Recipe Mirabelle Cake

Oil cakes have a long tradition especially in Mediterranean countries where olive oil is abundant. In Austria sunflower or rape oil is used instead and candied bitter orange peel, aranzini, and pine kernels are also added.

Oliebollen, literally translated as grease balls, are deep fried dough balls, studded with raisins and currants and sweetened with a generous dusting of powdered sugar. It is traditional to serve oliebollen with coffee during Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Holland. Oliebollen are good cold too, with a hot cup of coffee and some extra powdered sugar. With this recipe, one can make about six oliebollen.

In the 18th century, sheep cheese manufacturers were established in Slovakia: the first one was in 1787 in Detva, and the second one in Zvolenská Slatina in 1797, which is still operating nowadays. Demikát, together with sheep cheese gnocchi, is another Slovak traditional dish, for the preparation of which this type of cheese is used.

Autumn in Slovakia belongs to goose feasts, with their long tradition especially in the Small-Carpathian region. Breeding of geese and goose feasts in Slovakia have about a hundred year long tradition that is related to the southern regions of our country. The tradition of roasting goose came to Slovakia from German-speaking countries, especially Austria and Germany, where it is associated with the feast of St. Martin. In Slovakia, it was mainly established for economic reasons because selling roasted goose at the local markets was the activity of Slovak housewives, which in this way improved the household budget. Gourmets from various parts of the country began to search for places where the best goose came from (Chorvátsky and Slovenský Grob). Another reason for the emergence of this habit was just to the South of Slovakia with plenty of small rivers and brooks ideal conditions for breeding geese.