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Slovak cuisine varies slightly from region to region across Slovakia . It was influenced by the traditional cuisine of its neighbours and it influenced them as well. The origins of traditional Slovak cuisine can be traced to times when the majority of the population lived self-sufficiently in villages, with very limited food imports and exports and with no modern means of food preservation or processing .

This gave rise to a cuisine heavily dependent on a number of staple foods that could stand the hot summers and cold winters. These included wheat, potatoes, milk and milk products, pork meat, sauerkraut and onion. To a lesser degree beef, poultry, lamb and goat, eggs, a few other local vegetables, fruit and wild mushrooms were traditionally eaten.

All these were usually produced and processed by families themselves with some local trade at the country markets. Wheat was ground, and bread, dumplings and noodles were made from it. Potatoes were mostly boiled or processed into potato dough. Milk was processed into a wide range of products such as butter, cream, sour cream, buttermilk, and various types of cheese etc.

Typical pork products include sausages, smoked bacon, and lard. Spices were not widely used, and animal fats and butter were used instead of cooking oils. Main beverages included fresh and sour milk, and beer. Contemporary Slovak cuisine is widely influenced by various world cuisines and uses many different ingredients, spices and industrially processed foods.

Slovak dishes [ edit ]

• Halu?ky
  • Bryndzove halu?ky : potato dumplings with bryndza (a sheep's milk cheese)
  • Strapa?ky : potato dumplings with sauerkraut
• Goose or duck feast ( husacie or ka?acie hody ): festive menu consisting of roasted goose ( husacina or husacie maso ) or duck meat ( ka?acie maso ), goose liver ( husacia pe?ienka ), greasy lok?e , stewed red cabbage, and sour cherry and poppy seed strudel ( ?trud?a ), traditional food of Slovensky Grob .
  • Lok?e : pancakes made of potato dough baked directly on the stove
• Bryndzove pirohy
• ?iroke rezance s tvarohom a slaninou : tagliatelle with quark (farmer's cheese) and fried bacon
• Zemiakove placky : potato pancakes fried in oil, also called haru?a in the Horehronie, Pohronie, Kysuce regions or baba , babka in the Orava region
• Granatiersky pochod or granadir , also known as granadirmar? and grenadirmar?
• Kuracie prsia s brosky?ou : chicken breast slices with ham and peach baked with cheese on the top
• D?atky , small balls made of mashed potatoes and flour, often served with bacon, typical Spi? dish
• Segedinsky gula? ( Szeged goulash) : a dish consisting of pork stew with sauerkraut and cream or sour cream, usually served with steamed dumpling slices ( kned?a )
• Reze? : schnitzel , usually breaded
• Vypra?any syr
• Dr?kova polievka

• 
  Bryndzove pirohy ( bryndza -filled pierogi )
• 
  Roasted duck leg with greasy lok?e and stewed red cabbage
• 
  Pork with Milanese sauce and yeast dumplings
• 
  Wiener Schnitzel and potato salad
• 
  "Natural-style" (unbreaded) chicken schnitzel

Soups and sauces [ edit ]

• Fazu?ova polievka (soup made of beans , usually with pork meat and/or sausages)
• Kapustnica (soup made of sauerkraut ), often also mushrooms, meat and sausage, and sometimes served in a bread bowl
• Rezancova polievka (chicken soup with noodles )
• Demikat ( bryndza -based soup)
• Tripe soup
• Gula?ova polievka , traditional goulash soup
• Kotlikovy gula? , simple goulash soup made of different vegetables, potato and meat (usually beef ) cooked together for hours
• Venison goulash , traditionally from deer , often served in a bread cup
• Garlic soup

Meat [ edit ]

Pork , beef and poultry are the main meats consumed in Slovakia, with pork being the most popular by a substantial margin. Among poultry, chicken is most common, although duck, goose, and turkey are also well established. Game meats, especially boar, rabbit, and venison , are also widely available throughout the year. Lamb and goat are also available, but for the most part are not very popular. The consumption of horse meat is generally frowned upon.

Grilled meat is not common in Slovakia. Instead, meat is either breaded and fried in oil ( schnitzel ), or cooked and served in sauce. Hungarian influences in Slovak cuisine can be seen in popular stews and goulashes. However, these have been given Slovak touches. Chicken paprikash is typically served with halu?ky and Hungarian goulash (spicy beef stew) is served with slices of a large bread-like steamed dumpling.

