Recipe Nuremberg Ginger Bread

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.

A typical Christmas dish is the roasted hen turkey with pomegranate. The dish dates back to the Renaissance, and more specifically to the magnificent banquets of the Serenissima Republic.

The Dutch love cookies, cakes, pastries, anything savory with cheese, or sweet with chocolate. And they adore whipped cream. It is therefore not surprising that this sweet pastry is one of the country’s favorites. It’s like a chocolate éclair, but bigger, fluffier, with better chocolate and much more cream. These Bossche goodies have made the city of Hertogenbosch famous and are the number one pastries to serve with fork and knife and a handful of napkins.

The borders between today’s Austria and its southern neighbours are particularly dissipating in Carinthia. Instead of drizzling with melted butter, here the famous ‘Kasnudel’ are topped with melted Sasaka: the word comes from the Slovenian language and simply means finely-diced bacon or a type of lardons. Besides being a wonderfully spicy spread for bread, it also figures prominently in Styrian cuisine, proving that the colorful culinary merry-go-round in the former territories of the Habsburg Monarchy is still vibrant today.