Potato Dumplings (Halušky)
Ingredients: 750g potatoes (about 2 large ones), 2 cups flour, salt
Prep time: 25 minutes
Halušky are what really defines Slovak cuisine. The name is typically translated to English as potato dumplings, but this is not quite right. Halušky are just that, halušky (pronounced halushky). Potato dumplings, in Slovak, are zemiakové knedľe. Halušky are somewhat similar to German spätzle. You can top them with just about anything. Few years back, my dad had a restaurant near Banská Bystrica’s town square where he served mostly halušky. I don’t remember exactly how many varieties were on the menu, but it must have been at least 20! The most typical topping is bryndza, a special sheep cheese, and fried bacon bits. This combination gives you bryndzové halušky, the Slovak national dish. Another popular topping is cabbage. I also like them very much with a hard boiled egg. Often you will find these dumplings served with stews like goulash or paprikash.
Peel two large potatoes (zemiaky) and shred them using a fine food grater. Also salt water in a large pot and bring to boil.
Pour out as much water as you can without dumping out any of the potatoes. Add salt (soľ) and two cups of flour (múka). Mix well. I have good luck making them with just the regular all-purpose flour. You can experiment with different types if you would like to make the dumplings softer or harder.
Place the dough on a wooden board. Then using a knife, “toss” the halušky into boiling salted water. Smaller, the better. My grandma is really good at tossing the dumplings. She can go through a whole batch like this in a minute or two. It takes me closer to 10.
Boil for few more minutes and scoop out with a large perforated spoon. Top with bryndza or serve with chicken paprikash.
Update: March 24, 2010
Below you will find two videos showing my grandma making halušky. In the first, she uses the method outlined here. In the other one, she uses this nifty contraption called haluškár (halušky-maker). Note, she was making liver dumpligs (pečenové halušky) for soup, hence the pinkish color of the dough. But the process is exactly same as when making regular dough dumplings.
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Mal by si doplnit do receptu na pripravu cesta aj vajce.
My dad says above that I should add an egg to the halušky dough. I haven’t tried making them with egg yet, but I definitely like how halušky taste in his restaurant.
my mother in law uses egg and no potato and also a tool that grates the dumplins in.
That’s another kind of halusky (when you don’t use potatoes) Those, made just from flour, milk and egg are more like a side dish. You can eat them with paprikash or goulash
or have them in the soup…
I would love to have your recipe for halusky because it sounds like what my mother used to make!
I just make them with egg, flour and salt, too. I place the mix on a flat plate and “cut” them into the boiling water with a spoon (just like my mother taught me ~_^). My children call them submarines.
with out potatoes what shes making are spaetzle
same cooking prep with slightly different ingredients
Lubos,
I grew up in Liptov and Halusky with bryndza is a big deal. We do not add egg to potato dough.I make it once a month, instead of bryndza I use feta cheese, because I can’t buy bryndza where I live.
When we are making halusky as a side dish for perkel, paprikas goulash, etc… we make dough without potatoes and we add egg. They are called also nokerliky, strapacky,(spaetzles or small dumplings, gnocchi)
You need: 2 eggs, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup water or milk, salt, black pepper. Proceed as potato halusky.
Thanks Kamila! That’s a great tip!
I was just trying to figure out because we only made what my Mom called halusky without potatos and with egg. Thanks for sharing that.
Hi Alaine,
some parts of Slovakia don’t use bryndza on “halusky” ,only sour cream and top it with bacon bits.Also – their ” halusky” is only co called “nochki or nokerle”, not made from potato.
I use egg in my potato dough since potatoes are very waterry and add the egg to keep it together, without using too much flour.
Slovak potatoes are great, tried to “sneak” a couple to Canada for growing purposes, but customs were efficient and did find them in my luggage.
Ja sice vajicko nedavam do haluskoveho cesta, ale moze top byt varianta ak chceme pevnejsie halusky
Lubos,
I didn’t realize that halusky have potatoes in them. What do you call halusky that are just flour and water… sometimes made with sour cream and/or an egg?
I think those would also be called halušky, but I am not 100% certain. I think that any small dumplings (that look like German Spätzle) are called halušky. The kind you are referring to is probably kysnuté (acidified) halušky.
Thanks for this wonderful web site! Here in Western Pennsylvania where we have lots of Americans of Slovak descent, most of them believe halusky are noodles and cabbage. My father, from eastern Slovakia near Humenne, always made “real” potato halusky for us and taught me. I make it about once a month (always with an egg) and now use my a handy haluskar to make it. That and a food processor make it very easy to make. I have had brynzove halusky only in Slovakia — it really is delicious.
Thanks Dennis! How does the haluškár work? Maybe you could share your food processor recipe. Do you basically just place potatoes and flour in a food processor and let it go?
