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Welcome to My Czech Recipes Blog!

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Welcome to my favorite Czech Recipes page. I created this recipe site with the intention of sharing my family’s favorite Czech recipes to all browsers of this site. These recipes go back numerous generations and I am sure a few of these recipes have even been tweaked here and there along the way. These dishes bring back fond memories of family gatherings at my Teta’s summer home, as well as large dinners at Babi’s (Grandmother’s) house. These Czech recipes have established a label of “comfort food” in our home and have enjoyed sharing these meals with good friends, not to mention a cold pilsner. It is true I really enjoyed these dishes when I was a young boy. My Czech ancestry was inherited from my father who is 100% Czechoslovak. When they were newlyweds, Dad had no problem persuading my mom (of German and French ancestry) the wonders and fulfillment of this rich hearty eastern European food. My mother caught onto these dishes right away having a history of preparing German food. As m
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Review of Sunkafleky - Czech Noodle Casserole

A few weeks ago, my wife pinned from Czechinthekitchen website, this “ Fleky ”or Czech ham and egg noodle casserole recipe and gave it a try. I do recall eating this dish as a young child that was prepared by my mother or grandmother. Whom actually prepared the dish, I do not recall.  It is only until now I have been re-introduced to this Czech comfort food dish.  I refer to Fleky as eastern European comfort food because low cost hearty meals typically involve eggs, noodles, or mushrooms or a combination of all those. The beauty of this recipe is that it is so cheap to make and often only requires use of minimal ingredients that most may already have on hand (egg noodles, milk, eggs, and ham or bacon). This is also a great dish to make in a pinch because the prep time for this authentic Czech dish is minimal compared to other meals such as Svickova, Koprova, Chicken Paprika, etc. Unlike many casseroles, the appearance of the completely baked Fleky is attractive as the egg noodles
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Smažené žampióny: Czech Fried Mushrooms

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A great savory Czech appetizer or even main course are mushrooms. A commonly served mushroom dish is Smazene zampiony or fried mushrooms. These tasty little  nuggets pair nicely with a cold pilsner or even a glass of wine. As much as I enjoy tasting deep fried foods, I am not a big fan of the deep frying process in the kitchen given the potential mess involved. Also, if I am going to break out the deep fryer or iron skillet for frying, I will usually have several deep fried items in mind to make the effort worth the clean up. For example, if I deep fry mushrooms, I will also consider coating and frying up some zucchini, cauliflower, and even cheese. (Please check out my other post on Czech fried cheese). When deep frying appetizers or even chicken, I prefer to cook with my fry daddy kept in the garage. I will set up a portable table and fry away in my garage which keeps the odor of the oil out of the home. Fried mushrooms are a hit in my home and these go nicely with a sauce accompa
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How to Make Dried Apple Slices – Křížaly

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Krizaly before baking Doing some research across various message boards and recipes sites (of which some were translated from Czech); I found numerous methods to prepare dried apples. This dried fruit is a popular snack in the Czech Republic. There are many benefits to dried apples. They are healthy, lightweight, provide energy boost, and are an excellent way to preserve apples that might be on their way out or getting soft. I like to add dried apples to hot cereals or incorporate into dumplings. Homemade dried apples are also a heck of a lot cheaper than buying them packaged in the dried state. I enjoyed digging away on this topic as some websites showed the apples being dried next to a furnace or tented alongside a radiator for a couple of days! If I had radiators throughout my home, I think I would give this method a try. My furnace is enclosed in a very dusty room with too many spiders to count, so I decided to pass on that approach and dried the apples using the electric oven
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Trying to Remove Jalapeno Heat from Hands

Cooler weather and football games kicking into full gear made the weekend dinner menu an easy one. Our Sunday evening meal consisted of a large pot of homemade chili. The responsibility of preparing chili in our home is alternated between my wife and me.  As most of my Sunday was consumed with yard work, chili production fell into her hands for the day. While we both stick to similar recipes, my wife goes down a milder path that produces a tasty batch yet without the influence of chili or jalapeno peppers. In preparing our meal, I added my own last minute heat by chopping up some jalapeno peppers picked straight out of my garden. I diced these peppers fine and put them in a side dish that served my own personal chili topping. To say these peppers were hot would be an understatement.  The level of heat or scoville units of a jalapeno can be misleading. I have tried some jalapenos that were mild as a cubanelle or poblano on one extreme, and then had some be as fiery as a cayenne or
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Blanching Green Peppers for Freezing

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It is unfortunate that most of my garden produce is coming to a halt as the growing season is ending. The tomatoes, corn, cucumbers and zucchini have run their course with only the broccoli and peppers remaining.  On that note, there were four robust size peppers that were recently picked along with a few jalapenos. As we did not plan on using these peppers anytime soon, I decided it would be best prepare them for freezer storage for later use.  In prior years, we keep a bag of frozen peppers available for soups, stews, pizzas, and chili. Even if they aren’t home grown, it is good to stock up on them when they go on sale at the store during peak season. Since these peppers are going into cooked dishes, they require a blanching process which is very simple. Blanching is an extreme hot water/cold water shock to the food that allows for flavor and appearance to remain preserved when the item is store in frozen state. I have done blanching with not only peppers, but also broccoli an
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Three Easy Steps to Preparing St. Louis Spare Ribs

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Yesterday I decided to get my barbecue fix on. It has been a long time since I prepared a batch of spare ribs and Saturday was definitely the day.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to prepare a decent rack of ribs off the grill. Just know the proper steps of trimming the silver skin and excess fat, preparing the ribs for pre-baking, then finally, grilling. Step number one was to remove the silver skin from the back of the rack. The silver skin is that thin opaque or sometimes white but firm elastic film that covers pretty much the entire back of the rack of bones. I highly recommend a boning or filet knife to do the job. I had neither of those cutlery items, so I had to use one of my smaller chef’s knives that made the task rather cumbersome as it is not as flexible as the other knives. Basically start on one side of the rack and pry the knife edge under the skin, and work to peel the skin off using the assistance of the knife to try and get large sheets of this skin off in
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