Trdelník is a kind of spit cake. It is made from rolled dough that is wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut mix.
Origin
Trdelník has several origins. In the mid-19th century it was known as a Slovak dish,, and in the 20th century as a Moravian dish. A similar pastry was also popular in the Hungarian speaking part of Transylvania, where it is called kürtőskalács. The word trdelník is of Czech-Slovak origin; the root of this word, trdlo, is the name of the wooden tool the cake ingredients are wrapped around during cooking, and can also mean "simpleton" in English. In the 21st century it became popular among tourists in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Nowadays, trdelník is very popular among tourists as a sweet pastry in many countries, mostly in the CzechRepublic. A variation of trdelník with an ice cream filling was popularized by Prague cafés. The version from the Slovak town of Skalica was registered in December 2007 as a PGI in the European Union. The registration application with the detailed description of the product was published in April 2007 in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Tourism in Prague
Although trdelník is usually presented as "a traditional Czech cake" or "the old Bohemian pastry", and mentions of "český trdelník" can be found in 20th century literature, trdelník is mostly mentioned in literature as a Slovak or Moravian, not Bohemian dish, and the mass spread of this dessert in Prague is recognized to have started more recently. Czech cinematographer and reporter Janek Rubeš argues that trdelník is only made for tourists, and that even the hamburger is more traditional in the Czech Republic.
Skalický trdelník
The production of trdelník has a long tradition in the Slovak town of Skalica near the border with the Moravian Slovakian town Hodonín. The original recipe was owned at the end of the 18th century by the cook József Gvadányi, a retired Hungarian general and resident of Skalica. The original recipe then was improved by the inhabitants of Skalica to its final form now known as Skalický trdelník. The society Skalický trdelník was founded in 2004 with the goal of keeping the tradition of the original open fire Trdelník production.
