The Art Of Cooking Czech Cuisine: Goulash, Dumplings And Potato Pancakes

Art is found everywhere, in a sketchbook, a studio or a museum.  We recently discovered it in the kitchen.  As we entered Chefparade Cooking School, near the Prague market, we felt like we were entering the recording studio of Top Chef.  The chefs even looked like they came out of a reality cooking show.  We were there to learn traditional dishes from Czech Republic, but we also were reminded why cooking is an art.  We divided into groups, each one responsible for a dish.  As instructions were given, it wasn't just simply dice the meat and onions for the goulash, but each one had a technique, even size requirements to produce the perfect taste.  For example, it is said that the goulash should have the same amount of meat as onions to get a real creamy sauce and the bread needed to be cut to a certain dimension so when it was baked for the dumplings, it would do so evenly.  The dumplings we made weren't just any dumplings, they were Karlsbad dumplings, made something like we make stuffing in America.  Egg is needed for the dumpling mix, and no you don't just throw an egg into the mix.  You separate the yolk from the whites, whipping the egg whites and putting them into the mix at a different point of the process than the yolk.  The egg whites were put in last with precise instructions to gently disburse them evenly throughout the bread mix.  Even when frying up the pancakes, one had to be sure to have the proper thickness to get the right proportion when you plate them with sauerkraut.  Some processes we took away utensils and used our hands to get the required texture or evenly disburse ingredients and spices.

After a little hard work and sharing some laughs in the kitchen, we sat down and savored that hearty meal.  It consisted of fresh vegetable soup as a starter, goulash with dumplings and potato pancakes as our main and strawberry dumplings for dessert.  When the meal was finished we took some time to talk about what we learned.  It wasn't just that they learned new recipes, but they learned basic techniques and rules of the kitchen that they can now use along with some creativity to be artist in their own kitchens.  I told them it was the best goulash I have ever eaten in my life, and it honestly was.  Sophia Kiang replied, "Because it was created with love, laughter and care."