It was during one of my pregnancies when I fell out of love with shop-bought ketchup. My taste became sharper and more sensitive to artificial flavourings and chemical preservatives, so I naturally avoided them in all foods. On one occasion though, I tried my mum's homemade ketchup, and it felt like a discovery. As a … Continue reading Home-made Ketchup
Inspired by a visitor to Cookslovak Facebook page who asked about 'a baked green bean egg dish that my mother used to make', I thought back to my time as a university student. I remember eating something similar at my aunt's house in the south of Slovakia, where they still grow their own yellow runner beans … Continue reading Yellow Runner Bean Soufflé
The Carpathian Mountains - a long mountain range running across Central and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia - have always been home to rich fauna. Brown bears, wolves, martens and wild boars, foxes, mouflons, or deer are only a few game species that populate the Carpathians in Slovakia. Some of them are still hunted for food … Continue reading Carpathian Fallow Deer Fillets with Mushrooms
Summer is an ideal time for getting together out in the open. Here in Slovakia, a small landlocked country in the middle of Europe, summer peaks in July and August with temperatures most likely to be between 26 - 30ºC. We've had extremely hot and dry summers in the last couple of years when the … Continue reading Summer festivals celebrate life and good food
As with all other produce this summer, we're blessed with a plentiful crop of apricots. Their main growing area is in the warm southern regions of Slovakia, but thanks to the new tougher varieties developed over the last few years, we can now harvest this soft, fleshy fruit in colder climates as well. I don't … Continue reading Preserving apricots
It's time again for preserving summer produce from our gardens. Slovak summer started very early this year, in fact, it replaced spring with temperatures going up to 26 - 30ºC in April and May, something we haven't seen in 80 years. It meant we could harvest summer fruit and vegetables much earlier than usual, and … Continue reading Home-made Redcurrant Syrup
Last year I explored the history behind kiflicki, an ancient name for yeasted rolls that originated in the old Kingdom of Hungary centuries ago. Slovaks were part of the kingdom alongside other nations like Hungarians, Romanians, Croatians, Bosnians or Rusyns, so you'll find variations on kiflicki in all these cuisines, albeit under slightly different names. My search … Continue reading Bryndza Cheese Crescents
This year's strawberry season has been so good and so long. Ample sunshine and an uncharacteristically warm spring made the berries ripen earlier than usual and brought about very good crops, even in areas that aren't normally considered 'strawberry-friendly'. To get hands-on experience of the harvest, we went to a self-pick farm about an hour … Continue reading Delicate Strawberry Pie
Fantastic news has just arrived from Yantai, China, where the annual Gourmand Awards Ceremony took place on 26th May 2018. A Taste of Slovakia book, which had been chosen by Gourmand International to represent Slovakia at this prestigious world cookbook awards, was named second best in the Eastern Europe Category. Although it was a self-published book, … Continue reading A Taste of Slovakia made it to The Best in the World
My earliest memories of Steamed Buns with Cocoa and Jam come from the time when I first became aware of what was put on the table. Buchty na pare, as these delicious buns are called in Slovak, is a classic dish that will probably never lose its appeal for children and sweet-toothed adults. At least here … Continue reading Steamed Buns with Cocoa and Jam
