Vepřo knedlo zelo

The story

Vepřo knedlo zelo is the clipped, rhyming name Czechs give to roast pork with bread dumplings and sauerkraut, a trio often called the most typical Czech dish. The pork is usually shoulder or neck, rubbed with salt, garlic and caraway and roasted on a bed of onions; the pan juices become the gravy, and the cabbage is braised sauerkraut. It appears on nearly every traditional restaurant menu in Prague, but its strongest seasonal tie is to masopust, the Czech Shrovetide that follows the Christmas holidays and ends when Lent begins. Masopust was the season of mask processions, folk dances, pig slaughters and weddings. Its high point for eating is Tučný čtvrtek, Fat Thursday, when households traditionally feasted to gain strength for the year ahead and, as the Czech edition of Forbes notes, to build a solid base for the weddings to come. Roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut was the classic Fat Thursday meal. In 2027 Fat Thursday falls on February 4, six days before Ash Wednesday. To serve it on a Thursday evening, make the dumplings and sauerkraut a day ahead; only the pork needs the afternoon in the oven.