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7. The Great Dumpling Debate I Simply Could Not Win

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When I told Zdenek that I had never had Czech guláš, he nearly fell over in shock. So we arranged to go for lunch on the following Friday afternoon in order for me to try it.

If you asked a German, a Brit, and a Czech to define a „dumpling“you would get three very different answers. The dumplings in Germany were essentiall­y balls of dough filled with something like pork and cabbage. In Britain, dumplings are usually in soup or they are bought at your local Asian takeaway shop. These are steamed or fried, and also have a meat filling.

When Zdenek told me that Czech guláš came with dumplings, I was rather

Then he modified it to „bread dumplings“and I was totally confused. But I and went along with this culinary cultural experiment. The waiter brought our gu- láš, which was made up of a deep brown sauce with chunks of meat and five beautiful, white bread dumplings. The guláš was with a few slices of red pepper and onion.

I noted that the dumplings were sort of thick, spongy, circular pieces of bread meant to sop up the sauce.

I was so hungry that I picked up one of the dumplings, dipped it into the sauce,

garnished

and took a bite out of it. It was absolutely delicious. I dipped it back in the guláš and took another bite. The sauce and the thick bread dumpling complement­ed each other perfectly and it was easy to see how this has become a huge part of traditiona­l Czech cuisine. This was far better than the doughy and heavy German dumplings and worlds better than dumplings in Britain. When I compare British dumplings to the Czech ones, I think that the former may not even deserve to be called that name!

Before I could tuck in, I noticed that the waiter and Zdenek were staring at me as though I was mad. Zdenek told me that I should cover the dumplings in sauce and eat them with the meat. I sheepishly thanked him and used that method for the rest of the meal. Either way, I was sold. I loved the dumplings, but I won't tell my wife.

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