Dennis,
My family, also Ragans, are from Kurimka. Some live in Cernina now. I visited them in July and they told me that I have cousins here in the US. Maybe we are related!
Sorry I wasn’t more specific. I only use the food processor to grate the potatoes. Saves my fingers and knuckles from the grater and is much quicker. Otherwise the recipe is actually no different. The haluskar is the small pan with holes in it and a handle, which I use to push the halusky dough through into the boiling water. Thanks for the wonderful web site!
By the way, fried (caramelized?) butter is what really makes the style of halusky I like best so great. We slowly burn the butter until we can see some small black specs in it. Poured over halusky after very slightly rinsing the boiled halusky is what makes it tasty. I really enjoy bryndzove halusky also, but for me it is an entirely different tasting meal. Plus we can’t the right bryndza here in the Pittsburgh area.
I never tried it with Feta chees, I will try next time and we will see::)) thanks
as far as halusky goes. I love them and there is a sugeestion for us who live in the US. It’s difficult to get brynza, so you can improvize (as I do) mix feta cheese with butter and you are close to brynza. Try it, I do it all the time
as far as different “haluska” or dumpling goes, there are dumplings for a soup called “soft dumplings” where you just mix flour and eggs, but that’s totally different from “halusky”
I met a Slovak lady in the Pittsburgh area several months ago who says she uses a 50%/50% mixture of sour cream and cream cheese to approximate the taste of bryndza cheese.
This is also how I prepare imitation bryndza. A lot of readers have been recommending Feta cheese. I have not tried that yet, but I think that’s probably a better match. Feta has more or less the consistency of Bryndza.
When I’m cooking bryndzove halusky I use french Roquefort cheese, very similar to slovakian bryndza and I add a little of sour cream to.
Thanks, I have never heard of this cheese but I’ll keep an eye on it.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that I’m living in France, therefrom my idea with Roquefort cheese, sorry…
I just wanted to say, thank you!! for this website. I’m from North Eastern PA, and was in Slovakia doing genealogy research in eastern Solvakia and had Bryndzové halušky in Presov. It was the best meal of the trip, and I wanted to find out how to make it. Thanks Again!!
You are welcome. Thanks for stopping by! I am glad you enjoyed bryndzove halusky. It’s also one of my favorite Slovak dishes along with kapustnica and plum dumplings. Please let your friends know and add the site to your favorite social bookmarking sites. It really helps…
Thank you so much. This website is such a find. Watched my grandmother, mother make this as a kid. It was one of my FAVORITE things to eat. Both gals are gone now and I’ve got a craving for some Slovak favorites. I was going to make a stab at the halusky just from memory, but now I’ve got the proportions, directions and we’ll give it a whirl Christmas eve.
Lubos: Unfortunately, when I’m gone, the traditions will go with me. Not too many family members left and those who are left don’t care one iota about the old traditions. Sad.
Oh come on, don’t say that. By the way, I am planning to add another section to the website dedicated to Slovak traditions and culture. If you email me your traditions, I’ll be more than happy to post them here and give you credit.
Unfortunately tis true. I’m the only one interested in family genealogy and my kid doesn’t even cook. When I get a chance, I’ll be happy to send some recollections of them to you. Best!
Thanks for your instructions. We have a foreign exchange student from Slovakia living with us in Peoria, Illinois.
He has been a little homesick lately so I am going to attempt this recipe.
That’s really nice of you! Let me know how they turn out. You can imitate bryndza by combing feta cheese and sour cream.
Lubos, on your “I am planning to add another section to the website dedicated to Slovak traditions and culture.”
I think it would be real great addition. When you are ready, I’ll send you some of my memories and traditions.
That would be great. Feel free to email me anytime and I’ll post it once that section is up. I’ll probably also add a section dedicated to travel. This one will start off as a dumping ground for the pictures I’ll be taking during my upcoming trip to Slovakia.
Kamila,
I am glad that you state original fact of our (Slovak) cooking. You are using proper names and for which dishes you need to use dough preparation. There is great rec. site “svet receptov – jedla starych mam” ( I AM SURE YOU ARE AWARE OF IT). Recepies are autenticaL.
Keep going, We are Slovaks and keeping traditions,
Tony
One of my professors told me that his family tried making these halusky, but they were not clear on how long they ought to be boiled. From personal experience, I don’t think that that you can over-cook the dumplings. I start off with boiling water, and keep tossing in the halusky until all the dough is gone. Then I let everything boil for few additional minutes. This means that the first pieces cook for about 15 minutes while the last ones cook for only 2 or 3. However, in the end they all seem to taste the same.
Also, when it comes to salting, I am usually not to particular. I give the water few shakes of the salt shaker and do the same with the dough. I think it’s better to start off with less salt and then season the final creation to taste.
