Czech Food – Uzena
For people who want to know what Old Prague Ham takes like but without paying through the nose for the experience then another option is to find somewhere with Uzená on the menu.
What to Expect from Uzená
Uzená is smoked pork and it’s been a staple of the Czech diet for many decades but you don’t often see it on tourist restaurant menus in the centre of the city and there’s a reason for that.
Uzená will be served as a thick slice and the meat tastes largely like if you were having a “gammon steak” but there can be a problem with the sides. You see the standard presentation of Uzená comes with spinach and it’s a very salted and pureed spinach which will also have a lot of garlic included. The colour, style and smell of the spinach can put some off.
But never fear, the Czechs have an alternative side dish called Zeli. If you have read the posts about Halušky, Moravsky Vrabec and Bramborak then you’ll know that Zeli is sweet cabbage which will smother the meal with vinegar. Again, not to everyone’s taste so that’s why it’s not so popular in restaurants i.e. the vinegar taste or the spinach. Finally it’s the dumplings. In the standard presentation Uzená is usually served with potato dumplings. I’ll eat that but, if I see that these look like hockey pucks I prefer to play safe and go for bread dumplings.
My own personal preference for Uzená is bread dumplings and zeli but on a recent trip to a local restaurant I ordered the version with spinach to give you an idea of what it would look like. I’m taking one for the team here! If in doubt about spinach/zeli then order it with boiled potatoes. Expect to pay @CZK150 for this in a restaurant outside the tourist area or at a Jidelna.