Local sausage types include krvavni?ky , a blood sausage , and jaternice (traditionally called hurky ), a sausage with rice containing any and all parts of a butchered pig.

• 
  Jaternice
• 
  Krvavni?ka

Traditional sweets and cookies [ edit ]

Usually baked at Christmas time, but also all year long, Slovak traditional sweets are usually home baked and harder to find in stores.

• Buchty ( Buchteln )
• Parene buchty (steamed dumplings with various fillings (jam, plum, curd, poppy) topped with poppy seeds, sugar, butter, sour cream, breadcrumbs or nuts, similar to Austrian Germknodel , and Chinese Baozi buns)
• Laskonky ( coconut meringue cookies with walnuts and creamy filling)
• ?em?ovka ( bread pudding )
• Ma?acie o?i (two layers of cookie-like round tarts "glued" with marmalade and poured with powdered sugar)
• Ry?ovy nakyp ( rice pudding cake)
• Orechovnik (sweet walnut roll)
• Makovnik (poppy seed roll)
• Bratislavske ro?teky (rolls of leavened dough filled with ground poppy seed or walnut, filling determines the shape)
• Trotle (two layers of cookie-like round tarts filled with chocolate cream and half-dipped in dark chocolate)
• Perniky (colloquially medovniky ; honey based cookies, similar to gingerbread)
• Zazvorniky/?umbierniky ( ginger flavoured biscuits)
• Medvedie labky ("bear paws" ? walnut/cocoa based cookies)
• Rezy (longer square (ie not round) form of cakes)
  • Bratislavske rezy (sponge cake with steamed whipped custard, chocolate and sweet rum-flavored syrup)
  • Domino rezy (festive cake with three preparation methods)
  • Grila?ky (wafers glued with "grila?" ? burnt sugar with butter, nuts and condensed milk)
  • Kreme? (cremeschnitte)
  • Metrovy kola? (meter cake)
  • Novozamocke rezy (pineapple creme cake)
  • Obli? prst (American cremeschnitte )
  • Pudingovy kola? so smotanou (pudding cake with cream)
  • Pun?ove rezy (sponge cake with jam layer and sugar icing with punch flavoring on top)
  • Slovan rezy (cocoa sponge cake with pudding cream and caramel whipped cream)
  • ?umienkovy zakusok (effervescent powder dessert)
  • ?iarske rezy (cocoa sponge cake with walnut filling)
  • ??tkove rezy (walnut cake with egg yolk glaze)
• Trdelnik or Skalicky trdelnik , a traditional cake baked on a rotating spit over open fire
• ?uhajdy (festive no-bake dessert, with chocolate on top and bottom and a middle layer of rum-flavored nuts)
• ?u?ance (rolled potato dumplings with sugar or poppy seeds)
• Zlate halu?ky ("golden halu?ky" ? tvaroh -semolina dumplings topped with sweet breadcrumbs)

Main daily meal [ edit ]

Traditionally the main meal of the day is lunch, eaten around noon. However, changing work routine has altered this in the recent decades; today, many Slovaks have their main meal in the evening. Lunch in Slovakia usually consists of soup and a main course. It is customary in Slovakia to bring a bottle of wine or other alcohol as a gift if one is invited to visit someone's home.

Books on Slovak cuisine [ edit ]

• Jan Babilon : Prva kucharska kniha , 1870
• Vojtech ?panko a kolektiv: Slovenska kucharka, vydavat . Osveta, Martin, 1977, 4.vydanie 1982
• Franti?ek Kotrba : Slovenska kucha?ka , Dona, ISBN   80-7322-025-3
• Anna Demrovska : Dobra slovenska kuchy?a , Kni?ne centrum, 2007, ISBN   80-85684-59-4
• ?udmila Dullova : Ve?ka slovenska kucharka , Ikar, 2007, ISBN   80-7118-783-6
• Jana Horecka : Najlep?ia slovenska kuchy?a , 2007, ISBN   80-8064-300-8
• Da?a Rackova : Nova slovenska kucharka , Ikar, 2007, ISBN   978-80-551-1563-4
• Zora Mintalova - Zubercova : V?etko okolo stola I. , Vydavate?stvo Matice slovenskej, 2009, ISBN   978-80-89208-94-4
• Zora Mintalova - Zubercova : V?etko okolo stola II. , Vydavate?stvo Matice slovenskej, 2010, ISBN   978-80-81150-13-5

See also [ edit ]

• Czech cuisine
• Polish cuisine

External links [ edit ]

• Illustrated Slovak recipes