The cooked “halusky” will float on the top of the boiling water. The floating ones are cooked and ready to take out. You can use this tip with all pasta or flour based dishes.
Lubos:
Promised to let you know how the Halusky turned out. My DH and I had a huge pot for our Christmas Eve repast. It was so good and such a nostalgic dinner. I do need to reduce the proportions cause I had dough left over. Sure wish my parents were with us to share. My mom always used bacon and cabbage to sauce the dumplings, and I did the same.
Blessings, and have a very Merry Holiday season.
JBB
Thanks for halusky recepie Lubos!
Who would think that I will cook them first time in my life in South America?
They turned delicious, I served them with paprikas.
Obrigada! Maria
This sounds much like the recipe that my grandmother passed down to her grandchildren except she called it something pronounced like ” pooch-kee”. I would really like to spell the meal correctly when I pass it to my babies. It consisted of potato dumplings blended with crumbled bacon and chopped, steamed cabbage. As a topping, she simply used cottage cheese though. Could someone help me?
Jenny Geller says:
This sounds much like the recipe that my grandmother passed down to her grandchildren except she called it something pronounced like ” pooch-kee”. I would really like to spell the meal correctly when I pass it to my babies. It consisted of potato dumplings blended with crumbled bacon and chopped, steamed cabbage. As a topping, she simply used cottage cheese though. Could someone help me?
….
Jenny, this is the best I can do, there is a wide variety of dishes made from potatoes. Slovakia was somehow poor country in the past and thus it was making potatoes in so many ways, and using cabbage as a source of vitamin C.
Yes, there is a brand of potato dumplings called “zemiakové púčky“. It may vary in how it’s prepared but “zemiakové púčky” is the right spelling.
I had to go and search Slovak sites to see how it’s made (as I remembered the name) and here is one variation of making “zemiakové púčky” … of course, it can be made so many different ways as everything in Slovak kitchen
http://www.dobre-recepty.sk/detail/6254-kopaniciarske-zemiakove-pucky/
My grandmother made the halusky with browned butter and cheddar cheese-probably because she couldn’t get the bryndza here.Delicious.
I’m from Thunder Bay , Ontario, Canada wich has a very large Slovak community.I’m third generation. The home-made flour noodles fried with cabbage was a favorite growing up. The Halusky was with melted cheese like the family above , I guess. Flour dumplings with chicken stock added were made for chicken gravy.
A favourite is what we term in our family called “Bubba” : potatoes grated with salt pepper and flour , spread thin about a 1/2 inch high on a cookie sheet or lasagna pan and cooked in saved bacon grease, sometimes with carraway seeds added, then cut in sqaures like pizza. It would be baked to be nice and crisp on the bottom.Mmmmmm.
Hey Phil,
I think you’ve described ”HARULA”. The way we prepare it is that we mix grated potatoes, bit of pressed garlic, grated onion, egg, flour and most important for taste is majoran. You can use oil on pan and spread it about 8mm-1cm.
Guys, what about bacon in halusky? I have never eaten halusky without bacon. They ar esimply great on their own but sometimes we pour sour cream on tom of them, that taste nice as well.
Our family makes halusky with and without potatoes. I use a haluskar that my dad made. Spraying the haluskar with “Pam” makes the job effortless and clean-up a breeze.
This dish can actually be both healthy and tasty by using dry curd cottage cheese and a moderate amount of browned butter with onion. It’s very good. It’s also nice with a couple spoonfuls of parmesan on top.
Time saving tip: There are prepackaged potato gnocci at the stores that can actually be used in a pinch, same ingredients.
And also by topping them with sauerkraut – high in vitamin C! Halušky s kapustou (with cabbage) are in my opinion even better than the traditional variety with bryndza. And yes, I have seen those packets. I have even used them, both for potato dumplings and for potato pancakes. They were not bad, but the taste was still little different. There is nothing like home cooking. All fresh ingredients, no preservatives, artificial flavors or food colors added. I often wonder what all these chemicals are doing to our bodies, so I try to keep away from prepackaged, dehydrated food items as much as possible.
Does anyone have a recipe for slatka kapusta? My mother made this dish with poatoes and cabbage.
Mary, I did something similar to Miro’s suggestion when preparing fasirka, the Slovak “fried hamburger” (see the link). The exception is that I used caraway seeds instead of cumin, and did not use any bacon (but you can never go wrong with bacon!). Although cumin looks very much like caraway, this seed is native to the Middle East and India and thus is not used in traditional Slovak cooking.
Hi Lubos,
slovak word ” kmin” is often translated wrongly as cumin. We found out very quickly in our first days of immigration to South Africa- it tasted nothing like “kmin”- carraway seed.
