Bike tour czech republic, bicycle tours europe

Cuisine of Central and Eastern Europe

An indivisible and one of the most pleasant parts of travelling is getting to know local cuisine. Even though, the Central European countries are not considered to be the culinary superpowers, thanks to a wide offer and long tradition, their specialties hold a good position among specialties from other parts of the world. While travelling, you will have a chance to taste worldwide known meals in places of their origin. Most importantly, you will have a chance to discover meals you have never heard of before and with which you will fall in love forever. Not only that you will be able to choose from an unbelievable number of types of beer and wine, but also you will have a chance to discover amazing culinary surprises either in the form of traditional cooking or modern and trickily prepared meals.

We have prepared a short list of meals, which could “tip the scales” when deciding on where you will go for your next holiday.

Sweet Dishes and Desserts
Sachertorte has been one of the most famous cakes of the world since 1832. It was invented by Franz Sacher for mighty prime minister Klemens Wenzel von Metternich in Vienna, Austria. It counts as one of the most famous Viennese culinary specialties.

Fruit dumplings are made of various types of dough such as leavened, semolina, potato or cottage cheese (“quark” in German). The Dumlings are filled with fresh or canned fruit or plum jam. They are also sprinkled with powder sugar with shredded hard quark, cinnamon, ground poppy seed or walnuts with melted butter poured all over this meal.

Apfelstrudel is traditional pastry of Central Europe. The preferred traditional way how to serve this delicious pie is quite unique. Therefore, the strudel must be dished up warm, while adding sugar makes the taste both smooth and delicious. Though, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream are also very popular.

Pancakes are made of leavened dough smeared with jam or eaten just with sugar and fresh fruit.

Lebkuchen English translation for Lebkuchen is gingerbread. It is an old traditional Christmas sweet which can be tracked back to Franconian monks in the 13th century.

Crepes are thin pancakes which are served with the best season fruits, ice cream, chocolate, whipped cream and nuts.

Quarkkeulchen is sweet main dish made from quark, mashed boiled potatoes, little bit of flour, an egg and some grated lemon peel. The ensuing dough is baked as small, less than palm-sized pancakes and eaten hot with sugar and cinnamon, or with fruit, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, etc.

Cakes with filling and pies It is impossible to find this incredible meal as a main course in restaurants nowdays, but you can find it in the bakeries. Cakes with filling made of leavened dough are filled with quark, ground poppy seed, plum jam or marmalade and are baked in the oven. They are often sprinkled with sugar.

Stollen is a bread-like cake traditionally made in Germany. It is a fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour and usually dried citrus peel (called “Zitronade”), dried fruit, almonds, and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon.

Traditional small pies is also known as wedding pies and no doubt, it can be found in various forms. Various toppings (based on the region) such as nuts, quark or poppy seeds aid to create delicious pastry, indeed.

Kaiserschmarrn is a famous Viennese culinary product. This time legend says that this dessert was invented for Emperor Franz Joseph I. It consists of shredded pancake and stewed fruit and is simply delicious.

Cheese Danish joins apple strudel as one of the most famous specialties - wafer-thin strudel pastry filled with sweet cheese and raisins.

Further, you can encounter fruit salads or ice-cream sundaes.

Soups
Soups are most frequently served as a first course of the meal and they are an indivisible part of lunch menus. You have a chance to explore many types of various broth and thick soups.

Beef broth with amazing liver meat balls seasoned with marjoram, black pepper and garlic.

Thick soups are prepared from meat, vegetables, peas or potatoes. For instance, potato soup is a Czech national specialty with various regional or family alterations, seasoned with marjoram, black pepper and sometimes with cumin, which gives this soup a tasty flavor.

Tripe soup is as exotic as it may sound to the foreigners. It´s one of the most popular soups in the Czech Republic. Tripe (boiled beef stomach cut into small pieces) is boiled for a longer period of time along with paprika, which gives the tripe a piquant taste.

