Recipes from the Orlické Mountains and Podorlicko

Směs Rampušák (Rampušák mix)

Meat ragout with vegetables

Pork chop meat, liver, bacon, mushrooms, ham, onion, chilli peppers, ketchup, pepper, salt, fat

Melt some fat in a pan, add pieces of pork chops and fry. Add pieces of chopped liver, pieces of sliced bacon, slices of mushroom, strips of ham, finely chopped onion and chili peppers. Flavor with salt, ketchup or pepper according to taste. Melt butter. Serve with a vegetable garnish and rice, potatoes, French fries or potato pancakes as a side dish.

Rychnovský kotouč (Rychnovský billet)

Rolled pork

600 g boneless pork brisket, salt, ground pepper, 1 small onion, 1 thin frankfurter sausage, 1 large gherkin, 2 eggs, 3 garlic cloves, 2 spoonfuls of lard, 1 spoonful of plain flour, 2.5 dcl water

Wash the pork brisket, cut into slices and tenderize, spread on some garlic and season with salt and pepper. Place pieces of the sausage, slices of onion, pieces of gherkin and one third of the boiled eggs to the center of the slice, carefully roll up and tie with pack-thread or fasten using tooth picks. Place the rolls into a greased casserole dish, baste with part of the water and cook in the oven until tender. Take out the tender rolls, remove the thread or tooth picks, reduce the juice to fat, dust with the plain flour, brown, pour in some water, mix well and simmer. Strain the juice through a strainer and leave to simmer until the fat begins to separate. Cut the roll diagonally into two halves and serve on a plate with the filling facing upwards, pour over with gravy.

Side dishes: potatoes and vegetable salads prepared in various ways.

Bolehošťský schnitzel

Schnitzel filled with cabbage stuffing

400 g pork rump, 2 cloves of garlic, 120 g soft salami, 1 spoon of grated horseradish, 200 g sour cabbage, handful of dried mushrooms, 50 g bacon, 2 spoons of fat, salt, ground pepper, 1 teaspoon of flour, 1 bigger onion, 300 ml broth from bones

Z vepřové kýty ukrojíme přes vlákno řez, naklepeme do tenka a mírně osolíme. Pak řízek naplníme směsí. Tu připravíme tak, že nakrájenou cibulku osmažíme na sádle spolu s drobně nakrájenou slaninou, přidáme salám nakrájený na kostičky, překrájené a podle potřeby propláchnuté zelí, strouhaný křen, uvařené překrájené houby, utřený česnek, pepř a vše krátce podusíme. Naplněný plátek masa spíchneme párátkem, obalíme v mouce, vložíme do sádlem vymaštěného pekáče a zvolna v troubě zapečeme. Plněné řízky vyjmeme, výpek zaprášíme zbylou moukou, osmažíme, zalijeme vývarem, rozšleháme a povaříme. Šťávu přecedíme přes hustý cedník, krátce ji podusíme a dochutíme solí. Nakonec do šťávy přidáme druhou část vařených překrájených hub.

Co k tomu: bramboráčky nebo opékané brambory.

Králík po doudlebsku (Doudlebsko rabbit)

Rabbit with bacon

4 portions of domestic rabbit, 200 g smoked brisket, 3 garlic cloves, salt, 2 large onions, 50 g bacon, 1 spoonful of lard, 1 spoonful of plain flour, 2,5 dcl water

Wash the rabbit saddle and legs and cut into individual portions, stuff with bacon, season with salt and wipe with garlic. Finely chop pealed onion, fry with hot lard, add the pieces of rabbit and roast until golden, basting the gravy. Fry washed smoked brisket until semi-tender, cut into portions and roast together with the rabbit. Braise the gravy, dust with flour, brown, pour in water or cooled stock from the smoked brisket, mix and slow cook. Season the prepared gravy according to taste.