We laugh about it now but food stores were our first teachers of English…
Olga, of course you are right, I use cumin in some of my cooking (mostly Mediterranean meals) however when cooking slovak disges I always use caraway seeds. They are not so much different but cumin has a stronger and somehow sweeter taste.
I use cumin when making Greek lamb or some food using cuscus.
However when I use Slovak dishes with potatoes in them, or stews, and goulashes, I use caraway seeds.
Mary, I am not sure that there is a specific recipee for sweet cabage “sladka kapusta”. I assume it’s a fresh stewed cabage. I make it frequently as a side dish. There are many ways but the principle is the same.
Cut a green cabage into stripes, sauté some onion (you may do it in fried bacon or just in oil), add cabbage, salt, cumin seeds, SUGAR (about 2 table spoons or whatever you like) add some water (not much as cabbage will release some juices on its own) and stew it until cabbage is soft. Add some white vinegar to balance the sweetness or more sugar to your liking.
I made it just last weekend to go along with “St. Patrick’s meal”, briskets, cabbage, and potatoes.
Hi Miro / Maria,
yes,this is the basic recipe for a sweet cabbage soup too, except you use milk and whipping cream ( or heavy cream), thicken it slightly , …my husband does it instead of sour cabbage soup at Xmas time.It’s delicious.
Lubos said
“The exception is that I used caraway seeds instead of cumin”
WTH to me, I used caraway seeds as well, I rarely use cumin but have it at home when I was cooking some middle east recipe. Yep caraway seeds are what you use in Slovak cooking, I have no idea why I said cumin
Hey,
Thank you for the suggestions. I’m anxious to try
the recipe with caraway seeds!!
I find cooking Slovak recipes with north American ingredients quite challenging. Especially the flour. There is mainly all-purpose flour in Canadian stores and many Slovak cake recipes call for coarse flour. Also making knedla has been a challenge for me. I don’t usually boil it, instead I steam it. Only then it turnes out great. When it comes to bryndzove halusky: must be cooked from waxy potatoes not starchy-ones like Idaho. Many times I used baking potatoes and they fell apart when I boiled them in the water. Now I only use the red skin, or yellow fleshed potatoes. The dough must be quite hard though – your spoon must stand right up when you stick it into the dough! The bryndzove halusky dough requires only potatoes, flour and some salt. The halusky you make for gulas or perkelt are made from flour, egg, water and salt. I also use Feta and sour cream for substitution for bryndza. I found a really good brand of Feta, it’s made in Bulgaria and is more authentic than the average Greek feta.
Andrea, thank you for all your comments. Most of my cooking experience comes from the United States, so I guess for me cooking with the American ingredients seems quite natural. But if you grew up cooking with the wide variety of flour types available in Slovakia, I can see how this could be quite challenging. I also have a very easy-to-satisfy taste. Oh and when it comes to grits, I never expected this simple dish to result in such a wide discussion.
Do you have a haluskaren (dumpling maker)? I have, it’s easy to halusky.
Hi Melania, nope I don’t but my grandma showed me how to use it – and I just added the video. She doesn’t use it very often herself – in fact, she spent about half an hour searching through her pantry before she found it. It definitely makes making halusky much simpler but I guess she is just too used to using the board and knife. That way she has one less thing to wash. But they are definitely quite nifty.
Great site, I was supprised to learn that traditional huluski has potatoes in it, originally from NE Pa, now Jersey, can not find Slovak cuisine anywhere, we also make huluski like a noodle with flour, egg, water and garlic. spoon drops into boiling water and tada…huluskie noodles. Use in homemade chicken soup or make with cabage and onion. Still looking for my grandmothers potatoe and mushroom soup. It was to die for, I know it started out with a rue with flour but that is all I know. Tried to duplicate it but no luck! Do you know of such a soup? Maybe Polish as well I guess?
For all those people wishing they had bryndza, just come up for a day trip to Canada. You can find some here in European stores. It’s awesome. We also eat our halusky with a glass of buttermilk. Really good!
Started looking for Slovak music for my 92 year old mom and stumbled upon your site. The halusky video brought back childhood memories of my mom and aunt scratching the dumplings. I can’t wait to give it a try. My aunt used to make a “Slovak Pizza” with saurkraut, flour & bacon fat baked in the oven. Delicious! Thanks for the memories.
This is one of my favorite recipes mom and Baba made. I am fortunate to have grown up in a 100% Slovak family and to have their recipes. To this day I love making all the Slovak dishes. When I make Repne Halusky I always add one large egg, as my mom did. I never make them without an egg. Also, as I grate my potatoes, I put them in cold water to prevent them from turning gray. Then I drain the water, tip the bowl and squeeze the water out with the back of a wooden spoon. I fry a head of cabbage in 1-2 sticks of butter, add coarsely chopped cabbage and onions fry until slightly browned and incorporate the Halusky. Fantastic!!!! Small curd cottage cheese in place of the cabbage is delicious, also. I also serve Chicken Paprikash over Halusky.
