[quote="gsdgsd"]One of my favorite places on earth! (Prague - I've never made it to Slovakia) Are the Czechs/Slovaks the source of "FlyingCarp"? [/quote]

There's a relationship to carp for sure, but I was more thinking of the invasive silver carp that leap out of the water when I made up the name.

But yeah, Prague is an amazing city. Certainly one of the best times of my life was living there. Slovakia is pretty similar to the Czech Republic, but it's more rural and the people are friendlier.

[quote="gsdgsd"]And (if you answer in the affirmative, I'll start an appropriate thread in the appropriate base) I have to ask anyone with ties to the region -- are you a hockey and/or soccer/football supporter? [/quote]
I like to watch hockey and soccer when I'm there, but I don't actively support any teams. I also lived in Bratislava and HC Slovan hockey games there were a blast. It was literally the cheapest place to buy beer in the city! That always astounded me so much I had to go back about six times each game just to check that the price was still so low.

[quote="Flack"] Just a friendly reminder that the town I live in (Yukon, OK) was founded by Czechs, and we hold the Czech Day Parade the first Saturday of every October. Plan your vacations accordingly. Goulash and kolaches for all! [/quote]

I think I read something about that, but had forgotten! Or perhaps it was a town in Texas with Czech ties. Still, it's interesting that they made it out there to start founding towns. Though I guess it's pretty well documented if you think of somebody like Willa Cather.

I recently lived in Pittsburgh, which was teeming with Czechs and Slovaks. It's actually one of the main reasons my wife and I decided to move there. Quick story:

The first time my wife visited the States with me we took a trip to a few cities and Pittsburgh was one of them. During the trip, we visited the Andy Warhol museum. It just so happened that during that one day we visited the museum they were celebrating Warhol's Carpatho-Rusyn heritage. The Rusyns come from eastern Slovakia and Warhol's family actually came from a place very close to where my wife is from. So, we're already shocked at the coincidence, but the biggest shock came when we start talking to some of the people there. Turns out we ran into a woman who was from the same village (population ~200) as my wife's mom and knew her family. That was too much. When we got married and decided to move to the US, there was no question that we'd live in Pittsburgh. Turns out it was a great choice and we did make a ton of Slovak friends. ...Now we had to move to Lancaster, PA for work and our only friends have funny beards and straw hats.

[quote="Pinback"] Man, I was gonna get on and post pretty much this exact same thing. But now... well. I guess there's a new COOKING EXPERT in town, folks.

I'll show myself out.



=( [/quote]

No worries, Pinback. I'm no cooking expert, only an expert eater of Czech/Slovak food. I can't cook the stuff (besides vyprazany syr = blocks of breaded and fried cheese).

[quote="FlyingCarp"]Also, ground beef will never make a gulas. You need stew beef. I'll talk to my wife about providing a real recipe. You've got it more or less, but there are some serious problems you need to address. Stay tuned.[/quote]

Man, I was gonna get on and post pretty much this exact same thing. But now... well. I guess there's a new COOKING EXPERT in town, folks.

I'll show myself out.



=(

Just a friendly reminder that the town I live in (Yukon, OK) was founded by Czechs, and we hold the Czech Day Parade the first Saturday of every October. Plan your vacations accordingly. Goulash and kolaches for all!

[quote="FlyingCarp"]Alright, this is something I actually have some knowledge about. I lived two years in Prague, married a Slovak woman, go there for a month every summer, and speak Slovak as well.[/quote]

One of my favorite places on earth! (Prague - I've never made it to Slovakia) Are the Czechs/Slovaks the source of "FlyingCarp"?

And (if you answer in the affirmative, I'll start an appropriate thread in the appropriate base) I have to ask anyone with ties to the region -- are you a hockey and/or soccer/football supporter?

re knedliky - I would have liked to make dumplings, but there was a lack of time yesterday and I needed something to make it palatable to the kids. Plus kid #2 has an egg allergy so finding a recipe was too much of a challenge.

And believe me, we're proud consumers of Pilsner Urquell in this house, but this seemed like an appropriate time to use up the bottle of Schlenkerla that had been sitting around.

[quote="Ice Cream Jonsey"]As a kid, we had it with elbow macaroni.[/quote]

So did we! I just assumed that was how it was supposed to be made and I was shocked and dismayed later in life.

I'm also highly qualified to be in here because I played the first 4 hours of the new Deus Ex game.

For beer, you need one of the following:

Plzensky Prazdroj = Pilsner Urquell

Zlaty Bazant = Golden Pheasant

Staropramen = Staropramen

Alright, this is something I actually have some knowledge about. I lived two years in Prague, married a Slovak woman, go there for a month every summer, and speak Slovak as well. I've also eaten a shitload of real gulas.

First, noodles are your problem. Real gulas has no noodles. You need knedlicky. They're like moist bread dumplings. Way better than noodles.

Also, ground beef will never make a gulas. You need stew beef. I'll talk to my wife about providing a real recipe. You've got it more or less, but there are some serious problems you need to address. Stay tuned.

Ah, yes! I think that goulash and sausage would get along swimmingly. I'm going to advocate for us having goulash when we go to the store next. As a kid, we had it with elbow macaroni. Elbow macaroni is cheap and plentiful and comes in a dark blue box. I like that we're not being snobs in this thread about the pasta. **comes in close with a whisper to conspire** you know, like some other cooking threads around here.

Somewhere around 17, 18 years ago, I tried to make Czech goulash for a girl. Rather than cubing a pound and a half of meat, which sounded like work, I just substituted ground beef. After cooking it for an hour and a half, it was about the consistency of used chewing gum. I also didn't think to serve it over anything, so I gave her a bowl of rubbery ground beef and onions. I never saw her again.

Tonight, I tried again: Vepřový guláš (pork goulash), largely lifted from Joza Brizova's "The Czechoslovak Cookbook."

1 1/2 lbs cubed pork shoulder
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
salt
2 cups water (separated)
2 tbsp flour

fry up the onion in the oil (which is replacing lard here). Add the pork, paprika, caraway and salt, and brown. Add 1/2 cup of the water, reduce heat, simmer for an hour. Dump in the flour and stir, add the rest of the water, simmer another 20 minutes.

I realized about halfway through this that the only noodles we had in the house were whole wheat rotini, so... whole wheat rotini it was.

Overall the result was hearty, but lacking in zest. If I did it again, I'd up the paprika or add some garlic in. It needed something to feel like more than "pork and gravy."

Beverage accompaniment: Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen. It's the most appropriate Central European beer for a meal like that, since it smells like smoked sausage.