Garlic soup is the most popular soup for one simple reason – it is very mild for your stomach and if you had little too much to eat or to drink the previous night, it is the best meal to start off a new day!

Some soups are especially popular primarily in the Moravian regions, where they are treated with love. Almost everywhere, you can run into “sour soup” or “cabbage soup”. The main ingredients of these soups are cabbage, sauerkraut, potatoes and smoked meat. Both soups are made thicker with cream.

Main Courses
Beef, pork, poultry, game (venison) and today highly preferred fish – all this you can find on the menus in the Czech restaurants. And sauces are made in this region ever since. They are thick or smooth, have a strong characteristic taste and are an indivisible part of many meals.

Cream sauce must be mentioned first – it would be a sin not to do so. It is made of marinated beef, which is larded with bacon, stewed with cut root vegetables and spices. The sauce is passed through a sieve, made thicker and milder by cream. All this is served with cranberries, a piece of lemon, dumplings and decorated with cream.

Sweet tomato sauce with thyme, spicy horseradish sauce and aromatic dill sauce are the most characteristic representatives of the Czech cuisine.

Wiener schnitzel (Viennese cutlet) consists of a thin slice of veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried. Traditional way of eating Weiner schnitzel is with potato salad and a slice of lemon.

Rosted pork leg is marbled meat with a thick layer of “crackling” and crispy fat. Served on the board with side dish and beer is one of the “must taste” in Central Europe.

Roasted pork with dumplings and sauerkraut is another typical Czech meal. It consists of pork roast (shoulder, rump, ribs) and is seasoned with cumin. Not to have a beer with this meal is one of the biggest culinary mistakes you can make while visiting the Czech Republic.

Deep fried cheese (colloquially called “smazak”) is maybe less noble, but the most contemporary of the Czech national dishes. A slice of cheese is coated in bread-crumbs like Wiener schnitzel and fried and often topped with a tartar sauce.

Leipziger Allerlei is vegetable dish, that can be served as a side dish as well. It consists of morels, baby carrots, peas and white asparagus.

If you visit South Bohemia, a region famous for its fishing, you will have a chance to try some fish specialties such as pike, eel fried on butter, or an irresistible roasted catfish.

Side dishes
It is obvious that you can find everything from boiled potatoes, rice and pasta on the menu. But there is always one specialty – dumplings! A piece of dumpling on the end of your fork will allow you to take up a lot of cream or meat sauce. In combination with meat, this culinary pleasure will just simply melt in your mouth into thousands of flavors. There is no other comparable piece of dough cut into slices. Besides the leavened dumplings, there are also potato or “hairy” dumplings, which are made of raw potatoes and are served only occasionally.

Potato pancakes are a typical folk meal made of raw potatoes which are shredded, bond together with flour and eggs and seasoned with marjoram and garlic. Sometimes, they contain pieces of smoked meat or are served with sauerkraut and a slice of smoked meat.

Potato salad varies from a region to region and from a cook to cook. It is a delicious side dish made of potatoes – especially delicious as a side dish for 'Wiener Schnitzel'!

Beer cuisine
In this part of the world, beer is beverage number one. Therefore, no one can be surprised that a specific “beer cuisine” has been created here. Smaller meals which go well with beer are offered in all pubs and beerhouses to fight the hunger of the drinking guests.

Marinated Camambert (molded cheese) is a Czech specialty. It is marinated in oil with black pepper, onion and other spices.

“Drowned people” is a colloquial name for pickled sausages in vinegar, spices and tons of onion.

Garlic toast is a slice of fried piece of bread smeared with garlic. But this is not the “toast” you know – trust us, it is a completely different meal!

Headcheese is served with cut onion, sprinkled with vinegar and eaten with freshly baked bread.

Beer cheese is a soft cheese (Camembert type), which is often mixed with raw garlic, mustard and spread on a slice of freshly baked bread.

Weißwürste (“white sausages”) are a specialty from Munich. They are always accompanied with sweet mustard, pretzels, and wheat beer.