Ingredients
Halusky dough
- 1 kgfloury potatoes, peeled and finely grated on the fine side of a box grater
- 300 gplain flour, plus more to adjust
- 1large egg
- 1.5 tspfine salt
Bryndza sauce
- 400 gbryndza (soft salty sheep’s cheese), at room temperature
- 150 mlwhole milk or hot cooking water
- 50 gsoured cream (optional)
- black pepper, to taste
Topping
- 200 gsmoked streaky bacon, cut into 5 mm lardons
- 1 tbsplard or neutral oil
- 1 handfulchives, snipped
To cook
- 4 litreswater
- 2 tbspsalt
Directions
- Grate the raw potatoes finely into a bowl, keeping all the liquid; the starch in it binds the dough. Stir in the egg and salt.
- Beat in the flour a handful at a time until you have a thick, sticky, spoonable batter that just falls from a spoon in a heavy ribbon. Do not knead it and do not let it stand: raw potato turns grey and weeps.
- Bring the salted water to a rolling boil in a wide pot.
- Push the dough through a halusky maker or press it in batches through the large holes of a colander with a spatula, letting short 2 cm dumplings drop straight into the water.
- Cook each batch 3–4 minutes from when they bob to the surface, until they are firm outside and cooked through with no chalky centre. Lift out with a spider into a warm bowl and reserve a mug of the starchy water.
- Fry the bacon lardons in the lard over medium heat for 6–8 minutes, until the fat has rendered and the pieces are crisp and mahogany. Keep the fat in the pan.
- Mash the bryndza with the hot milk (and soured cream if using) into a smooth, pourable cream. Never boil it: heat above a simmer makes it grainy and separates the fat.
- Fold the hot dumplings through the bryndza cream, loosening with a splash of the cooking water until glossy. Serve immediately in warm bowls, doused with the bacon and its hot fat, and finished with chives.
Technique
- Slovaks do not add mashed or cooked potato: the raw grated potato is what gives halusky their soft, faintly slippery bite.
- Judge the flour by feel, not by weight. Waxy potatoes hold more water and need more flour; test one dumpling first and adjust before committing the batch.
- The bryndza is stirred through off the heat. Cooking it kills the tang that the whole dish exists to showcase.
Substitutions
- Real bryndza is hard to find abroad: blend 300 g sheep’s feta with 100 g full-fat quark or cream cheese and a splash of milk. Expect a saltier, less tangy result.
- For a lighter topping, use dry-cured smoked belly or good pancetta instead of streaky bacon.
Variations
- Strapacky, the same dumplings tossed with stewed sauerkraut instead of cheese.
- Halusky s kapustou, a Lent version with cabbage and no bryndza.
History
Potato dumplings with sheep’s bryndza and fried bacon, treated as the national dish; a cooking championship is held each year at Turecká.
Frequently asked questions
What is Bryndzové halušky?
Bryndzové halušky is a main from Slovakia: potato dumplings in tangy bryndza sheep cheese, crowned with bacon. Potato dumplings with sheep’s bryndza and fried bacon, treated as the national dish; a cooking championship is held each year at Turecká.
How long does Bryndzové halušky take to make?
Bryndzové halušky takes 30 min of preparation and 25 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Bryndzové halušky?
Yes, within limits. Real bryndza is hard to find abroad: blend 300 g sheep’s feta with 100 g full-fat quark or cream cheese and a splash of milk. Expect a saltier, less tangy result. For a lighter topping, use dry-cured smoked belly or good pancetta instead of streaky bacon.
What is the most important thing to get right in Bryndzové halušky?
Beat in the flour a handful at a time until you have a thick, sticky, spoonable batter that just falls from a spoon in a heavy ribbon. Do not knead it and do not let it stand: raw potato turns grey and weeps.