Thanks for your tips. So what are “repné halusky”? I have never heard of this. This seems to imply the halusky are mixed with sugar cane, unless there is some other meaning…
Repna Halusky is “old slovak” from the Orava region for potato dumplings. My relatives laugh when we say that because it’s like we are a museum piece, speaking 1920s slovak. Thanks for this great site.
Secret to making Halusky in America: I have found that the secret to making halusky in America is the type of flour that is used. My sister-in-law, who lives in Ruzomberok, SK, uses a course flour like Gold Medal “Wondra”. When I make halusky with our all-purpose flour, the dumplings fall apart and make “potato soup”. Wondra is readily available in any grocery store in America. It comes in a 13.5 oz. canister. Sometimes I have found it in a 5 lb. bag. If you can’t find Wondra, you can add an egg to the all-purpose flour at the ratio of 1 egg to 2-2 1/2 cups regular flour. Dobru chut
Hi Sally, I haven’t yet had a problem with halusky falling apart. Granted, little pieces come off the edges, but the dumplings as whole stay together. Try using more flour and also try adding an egg to keep them together (not sure if you have heard the legend, but supposedly the Charles Bridge in Prague is held together by eggs mixed in with sand). I use standard all purpose flour. But you are right, the flour in Slovakia is much different from the kind available here. The Slovak flour comes in three varieties: hladká (fine), polohrubá (semi-coarse) and hrubá (coarse).
PS. Do not use red potatoes–They fall apart.
Hello Lubos, congratulations on improvements of your website. It looks great!!!
Just wantedt to suggest that repa should be sugar beet or just beet, not sugar cane. Keep up the good job! All the best.
Thanks Tess! I spend few hours almost every day tweaking the site. It still got little ways to go but it’s slowly getting there. Send me an email if there is a particular feature you would like to see or have other suggestions.
Hmm… my papa (grandfather) makes potato dumplings, but he makes mashed potatoes and cools them, then adds egg and flour. He forms them into balls (baseball size, maybe?) and cooks them in boiling water. Then serves drizzled with bacon grease (or drippings from whatever meat they are being served with) and sauerkraut. He learned how to make them from his grandmother who came here from Austria by way of Russia, but always said she was Czech. Have you heard of this?
Nope, can’t say I have. It sounds to me almost like the Matzah balls, but made from potato dough instead. Also, it may be related to knedla, the steamed dumpling. This dumpling is popular in both Slovakia and the Czech republic. It (or actually a little variation) makes one of the three components going to the Czech national meal, knedlo vepro zelo, for instance see http://www.schnitzelwich.com/menu.html and then click on Pork Roast on the right.
Hi Sherri, I got a suggestion from the people at the Oregon restaurant above that this may be something called chlupate knedliky or “shaggy dumplings”. Here is a link to Google image search. Do these look familiar?
yes,it is potato knedla, it’s great with sauces (spinach)or cabbage, knedlo/vepro/zelo…..as well fried next morning and pour an egg over it…
Hi Lubos, thank you for perfect site and great idea – with promoting slovak cuisine. I wish you wish you much success!
Jozef from Slovakia
Dakujem pekne, Jozo! A povedz prosim kamaratom o stranke.
Hi, I was born and raised in Slovakia. Now I live in Canada. We have always used eggs for the dough. For 4 people I use 2 eggs, for 2 people 1 egg is enough. Dobru chut!
First I’d just like to say that this is such a wonderful website, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making it!
My grandmother passed this past February, and I have been trying to remember all the wonderful recipes she taught me, so I can make a cookbook honoring her and give it to my family members for Christmas.
As I recreate the recipes I remember, some details slip my mind, as well as techniques! The video of your grandmother made me cry, because that’s exactly how mine did it! SO FAST!
Anyway, thanks for this website and thanks for helping me piece together my Grandmother’s legacy!
P.S. She always taught me to make this adding cheddar cheese, fried onion, and generous amount of dill at the end! DELICIOUS!!!
Thank you for comment April! It’s all those years of training, don’t worry, after a year or two of making halusky, you’ll be making them as fast too
my boyfriend and his mom came to canada from slovakia. His mom taught me how ot make this for him ( only she uses an egg in it and adds dill to the sauce) She had a halusker to use, though( which she ofcourse brough over when they moved). I was wondering if anyone has found a place online that sells them? ive been searching but no luck so far.
i should add that ive tried with a cutting board… but i tend to mess it up half the time hahaha
Here’s a website where you can buy all kinds of things from Slovakia, including a haluskar:
http://www.egg-in-wrap.com/default.asp
It’s a company called Leemar enterprises. Look under the top pull down menu for “Kitchen” and then “Cooking Tools.”
