26 February 2016

Trdelníks explained

These are Trdelníks. They are tubes of sweet bread cooked over fire with sugar and cinnamon on the outside. The picture shows what some trendy new places have done, which is turn them into cones and fill them with stuff (some have meat and cheese in them). Saw the non-ice-cream-cone version all over Prague at Christmas markets, and saw a store in the touristy section selling exactly what is in the picture.
More at the Reddit discussion thread.  And this from Wikipedia:
Trdelník is a traditional Slovak cake and sweet pastry, originally coming from the Hungarian-speaking part of Transylvania, Romania. It is also known within the culinary heritages of other European countries like Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria. It is made from rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix. Nowadays, trdelník is very popular among tourists as a sweet pastry in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.The name trdelník comes from trdlo, the wooden stake the cake is wrapped around for cooking which gives it its traditional hollow shape. 
At the link are a list of similar products from other European countries, including Swedish spettekaka.

10 comments:

  1. How is that word pronounced? I really want it to be "turtleneck."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wondered too. Perhaps a reader here can write the phonetic form of the word for us.

      Delete
    2. I remembered this old joke, enjoy :)
      The optician shows the letters on the board:
      CZWXNQSTAZKY
      Doctor: Can you read this?
      Czech: Read? I even know the guy, he's my cousin.

      Delete
  2. it is pronounced sort of like 'treh-DEL-neek'.

    the guy here says it within the first 25 sec. of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URNLnchK8WE

    p.s. i don't think you needed to post an explanation - the picture tells it all! :-)

    I-)

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  3. Here's more about the Hungarian (Szekely) version, Kürtőskalács:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCrt%C5%91skal%C3%A1cs

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  4. I would eat that in heart beat, and then have heart burn, I'm sure. The picture is making me very hungry.

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  5. your blog posting made it to npr! they start off the segment with the sweet and delicious pronunciation of the word, lifted from the comments.

    http://www.npr.org/2016/03/06/469420747/pragues-franken-cone-finds-a-way-to-bring-ice-cream-and-doughnuts-together

    I-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just to be clear, TYWKIWDBI didn't "make it to NPR." The subject matter was covered by NPR.

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    2. okay, there is some fine point at i am missing. but, that's okay! :-)

      p.s. hearing that segment last night was like deja vu.

      I-)

      Delete
  6. i am now counting down to when the first trdelník shop opens in the east village in nyc.

    next, when dunkin donuts starts offering them.

    I-)

    ReplyDelete

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