Czech food: how to cook like a local

Want to learn about Czech food or looking for Czech recipes? Read Evie Harbury's guide, then check out the guide to Turkish food and Maltese food.

Recipes extracted from My Bohemian Kitchen by Evie Harbury (£20, Murdoch Books). Photographs by Ola O Smit. Recipes are sent by the publisher and not retested by us.

Czech cuisine

Czech cuisine is bold. Despite being a country not widely known for its gastronomy, boy, does the food speak volumes. It's accidentally seasonal and serendipitously simple. The flavours are similar to those you might be familiar with in German, Austrian and Polish cuisine (by no coincidence, since these are the countries that border it). With paprika, pickles, cabbage, mustard and dill featuring heavily, the rich cooked meats – such as beef, duck and pork – are complemented by perfectly prepared carbs and garden-grown vegetables. Other key flavour-makers that feature on a typical plate of food are caraway seeds, marjoram (both fresh and dried) and mushrooms (often foraged from the forests).

As a Bohemian, I firmly believe the best things in life come wrapped in dough. In Czech cuisine, these take the form of hearty, warming dumplings stuffed with smoked meat and served on sauerkraut, or even turned into a sweet treat filled with strawberries, apricots or plums. Not all the array of Czech dumplings are stuffed, though – some are served on the side to soak up the flavourful sauces and accompany meats.

Bakes and sweet treats are certainly a highlight of Czech cuisine, often favouring jam, fruit or nutty fillings over chocolate ones – the cakes, biscuits and bakes tend to be simple but purposeful. No fuss and few frills, but melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The linzer cookies featured here are a great example.

Like in plenty of places around the world, the food is the language of love, but not in a soppy way – in a "I’m going to prove I love you by showering you (metaphorically) in copious amounts of food that I spent hours of my life growing, nurturing and preparing" kind of way.

Importantly, the food is best washed down with slivovice, a Czech plum brandy that is drunk as an aperitif, digestif and everything in between. If someone offers you a taste of their homemade slivovice, made from the plums in their orchard, know that you’ve made a friend for life.

Czech recipes

Smoked ham stuffed dumplings (Bramborové knedlíky plnené uzeným masem)

Satisfying to both make and eat, this recipe has such simple ingredients and yet delivers an interesting and massively filling plate of food. In the Czech Republic, you can buy a large piece of cooked smoked ham in any supermarket or butcher but, as that is not the case everywhere else, I have suggested using pancetta instead. These dumplings are served sprinkled with what I’ve heard described as České zlato {chess-kair zla-toh} – ‘Czech gold’ – a poetic term for golden crispy onions that accurately expresses just how valuable a part of the meal they are, the all-important finishing touch that brings the whole dish together.

Marinated cheese (Nakládaný hermelín)

This is one of Bohemia’s most iconic beer snacks, found in nearly every pub in the region. It goes hand in hand with Czech beer culture, where pivní chut’ovky (beer snacks) are an essential part of the drinking experience – arguably just as important as the beer itself. This is often made with hermelín, a soft Czech cheese from Sedlcany – 25 miles south of Prague – that is akin to camembert. It’s usually served with a couple of thick slices of freshly baked rye bread and always a large, ice-cold pilsner. A tangy, spiced, creamy snack that takes to beer like a duck to water. You will need a 500ml container or wide jar.

Linzer cookies (Linecké cukroví)

Two buttery biscuits sandwiched together with a gooey layer of jam: the textures here balance carefully on the line between beautifully crumbly and deliciously melty. As visually appealing as they are tasty, these cookies are an ideal sweet snack. Note that these need to be made the day before you want to eat or serve them, and the dough also needs chilling time. They are perfect to pack into a box to give as a gift, or just to keep on hand for your afternoon cup of tea. You can make mini ones as a part of your Christmas biscuit offering, too.