Tarkedli, the Czech donut

by | Nov 30, 2014 | Breads, buns & biscuits

Tarkedli (or talkedli) is a Czech donut that appeared in the Hungarian cuisine first in the 19th century. In the sometime Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the wealthier families liked to employ Czech female chefs who were the real masters of preparing pastries. The Bohemian pastry recipes quickly spread throughout the Monarchy. Their names and recipes showed a wide variety depending on regions and their origin often fell in oblivion. But there was one exception: the Czech origin of tarkedli has been never challenged.

Tarkedli was baked in a special baking mold composed of domeshaped hollows. Today this baking mold isn’t available in the Hungarian kitchens, tablespoon is used to form tarkedli instead. The donut’s Czech name comes from the word vdolky that refers to the mould. On the German-speaking areas from vdolky developed the word Dalken that was the base of the Hungarian word talkedli (later tarkedli).

Tarkedli baking mould
Tarkedli baking mould | photo: orszagalbum.hu

Over the past century tarkedli has never lost its popularity, what is more the culinary revolution has reached it, too – it has undergone many transformations. It can be made from traditional batter with special jams, or from lighter batter, and you can even find salty tarkedli recipes. However, one thing remains certain: the batter must be very soft, light and airy in order to make perfect donuts.

Tarkedli
Tarkedli – photo: zserbo.com
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2 Comments

Hungarian cottage cheese

This is what Hungarian túró looks like

You often ask me what kind of cottage cheese (or curd cheese or farmer's cheese - call it what you want) I use in the recipes. In Hungary the store-bought cottage cheese is dry and crumbly as you can see in the picture. So if a recipe calls for túró, I mean this type. If you can't obtain túró, you can try to make your own from whole milk. Click on the link below.

Wish list

If you are looking for a Hungarian recipe that hasn't been published on this website yet, let me know, and I'll do my best to post it.

Metric system vs cup

In Hungary metric units are in use, all the recipes on this website are based on this system, so a kitchen scale is necessary. Since I’m not familiar with cup as a measurement unit, I convert grams to cups by using an online converter. The values in brackets, therefore, are only approximate volumes, so, please, double-check them before you start cooking.

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