Side dishes: potato or ‘hairy’ dumplings

Žamberecký schnitzel

600 g pork rump, 4 slices of „spa“ roll, 3 spoons of lard, salt, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 spoon of mustard, 2 spoons of butter mixed with 1 teaspoon of flour, 10 ml broth from bones

Slice the pork rump through fiber, beat it lighly, cut into peripheral membranes, spread meat with garlic crushed with salt and mustard. Put the slice of „spa“ roll on one half of the meat, fold the other half, pay attention so that the schnitzel will not unroll. Bake the schnitzel on both sides in lard and then remove it from the frying pan. Add floury butter to the gravy, fry them lightly, add broth, simmer briefly and add salt as needed. Serve the schnitzel with gravy.

Side dish: potatoes prepared in different ways and vegetable salads.

Potato pancake

There are a lot of variants of potato pancake. Potatoes, eggs, garlic and salt are the base.

1 kg potatoes, salt, 2 eggs, 100 g coarse-grained flour, marjoram, pepper, 3 cloves of garlic, baking fat

Peel raw potatoes and finely grate. Sprinkle them with flour, season, add salt, eggs and garlic. Make the fine dough. Put the dough in the heated fat on the pan. Spread it with spoon and bake until golden. You may fill in the pancake with sour cabbage, smoked meat etc.

Mushrooms „kuba“

Hulled grains „kuba“ is better known but in the Podorlicko Lowlands there was a millet grains mill and that is why they used to cook from those grains.

250 g millet grains, 750 ml milk, 3-4 handfuls of dried mushrooms, salt, marjoram, pepper, 4-6 cloves garlic, 150 g butter

Scald millet grains twice with the boiling water. Pour into milk. Let mushrooms soak over night and cook in the water. When cooked cut them and together with the water pour in the millet grains in milk. Add salt, marjoram, pepper, garlic, butter and cook for a while. Pour into the baking tray, put to the medium heated oven and bake it altogether – stir it occasionally. You may add milk as needed. It is delicious when served with pickles.

„Křesné“ pancakes

The name Křesné placky originated from „křesný“ flour from which they used to be made. Křes means rearranging of the work surface of used mill stones and its repeated grooving. It is the flour firstly milled after sharpening the mill stones.

1 kg flour, ½ spoon of salt, 1 egg, 7 spoons of oil, milk as needed

Make the stiffer dough from the mentioned ingredients. Slice pieces out of which you create scones, put on the greased tray, spread it for thicker pancakes. Bake for approximately 20 minutes in a medium heated oven. After baking spread it with oil. It can be used instead of bread. To make it more delicious you may add garlic or pepper when making the dough.

Škubánky - kucmoch

A traditional sweet regional delicacy from potato pastry.

1 kg potatoes, 200 g coarse flour, 80 g lard (or oil or butter), 30 g poppy seeds, 30 g icing sugar, salt

Boil peeled and sliced potatoes in a little bit salted water, do not let them get too soft. After cooking pour the water off them into a container and sprinkle them with flour. Make a few holes to the bottom with the spoon; pour a little strained water (to approx. half of the potatoes). Leave them on the warm stove for approx. 10 minutes. Pour off spare water, mash potatoes with flour thoroughly to make the dough smooth and solid. With a spoon dipped in melted lard cut dumplings from the dough, put them in the bowl, sprinkle with poppy seeds and icing sugar.

Fruit soup

People used to eat it hot in the winter, in the summer it was cooked in the morning and at noon served as a quick cold lunch.

The amount of ingredients is according to the number of diners = handfuls. For four portions you need: 1 handful of dried plums, 1 handful of dried apples, 1 handful of dried pears, 1 handful of raisins, 1 handful of shell walnuts, 5 cloves, 5 pieces of cinnamon or fresh forest fruit

Cook altogether in a little amount of water. Thicken with plum butter or grated gingerbread. In the summer when you are short of dried fruit you can complete or totally replace with fresh fruit – currants, raspberries, strawberries. When served at Christmas Eve you may cook thicker soup with more dried fruit.

