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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Slovakia
Small potato gnocchi mixed while still hot with bryndza, a soft salty sheep’s cheese, and topped with fried bacon. The official tourism board presents it as Slovakia’s national dish.
Traditional dish from Slovakia
Also known as: halušky com bryndza; nhoques de batata com queijo de ovelha
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Bryndzové halušky — Slovakia
Halušky are irregular little pieces of dough made from raw grated potato, flour and salt. The dough is pushed through a coarse grater, or cut with a knife on a board, directly into boiling water. When they rise to the surface, the halušky are drained and mixed while still hot with bryndza, which melts a little from the heat. Pieces of fried bacon and some of the frying fat are served on top.
The bryndza is what gives the dish its character. It is a soft, salty sheep’s cheese with a tangy flavor, associated with the shepherds who raised sheep on the slopes of the Carpathians. Slovenská bryndza has had protected geographical indication in the European Union since 2008.
The Slovak official tourism board presents bryndzové halušky as the national dish, comparing its cultural significance for Slovaks to that of sushi for the Japanese. The dish appears on menus across the country, but it is more closely associated with koliba—rustic-style restaurants—and salaš, shepherds’ huts that welcome visitors.
There is also an annual halušky cooking and eating competition in the small village of Turecká, at the foot of the Veľká Fatra mountains, which attracts enthusiasts from several countries. There are variations of the dish, such as halušky with sauerkraut and bacon, but the bryndza version is the best known.
Slovakia
Presented by the official tourism board as the national dish; served throughout the country.
Raw grated potato, wheat flour, salt, bryndza (soft sheep’s cheese) and fried bacon with its fat. Some recipes add an egg to the dough or chopped chives on top.
Hot, in a deep plate, right after mixing the dough with the bryndza. The traditional drink to accompany it is sour milk or whey.
Everyday dish, served year-round in restaurants, koliba and salaš.
Your questions
Small gnocchi of raw grated potato and flour, cooked in water and mixed while still hot with bryndza, a soft salty sheep’s cheese. Pieces of fried bacon go on top.
The traditional drink is sour milk or whey, as noted by the Slovak official tourism board.
In restaurants across the country, but the dish is more closely associated with koliba, rustic-style restaurants, and salaš, shepherds’ huts that receive visitors.
Flavors of Slovakia
A clear or slightly yellowish brandy with a pronounced juniper aroma and flavor. It is the traditional distilled spirit of Slovakia; some regional varieties have protected geographical indication in the European Union.
Thick sauerkraut soup with smoked sausage and pork, often with dried mushrooms. It’s Slovakia’s winter soup and the dish that starts the Christmas Eve dinner in many homes.
Shepherds’ soup made with bryndza, the soft salty sheep cheese, sometimes with potato, onion and bacon. It is traditional in the sheep-farming regions of central Slovakia and has won regional cooking contests.
Thin, glossy pastry filled with walnuts or poppy-seed filling. The poppy-seed one is shaped like a horseshoe and the walnut one like the letter C. Registered in the European Union as a traditional speciality guaranteed.
Goose slowly roasted until the skin is crispy, served with lokše — thin potato pancakes brushed with the roast fat — and braised red cabbage. It’s the autumn feast of the Bratislava region, famous in the village of Slovenský Grob.
Dough dumplings boiled in water, filled with potato and bryndza, and served with fried bacon and sour cream. They are a traditional dish of eastern Slovakia, especially in the Šariš region around Prešov.
Sweet fermented dough rolled onto a wooden cylinder and roasted while rotated over heat, topped with dried fruits; afterwards it is dusted with sugar mixed with vanilla sugar. It is from Skalica and was the first Slovak product to receive a European Union protected geographical indication.
