What to eat Czech Republic? culinary specialties and gastronomy

As with their Central European neighbors, Czechs often start the meal with a soup (polévka). The lightest soups are broths - beef or chicken - with pasta. More substantial soups include zeleninova polévka

, with vegetables, as well as the famous česnečka, a soup flavored with garlic and topped with potatoes and bread croutons. Nevertheless, Czechs eat few vegetables. As for salads, they are mainly based on mayonnaise. A little bit of everything is added: potatoes, ham, hard-boiled eggs and of course beets.

Among the most popular cold dishes are obložené chlebíčky. These toasts - beautifully decorated with veka, or Viennese baguette - are filled with cheese, cold cuts and hard-boiled egg, not to mention an endless variety of salads with mayonnaise. One of the specialities not to be missed is pražská sunka (Prague ham), which is very famous outside the country, for example in Germany and Poland, other delicatessen products include moravské uzené (smoked ham from Moravia), uherák (sausage), debrecinská pečeně (cold roast from Debrecen), tlačenka (head cheese) and poličan

(smoked salami).

Conversely, there are few cheeses in the Czech Republic. The best known is olomoucké tvarůžky, a small dry tomme from Olomouc, which has a protected geographical indication (PGI). However, there is the very popular smažený sýr, a fried cheese appetizer, served with a salad, or as a main course with French fries. Cheese and cold cuts are often served with pickles. The most famous are the Znojmo ones, or znojemské okurky

.

The national meat dish, which can be found throughout the country, is called svíčková. It is a sirloin stewed in a cream sauce and served with cranberry compote. This dish is often accompanied by knedlíky. These balls of dough that look like steamed buns are emblematic of Czech cuisine. They are hearty and effectively absorb the sauces that usually cover meat dishes. Another nearby specialty, halušky, is made of small crumbs of knedlíky dough - made from potatoes - topped with a sauce of smoked bacon and cream. Ideal before a long afternoon walk in winter. Játrové knedlíčky

(liver dumplings), on the other hand, are eaten with a light but very fragrant broth.

The term vepřová refers to roast pork, a common dish in restaurants, as well as jitrnice (liver sausage) or vinná klobása (wine sausage) that are grilled. Rather reserved for special occasions, roast goose (pečená husa) is accompanied by potatoes and candied red cabbage. Although Viennese schnitzel (schnitzel/řízek) or goulash (guláš

) are Austrian and Hungarian specialties respectively, they are also very common dishes in Prague restaurants. A traditional Czech Christmas meal consists of a series of fairly simple but tasty dishes. It begins with rybí polévka, a fish, cabbage and potato soup, and then the main course is served: vánoční kapr, fried carp fillets, usually accompanied by bramborový salát, a rich potato salad topped with hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise and chopped pickles.

On the sweet side, a Christmas meal always ends with a vánočka, a brioche braided with candied lemon peel and rum with sometimes raisins, without forgetting tasty vánoční cukroví, small shortbread that comes in all shapes and sizes. This time of year is a time to indulge in a thousand and one sweets that can be found at Christmas markets, especially the one in Prague, located on Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí). Those with a sweet tooth will be able to take home a box of the famous vánoční cukroví

in their luggage.

The most common are maslove pecivo, which consist of two layers of cookies filled with jam. Linecke testo dvoubarevne feature a pretty black and white checkerboard pattern with vanilla and cocoa. The simpler parizske pecivo are wafer cigars, sometimes filled with custard. Medvedi tlapicky ("bear paws") are a kind of madeleine with a chocolate coating on the end and flaked almonds. The vanilkove rohlicky, cut into crescent shapes, are flavored with vanilla and generously sprinkled with powdered sugar. Finally, the pernik na figurky are probably the most symbolic cookies of Christmas. These gingerbread cookies are often shaped like trees or stars and are elaborately decorated with white icing. Prague's winter markets are a good opportunity to devour a trdelník, a spit cake that comes in the form of a tube of golden dough sprinkled with sugar. The hungriest can even have it filled with scoops of ice cream and chocolate syrup. Enjoy it with a glass of svařák

, a mulled wine with spices and orange.

