A shepherd's soup built on bryndza, the Slovak sheep's-milk cheese, stirred into a broth of potato, onion and caraway. Cheap, warming and quick, it is mountain-pasture food — the salty tang of bryndza is the whole point.
Warm and savory, the broth carries the unmistakable sharp, salty tang of sheep cheese, softened by mellow potato and sweet onion. Caraway hums in the background with a faint anise-like warmth. It is rustic and a little funky, the kind of soup that tastes of mountain pastures.
Tempering the bryndza with hot broth before adding it gradually raises its temperature, preventing the cheese proteins from seizing and curdling. Keeping the soup below a boil maintains a smooth, emulsified texture.
Variations
Thickened with a little flour, enriched with a beaten egg, with extra garlic, or served poured over slices of bread
On the Palate
Where Demikat sits in the Slovak flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 10 min
- 16 min
Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes.
- 26 min
Sweat finely chopped onion in lard until translucent.
- 32 min
Add caraway seeds and a spoon of paprika and stir briefly.
- 412 min
Pour in water, add the potatoes and simmer until tender.
- 53 min
Whisk the bryndza with a ladle of the hot broth until smooth.
Watch outWhisk the bryndza smooth with a ladle of hot broth first — warming it this way stops the cheese from seizing into lumps when it hits the pot.
- 62 min
Stir the cheese mixture back into the soup over low heat.
- 74 min
Warm gently without boiling so the cheese does not split.
Watch outKeep it under a boil once the cheese is in — hold it at a bare steam; let it bubble and the cheese splits into grainy curds and oil.
- 83 min
Season with salt and pepper and serve with bread or toasted croutons.