Sweet millet grain porridge

A sweet variant of millet grain porridge was favourite mainly among kids and it used to be served for breakfast or as a substantial supper.

1 cup of millet grains, 2 cups of whole fat milk, 2 eggs, 2 spoons of butter, 1 spoon of honey, lemon skin, vanilla sugar

Scald the millet grains with hot water and strain them. Cook them with milk. Slightly boil until the milk gets into the grains. In the bowl mix butter with yolks, honey and vanilla. Gradually add cooked grains and mix thoroughly, add lemon skin to taste and finely stir whipped egg whites. Bake in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes. Serve warm with the plum or apple compote.

Martinské rolls

Martin´s rolls are baked at the St. Martin´s feast who comes on the white horse and symbolizes the beginning of the winter.

Dough: 300 g semi-coarse flour, 40 g caster sugar, 2 yolks, salt, 200 ml milk, 100 g fat for baking, 20 g yeast, 1 egg for spreading

Filling: 150 g ground nuts, 150 g ground sponge cakes, 200 g milk, 80 g caster sugar, ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix the yeast with a bit of sugar, pour with the lukewarm milk and let the yeast rise. Mix the remaining sugar, baking fat and yolks. Join with flour, milk, yeast, process and let it rise. Meanwhile prepare the filling. Cook the nuts in milk with sugar, season with cinnamon and thicken with sponge cakes. Separate the dough in 3 parts and roll every part in a round pancake. Divide it in 8 triangles. Put in the filling and wrap from the wider edge. Spread with the whisked egg and in a lightly heated oven bake until rose-coloured.

Home-made cakes

The first step to the delicious home-made cakes is the use of lard instead of oil.

1 kg exclusive semi-coarse flour, 150 g caster sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 eggs and 1 yolk, 150 ml oil, for leaven 500 ml milk, 50 g yeast, sugar

Prepare leaven: pour lukewarm milk over yeast with sugar and let it rise, sieve flour into the bowl, add salt, eggs, yolk, sugar, oil and leaven. Make the dough, let it rise approximately for 2 hours, stir it twice during rising. Put it on the rolling board, make cakes, fill in according to taste. At the autumn plums and apples are the favourite, in the winter curd cheese, poppy and plum butter, in the summer fill in with the greens: stew sliced cabbage, sugar it, add cinnamon, raisins. Wrap it, put it on the baking tray, spread with the oil and bake for approximately 20 minutes at 180 °C.

Take it from the oven, spread with oil and let it cool down. Sprinkle it with sugar to taste.

Poppy cake

The supply of the poppy was crucial for every household in the winter. As the poppy seeds are oily, poppy cake stays soft for long.

300g semi-coarse flour, 150 g sugar, 150 g poppy seeds, 1 baking powder, 1 egg, 500 ml milk

Mix egg with sugar, pour milk and with constant stirring keep adding flour with baking powder and poppy. Pour the dough on the greased baking tray and slowly bake.

Puff pastry cakes

These cakes are still very favourite and known as wedding cakes. In the past when no big bakeries existed the women used to meet at a household and bake the cakes for all the wedding.

500 g butter, 300 g flour = butter pastry for streusel

700 g flour, a bit of salt, 1 spoon lard = lard pastry

400 ml milk, 4 yolks, 2 cubes of leaven, 2 cubes of sugar = yeast

Prepare the butter pastry and put it in a cold place. Pour the risen yeast in the bowl with the lard pastry and knead it. Roll approximately 1,5 cm thick layer on which spread butter pastry, fold it 3 times and roll on the whole board. Make the dough thick approximately 3 mm. With the scratch cut 3 lines of squares, fill in with stuffing – plum butter, nut, poppy, curd cheese. Knead it up, put streusel on it and immediately bake at 160 °C. Sugar it when cooled down.

Hradec Králové Region