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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Banská Bystrica
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.
Traditional dish from Banská Bystrica
Also known as: sopa de bryndza; bryndzová polievka
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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Demikát — Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Demikát is a simple soup born from shepherds’ cooking. The base is bryndza, dissolved in hot broth, sometimes thickened with flour, egg or cream. Recipes vary: there are versions with only bryndza, egg and cream, and others that begin with onion, bacon and potato browned before adding the broth and cheese. Paprika, chives, parsley or fried bacon may be sprinkled on top.
The soup was made mainly in areas where sheep rearing was strong, and in some regions there is also a version made with cow’s milk. Today demikát is uncommon in homes, but it appears in salaš and at traditional food festivals.
In the country’s central region, demikát is a frequent presence at these gatherings. At the Tradičná chuť Podpoľania regional cooking contest in Slatinské Lazy, Detva district, a demikát by cooks from Lieskovec won the soup category at the 8th edition on June 15, 2019, with a recipe of onion, bacon and potato.
Banská Bystrica
Soup of the shepherding regions in the country’s center; present in the regional cooking contests of Podpoľanie.
Bryndza, water or broth, potato, onion, bacon, egg or cream, salt and paprika. Recipes vary widely.
Hot, served in a bowl, with bread. It can be topped with fried bacon or sour cream.
A salaš and traditional food festival soup; an everyday dish in shepherding regions.
Your questions
It is a shepherds’ soup made with bryndza, the Slovak sheep cheese, dissolved in hot broth, sometimes with potato, onion, egg or cream and topped with fried bacon.
At salaš, the shepherd huts that welcome visitors, and at traditional food festivals, such as the regional cooking contests of central Slovakia.
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.
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.
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.
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.