Or you can go to Amazon.com and search for a Spaetzle maker. It is basically the same thing. You can also google for a spaetlze maker. Good luck!
Tim
When I was 12 I modernized making my halusky by grating my potatoes in a blender. I only add enough flour so the dough will follow itself while I stir. I saute purple onions in butter (very pretty presentation). My Grandma loved how soft they turned out. I drop 1/3 tsp. size into boiling water and low boil until they float. No egg needed, just potatoes, flour, salt, butter and onion. Use the water to make potato bread.
These were wonderful!!! I went to Target today and bought a fine grater (sooo much better than the dish towels and potato ricer I used last time!), and I went to a Russian deli to get their version of “bryndza.” Velmi dobre!!!
Good Day fellow food lovers. I have just read this thread. I read what bulharowski said about the food and tradition dying off. I’m a Canadian up here in Winnipeg, I’m 4th generation, i knew nothing about slovak anything. But I just tried making your Halusky and chicken paprikash. I enjoyed the meal very much. So because of this forum maybe your slovak food & tradition can spread to ALL PEOPLE. thanking you Brian
Hello, thanks for the recipe. I have a question though, my halušky is a little ‘tough’ or not as soft, is this bc I cooked too long in water? I followed the steps but did not know how long to cool in the water. Dakujem!
Hmm, I would suspect that there may be bit too much flour. Try them next time but use less flour. And how long did you cook them? I only cook them for few minutes, until they float up.
We are hosting a student from Slovakia this year. She has talked about this dumpling dish. I am glad you had the substitute for the cheese.
I want to make this for her, and glad I found how I can find something similar to use.
On step 2, how long do you let potatos boil after you shred them?
I love to make very traditional dishes from all cultures and would like to make this bryndzové halušky. As with others I struggle to find bryndza cheese in the US. I have found a sheep’s milk cheese that I think may be very similar in texture and in taste? It is called ‘mitcana de oveja’, a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese sold in Whole Foods stores. Can someone who actually knows the Slovak bryndza perhaps try this cheese (they are always happy to give you small samples) and tell me if it is very close to the original?
Also, it seems that when making the halusky, the video shows them to be very uneven in shapes, almost like spaetzel, but perhaps not quite so thin as spaetzel? Can you estimate the size as about 1 cm x 2 cm?
Finally, thanks so much for the site and the updates. Great way to keep a tradition alive and well.
Jeff
Jeff, nech žijú halušky! Halušky nemajú predpísaný tvar alebo veľkosť. Tradične sa halušky hádžu do vody z doštičky /lopárik/. Vtedy sú hrubé a neforemné. Dnes cesto na halušky pretláčame cez sitko /haluškáreň/. Vhodná je na to plochá varecha, nie guľatá alebo lyžica. Halušky sú uvarené vtedy, keď vyplávajú hore.
SC note: Joyce says that halušky don’t have a prescribed shape or size. Traditionally they are tossed into the water from a cutting board. Then they’ll be thick and without a particular shape. These days people run the dough through a special spatula with holes in it, called haluškár. Halušky are done when they float to the top.
Examples of haluškár:
On heureka.cz
On e-shop.sk
On pomlenyi.cz
On mimibazar.cz
In the US you can buy them from slovakic.com and Slov Czech Var.
I’ll go and try the Whole Food brand (if they have it in this area) I just came back from Slovakia and brought some bryndza with me, but it won’t last long.
As far as size of halusky, it is based on who is making it. I make a bigger size, 1 x 2 cm would be about it, however my sister back in old country make it smaller (about half of my size) Smaller ones are more fine and cook faster. Bigger size may not be cooked throughly if you are not careful,
Thank you for responses Joyce and Miro. Miro, just to be clear, the store is called Whole Foods Market http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/ It is a chain of healthy foods stores. The cheese is Mitacana de Oveja, it comes in a round log about 3 inches in diameter. You may be able to find the cheese at other stores as well. It looks like it might be very similar to brynza http://www.foodbuzz.com/blogs/1019359-cheese-in-with-miticana-de-oveja
Oh Jeff I know the whole food store well, Been shoping there a lot while living in Falls Church (it was around a corner from me)
I am in Woodbridge now, and I did not shoop at the Whole food much as there are some other stores that are pretty good. As I said, I’ll try to find out the brand of cheese you talk about … cheers
My granddaughter whose greatgrandparents came from Slovakia about 1930 visited Slovakia with her parents this past summer. While there she had Halusky and fell in love with it.Yesterday, to celebrate her 16th birthday,she and I pepared some in my kitchen and it was a great success – not a morsel left over! Ours consists of the bacon bits and very strong old white cheddar. It’s tasty too.
