. They are part of my caramel-sweet childhood.

This is the modern version of candy stands. Rows of candy and gummy sweets, providing good income and happy times for local dentists.

And finally my favorite. Lacikonyha. Lacikonyha means “Lászlo’s kitchen”. I dont know why is it called this way, and I don’t know Laci, but since the fifteenth century, fair tents where they cook different types of meals are called lacikonyha. These latest ones replace the former cheap-looking and disgusting caravans offering the same stuff with a grain of dirt and arrogant service. I don’t know why that is, but the chefs at lacikonyha are almost always happy, full of enthusiasm and always ready to joke with you.

A good surprise was the famous smoked Parenica cheese from northern Slovakia.

You know you’re in love when your heart’s aflutter waiting to see if you’ll get a big gaudy gingerbread heart from the fair. What, that’s not the sure sign you were thinking of? At least then you’re spared the anxiety over whether you should save that cookie to gaze upon rapturously with thoughts of love, or just eat it. Sadly, many of the goodies sold at the local fairs just aren’t that tasty. Made for sturdiness rather than flavor, they might outlast your romance anyway. Here’s a cookie recipe that will satisfy lovers of spicy sweetness; you can always write Miľujem ťa or Szeretlek on it to satisfy any other lovers.

Print recipe

Mézeskalács/Perník/Spice cookies

This recipe is adapted from an old village cookbook. You can buy a mixed spice here called “Mézeskalács” or “Perník” spice, which includes cinnamon, allspice, anise, coriander, and nutmeg. If you can’t find a similar blend, substitute 1½ tsp ginger, 1½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp cloves, and ½ tsp nutmeg for a traditional gingerbread flavor.

Ingredients

Makes about 18 cookies

• 2½ cups/250 grams flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2½ tsp mézeskalács or perník spice blend (or see above)
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup/125 grams granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbshoney

For the icing:
• 7 oz/200 grams powdered sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or lemon juice
• food coloring, if desired

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 190 C.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, spices and cocoa powder.
• Add eggs and honey. Mix to form a soft dough – it might not look like it’s going to come together, but it will. (I bet this dough would be easy to make in a food processor, not that I have one.)
• On a floured surface, roll out dough to about an eighth of an inch (4 mm) thick. Cut out with cookie cutters, and bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 10-12 minutes.
• While cookies are baking, beat together the icing ingredients until smooth.
• Allow cookies to cool completely before icing. Decorate using a pastry bag fitted with a small tip, or even a ziplock bag with a corner cut off.

There is nothing fancy, nothing sophisticated about lángos. It is simple, greasy and so delicious that when Katy’s friend came from NYC for her second visit to Central Europe, she refused all fancy restaurants and asked for lángos.

Unfortunately, modern ideas about health are killing lángos stands. What rubbish! The deep fried dough is full of vitamin B, and the salty garlic water, which you spread over the lángos, is brimming with allicin. If you decide to eat it topped with cheese and sour cream, you get protein and calcium as well! Why, it’s practically health food.

Print recipe

Langos

Ingredients

Makes about 6 large or 10 smaller langos

• 12 oz/330 grams floury potatoes
• 3 cups/400 grams flour, plus more for flouring your work surface
• 1 sachet (7 grams) instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 1/3 cups/3 deciliters milk
• Oil to deep fry
• —————————
• To serve:
• Garlic
• Sour cream
• Grated cheese (Emmental or another firm, mild cheese)

Method

• Peel, roughly chop and boil the potatoes. While they are cooking, stir together the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
• When the potatoes are soft enough to pierce easily with a fork (it doesn’t matter if they start to fall apart a little), drain off the water and mash them while still hot. Add the milk and make as smooth a paste as you can – don’t worry if there are small lumps.
• Stir the potato mixture into the dry ingredients; when it is well combined, turn it out onto a clean surface and knead for a few minutes (you could also use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment). The dough will be soft and sticky; if you find it too sticky to work with, add a little flour, but don’t worry too much. Place the dough in a large, clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk. You can also put it in the refrigerator overnight at this point, if you prefer.
• When you are ready to fry the langos, heat about 2 cups/half a liter of oil over medium heat in a pan (we used our big non-stick skillet). While it is getting to frying temperature, you can prepare the langos. Flour your work surface liberally, and have more flour ready to sprinkle on the dough. For each langos, scoop out about ½ cup of the dough and blob it onto the work surface. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and pat it out to about ½ an inch/2 cm thick. If you use plenty of flour it won’t be too sticky, I promise!
• The oil is hot enough when you toss in a tiny scrap of dough and it bubbles fiercely. Carefully place the langos in the oil one at a time (2 might fit in a large pan, but don’t crowd them) and cook about 3 minutes or until the bottom is a deep golden color. Turn with a fork or tongs and cook another 3 minutes. Remove from the oil and allow to drain on a paper towel. Repeat until all langos are cooked..
• To serve, traditionally the langos is brushed with a mixture of garlic paste and water or oil. Crush a couple of cloves of garlic in a press or using a microplane grater, and mix with about 2 Tbs water or olive oil.
• On top of this, if you dare, spread sour cream and sprinkle with grated cheese. Enjoy!