But the rest of the year Czechs remain greedy. Závin or štrúdl - thicker than Austrian strudel - is often filled with apple, walnuts, cherries, tvaroh (fresh cheese) or poppy seeds (makový závin). Palačinka is a huge pancake filled with fruit and ice cream, often topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream: for big hungers. While the local cuisine is generally rich, the Czechs eat a lot of fruit, which abounds in the summer. Ovocné knedlíky are amazing little fruit ravioli, which can be filled with plum (švestkové), apricot (meruňkové) or strawberry (jahodové

), usually sprinkled with crushed nuts before serving. Makovec is a very moist poppy seed cake topped with a light icing. The koláč is a type of small brioche tartlet that can be filled with a multitude of ingredients: jam, fresh cheese or even poppy seeds. There is even a larger version called valašský frgál, which originated in Wallachia in the east of the country. As for pastries, there is an abundance of bread(chléb) of all kinds - black, white, sesame seed - as well as buttered buns(buchta) served for breakfast. Prepared only for Easter, velikonoční beránek is simply a lamb-shaped bun reminiscent of the Alsatianosterlammele.

Located at the crossroads between the traditional wine, beer and vodka drinking areas, the Czech Republic is more than experienced when it comes to alcohol, starting with beer (pivo

). With a consumption of almost 145 liters of beer per year and per capita, the country holds the world record, far ahead of the Germans (100 liters) or the Belgians (66 liters). Since the early Middle Ages, breweries have flourished throughout the country. Every village, every castle had its own. Beer bars multiplied to become the favorite meeting places and nothing has changed today. Many village breweries have disappeared, although a new back-to-basics movement is resurrecting many of them. Czech beers - usually light and hardly bitter - are often ranked among the best in the world.

The most prestigious local beer remains Pilsner Urquell, brewed in the town of Pilsen and sold around the world. Produced since the 18th century, it is a variety of lager, always imitated, never equaled, the best of which is said to be served in the U Zlatého Tygra brewery in Prague. Gambrinus comes from the same brewery and its less bitter taste, as well as its slightly lower cost, seems to have made it the most served beer in the country.

Another well-known beer, Budweiser Budvar, brewed in České Budějovice in the south of the country, is also popular with Europeans. It will not be confused with its American namesake. Prague is not to be outdone, with the huge Staropramen brewery in the Smíchov district also being highly exported. Each region seems to have its own preferences and we see real local and regional identities such as Bernard from Humpolec, Zubr from Přerov, Regent from Třeboň, Starobrno from Brno, etc. Even Prague has "neighborhood" beers: the Pražan in Holešovice, the Krušovice (Prague surroundings), the Velké Popovice, etc. Not surprisingly, the Czech Republic is one of the few countries in the world where beer is cheaper than mineral water. On average, you can expect to pay between €1 and €2 for a pint.

Wine (víno

), whose cultivation dates back to the Roman Empire, is mainly produced in the Moravian region in the southeast of the country, where almost all the vineyards are located. Among the quality white wines is Ryzlink Rinsky, with a bouquet reminiscent of muscatel. The Müller Thurgau, one of the best wines in the country, is light and fragrant and goes well with fish. The Neuburské has a slightly smoky bouquet and goes well with poultry. Another wine, from the Mělník region (northwest of Prague), called Svata Ludmila, is considered the most prestigious in the country. Burčak is drunk during the harvest. It is a bourru wine (a drink between grape juice and white wine at a maximum of 3 degrees). The Czech Republic is less famous for its red wines, although there are some interesting wines such as Rulandské Cervené, Valtické Zamecké and Vavrinecké.

The country also produces a wide variety of liqueurs and brandies, the most famous of which is undoubtedly slivovice, a plum liqueur from the Valaško region in Eastern Moravia, which can reach a frightening 90 degrees of alcohol, although it is usually closer to 40 degrees. Of course, there are other fruit liqueurs, such as hruškovice with pear, maruškovice with apricot, čerešňovica with cherry or jablkovica

made from apple. Becherovka is an alcoholic drink produced in Karlovy Vary, made from about twenty plants, including cloves and cinnamon. It is a very popular digestif that reminds of Christmas sweets with its sweet and spicy taste. More surprisingly, tuzemák is a sugar beet alcohol that is supposed to imitate rum. It comes from the inländer-rum produced at a time when the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not easily get sugar cane because of the lack of colonies. Finally, fernet is produced in Plzeň. This bitter alcoholic drink produced from herbs is very similar to the Italian Fernet-Branca.