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I remember eagerly waiting each summer, on our vacation from the city (Chicago) to Phillips, Wisconsin. There was a large Czech-Slovak settlement of farmers. My grandparents settle there in the 40′s . My mom and I would sit in her little kitchen, and watch her mother make halusky ala Wisconsin. She would take the cooked halusky, fried it with the bacon in the bacon grease and add chedder cheese curds. Keep the family fed on cold winter nights. Hmmmmm…did I mention the fresh donuts rolled in sugar????
does anyone know where to get Slovak Bryndza in the US, I’ve tried Polish variety and several kinds of sheep feta but its not the same
It’s difficult. You can try to order it from http://www.slovczechvar.com/ but I wasn’t too happy with it. It was some export-variety that was too dry and too salty, presumably so it keeps better. I prefer that Trader Joes Israeli-style Feta, I think I tastes quite like bryndza in Slovakia.
In our family, we have these every year as part of our traditional Christmas Eve meatless dinner. They are delicious. My mom makes 2 varieties: one with grated cheddar and sauteed onion, the second with sauerkraut and a little onion.
Thanks for the website!
I love the potato dumplings , the favourite version is with the sheep cheese and the baked bacon bits, but the version with cabbage(mainly fried cabbage is also delicious) My grandma used to prepare them but it was very long time ago.
thank you for the recipe.
The recipe you use is just like the one I grew up with in a Slovak home in New York. There were no imports of Bryndza in the 50′s to 80′s, so we used pot cheese, or farmers cheese
(like cottage cheese but no cream), grated parmesan and bacon.
We also had well sauteed cabbage and bacon with halusky. My husband to be, not knowing they were separate, mixed all three toppings together and absolutlely loved it. We’ve been doing this for over 40 years now. Once a year my dear sister goes to a Slovak store in Long Islan City, NY and brings us some of the bryndza she buys there! Vyborne. I too, use an egg in the mixture when the potatoes are watery.
Ahoj vsetci!
I make halusky with milk with cream cheese, Feta and of bourse BACON!
So, happy to see this site.
D’akujem moc za zverejnenie tieto recepty!
Hi Lubos,
We have a foreign Exchange Student living with us. She is from Nove Zamky, and has been staying with us since December. Niki wanted to make us some of the food from her home. I happened across you site while looking for someplace to find Bryndza. Niki had her own recipe for the Halusky she got from a book. Hers didnt use the egg. I found the dough to be really sticky, and I think we used too much flour. For the Bryndza substitute we used equal parts cream cheese, and goat cheese crumbles. The goat cheese seems to be a little milder than the Feta. I put them in a bowl and stirred the cheeses together. I dont think we cooked the halusky log enough, it was kind of “doughy” still and rather soft. Niki wasnt sure about how to cut the dough. She said there’s a shredder they normally use for that. (I assume it’s the Haluskar). Next time we will try your recipe. The cheese turned out pretty good though. Not sure how authentic it tasted but Niki said it was pretty close.
Niki also made us a dish she called “French Potatos”. It is slices of cooked potato, smoked sausage(we used German North Country), and boiled egg, all layed in layers in a pan. Then the top is covered with sour cream, and then covered with grated cheese (she used cheddar). Cover the baking dish with foil. She baked it for about 30 minutes at 375, and took the foil off then baked for anout 10-15 minutes to brown the cheese. It was super good! Thanks for this site. You have good resipes on here.
Thanks Paul! The dough for halušky is quite soft, almost like pudding. I usually use roughly the same volume of potatoes and water but this is just a guess – I don’t actually measure it. And I am not familiar with that French Potatoes dish. But it sounds a bit like živánska.
on French Potatoes. Lubos, it’s interesting that you were not familiar with it. We used to make them frequently in your neighbor town Zvolen.
It has some ingredients and prep similar to zivanska and yet it’s very different. It’s more like a casserole (due to sour cream layer) and it uses a sausage (polska kielbasa is the best)
Short version:
Few potatoes semi boiled, a few hard boiled eggs about 1 lb of polska kelbasa, cup of sour cream, seasonings (salt, pepper, marjoram, and caraway seeds)
Slice potatoes, eggs, kielbasa.
Layer potatoes, eggs kielbasa, season every layer.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes in covered pan (pan covered with aluminum foil does good)
Season a sour cream with paprika, mix, and pour over the dish. Bake for additional 10-15 minutes.
Serve. Sliced dills go with it very well.
Thanks Miro. I guess I do vaguely remember my mom mentioning the name but I had no idea what goes into them. Thanks for the recipe.
thanks for the instructions! I am going to use them to make hulusky for my class!
