Christmas recipes

Discussion in 'Food & Drink' started by Anonymous, Nov 27, 1999.

  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I have a Czechoslovakian girl visiting me at Christmas and would like to suprise her with some traditional Czechoslovakian Christmas food. Can anyone help me with some recipes?

    Faye
    sykesf@acr.net.au
     
  2. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    The best and most traditional Christmas recipe is fried carp and potato salad (eaten in 90% Czech families for dinner on 24th December) - if you are interested in it, please, let me know. I am collecting recipes and cookbooks for many years, so I can send you dozens of Czech traditonal recipes.
    best wishes, Jana
     
  3. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    Out of interest I would like to try fried carp! Carp to me means goldfish or koi carp, the ornamental ones! Which carp is used? There are several fish in the carp family. Be interesting to know.
     
  4. Halef

    Halef Well-Known Member

    No goldfish, no koi. Nice, big, normal carp :) (Cyprinus carpio). Weighs about three kilos, about half a meter long, looks like this:

    [​IMG]
     
  5. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    They look the business! I couldn't imagine goldfish or koi being used!! :lol:

    We used to have fried mackerel and eels when my uncle used to come round as a child - only fried fish I've tried!

    Thanks
     
  6. Jan

    Jan Member

    You can get carp if you are close to Chinese community, but watch for the bones. When I moved to US, the first years I always went to Chinatown to get carp, then one day I set enough is enough and start using orange ruffy, or how to spell this wonderful fish. No more bones to look for. :lol:
     
  7. Eva2

    Eva2 Well-Known Member

    Carp is served on Christmas Eve. The big stuff on Christmas Day is roasted goose with dumplings and red cabbage.
     
  8. Sílený Jízda

    Sílený Jízda Active Member

    Instructions for cooking carp...

    1. Take one carp fish
    2. Remove entrails
    3. Remove scales
    4. Place carp on oak board
    5. Lay board crossways over an open fire
    6. Remove board when charred black
    7. Throw away the carp
    8. Eat the board

    Seriously though, it is what they eat. I had it once at my wife's famlies home while there. The carp was tolerable. The fish soup was another ordeal entirely. Neither one I would care for again. It was the only stuff over there I found not all that great other than the infamous "stinky cheese" they have. Even the wife isn't to fond of the carp or soup.

    I say cook her up some traditional American stuff. She's already had the fish. If you do opt for the carp though we have recipies as well.

    :wink:
     
  9. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    I was out looking for carp yesterday, but had no luck! There is an East European grocery store that I walked past yesterday, that i didn't know existed and popped in. No carp..... I will try the Jewish supermarkets too.
     
  10. Sílený Jízda

    Sílený Jízda Active Member

    Any luck? Any new updates?
     
  11. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    Not sure if you mean me, but not yet! :wink:
     
  12. SMZ

    SMZ Well-Known Member

    Brigitte -- Don't be put off by the negative comments about carp. When I was bicycling through the southern part of the Czech Republic in September, I stayed overnight in Trebon and had the most amazing grilled carp on skewers. It was absolutely outstanding.

    Consider smoked carp also... really wonderful, especially if someone else does the work of smoking it! :D

    Susan
     
  13. Sílený Jízda

    Sílený Jízda Active Member

    LOL, I'm a fish eating machine and have had just about every kind you can eat. Being born and raised on the Gulf Coast of texas will do that for ya. But I can honestly say without a doubt carp has got to be the worst I've had yet. I'd dare say it was worse than the strongest tasting catfish I've had.

    ;)
     
  14. Jana

    Jana Well-Known Member

    I really do not know why, but the American kind of carp definitely tastes much worse than the Czech one.
     
  15. iluvuma1

    iluvuma1 Well-Known Member

    Would anyone mind posting a favorite Czech cookie/pastry recipe? Something traditional for Christmastime. Greatly appreciated!
     
  16. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    I was reading up on carp, and it says that carp has a muddy taste, and it has to be washed or soaked a lot befor cooking. Is this right? I know you have to soak some shellfish in clean water to cleanse due to impurities but apparently it is done with carp too.

    With shellfish, I think it is due to grit and stuff in their systems and clean water has to go through their 'systems' to remove this. so they are soaked.
     
  17. Eva2

    Eva2 Well-Known Member

    Brigitte, I admire you - you are a fighter! You want to have your carp and nothing will discourage you. Actually, unlike other fish, carp tastes sweet. I don't know whether you need to wash it excessively because I never prepared it myself. I'm too lazy removing all those scales. Do not let THIS discourage you! :)
     
  18. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    I do try and battle through, Eva!! More than likely it is just UK carp that tastes muddy! :lol: Seriously though it is very difficult from experience to find a lot of stuff in the UK, unless you are in London, or possibly one of the other big cities. I've had similar problems with several things foodwise - not only Czech foodstuffs. One was with sushi in the Eighties now it is everywhere. I do try and hunt down stuff as best I can, I think perseverance eventually pays off. This is why I put the odd post on here if I find somewhere that sells anything that maybe of interest to anyone else here - maybe get it wrong sometimes, ie: venison, but I know how elusive some ingredients can be, so if I have a find, I like to let others know.

    There was a large glossy mag on carp in the newsagents yesterday, and I was going to buy it, but on thumbing through it, just fishermen's hints. Added insult to injury :wink:
     
  19. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    Actually I saw an interesting book today, about Czech cuisine - but it was called 'Czechoslovakian recipes' and adapted for American kitchens. Looked very good, although I wondered why title couldn't have been a bit more up to date and called 'Czech and Slovak recipes'! I didn't have the money on me at the time, but am possibly buying it tomorrow, as I think it may well be a good idea.

    This was the only Czech cookbook in that particular store, but there are several large bookstores here, so may well look to see if there are any others before I part with my cash! I only saw that one today as I was waiting for my mother to choose a book on cake decoration. I was killing time seeing if there were any Czech cookery books while in the cookery department! But I will buy that one if I cannot find anything better.
     
  20. brigitte

    brigitte Well-Known Member

    goodness, three posts in a row - I'm taking over this thread! :wink:

    I bought that book and it is actually called 'The Czechoslovak Cookbook' by Joza Brizova. Not the title in the previous post, I was just trying to remember the title when I put that! :)
     

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