My grandparents came to America from Czechoslovakia, or as they always said, “the old country.” I learned how to make Holushki from my grandmother, who grew up near the mountains. She said they would eat this food for breakfast, a hearty dish that would help them survive the long time before they could eat again. I use just the same ingredients that she used once she came to America. My recipe is a little different than what I’ve read. First I grate Velveeta cheese (or cut it up into smaller chunks). Then I grate raw potatoes, and add salt, and flour, stirring until it is very “tick” (as Grandma used to say). I melt real butter in a frying pan, and fry cut up bacon in the pan. After the holushki is cooked in boiling salt water, I drain the dumplings. In a large bowl, I put the hot dumplings, add the Velveeta cheese, and dump in the butter and bacon. Mix it all up and serve! My family has a tradition to make this once a year when we all get together. The last time we did this, we made 20 pounds of potatoes, but had very little in the way of leftovers! It is a very big task, but everyone remembers our beloved Grandma as we enjoy this Slovak dish.
[...] to buy a haluškár, you can either use a knife and a cutting board, like the folks did over at SlovakCooking.com, or you can even use 2 spoons to make the [...]
Does anyone know anything about the Slovak-American cook book? My mom got a copy as a shower gift when she got married in the 1950s (her copy is the “60th anniversary edition” from 1952). Every slovak bride (in Vancouver area) seemed to get a copy of this book –i remember attending a shower with my mom in the late 60s and the cookbook was still making the rounds. It was edited by the First Catholic Slovak Ladies Union (National headquarters in Cleveland Ohio), and is an interesting mix of Slovak food meets 1950s American cooking — ie one page will have a recipe for halusky, and then there’ll be 3 pages of Jello salads. I wonder when the last edition was printed?
Jeanne, you can still buy them online from http://www.fcsla.org/cookbook.shtml. I got my copy about a year ago.
My grandmother made something that sounded like “slezghe” which was potato dumplings coated with farina browned in butter (to die for!!). I was told that she was from Czechoslovakia, but now I’m not sure she actually was. Can anybody shed some light on this dish and its origins?
Hello,
I think they are “slíže”. The word “slíže” is used in Slovakia and means noodles. I am embarrassed by the fact that it is a potato dumpling.
http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/recipes/pasta/poppy-seed-noodles/
http://www.akosatorobi.sk/video/999/domace-makove-slize-recept-na-rezance-s-makom
http://varecha.pravda.sk/recepty/domace-makove-rezance-fotorecept/10429-recept.html
Farina was fried in oil until pink, lightly with salt, pour a little hot water and simmer. Add the cooked noodles into choking farina, mix, sugathe icing sugar.
Although I grew up in a Slovak/German household, I never heard of potatoes in Halusky. None of my family on either side used potatoes in halusky or spatzle. here is the recipe both my Grandmothers and Aunts used.
1 1/2 cups flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
dried parsley (optional)
combine all ingredients
Drop small bits of batter into boiling salted water, cook 10 min or until they are floating!
drain and use the way they are with S/P butter, gravy or anyway you want!!
I have made these for years. A family favorite. When the potato noodle is done and drained, I add cottage cheese and cheddar cheese and BROWNED butter. The browned butter is a must and the dish is then served with making wells in each serving and topped with more browned butter. The browned butter is the key to fantastic flavor.
My Slovak mama who came her to NY in 1919 from near Poprad always served her haluski noodles with bacon bits, cooked potato chunks, melted butter and bacon fat (phew, but she lived to 93!) and either cooked cabbage or sauerkraut… never cheese, and I do not think she put potatoes into her haluski noodles, just flour and water and eggs
Thanks for these great tips for cooking halusky. We’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Slovakia, and besides all the other great dishes we ate there, halusky became a family favourite. We first ate it in a Koliba in Poprad. I am going to try to replicate that here, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I will have to be creative about the cheese too!
That’s great, Helen. By the way, you probably don’t know, but my uncle used to work for the Czech Embassy in Addis Ababa. My mom and I went to visit him in 2002, http://www.iamlubos.com/travel/ethiopia/ethiopia.htm
Dear Lubos,
I am looking for a recipe that my maternal grandmother made on for Easter as a side dish. She called it Peshka. What I remember she used cooked rice, cut up ham, whatever else I do not know. It was then baked. My Mother has passed on and I know she would have remembered and in her recipes it is missing.
Also, would like the cheese filling recipe for strudel
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I am about to do this version exciting! I made mines before with 1.5 cup flour ( gluten free all purpose and also Semolina too depending on people’s diets I am cooking for), 1 egg, pinch of baking soda…this time it is potato time!
Receipe came out great! Dobre Chut! Do as said and do prosim (please) watch out how much water in there (including the potato water when shredding)…otherwise may come out mushy! Like Farina with lumps! lol I did as stated in the protocol…however added an egg as suggested, little hot voda (water), pinch baking soda, little freshly granulated Himalayan pink crystal salt and freshly granulated black pepper to my shredded potatoes… I love learning from others …Djakeum peckna