A traditional South Bohemian pig slaughtering in the Masné krámy restaurant

The Masné krámy restaurant’s head chef has prepared the 5th South Bohemian pig slaughtering connected with the “Pork Feast”. On Friday 24th January, the butcher expert Mr. Kamil Tajbl is going to process the meat of five hogs supplied by “Meat and Smoked Meat Písek, joint-stock company”. The fresh ingredients are going to change before the eyes of onlookers of Krajinská St. into typical pig-slaughtering delicacies, such as hash-and-crumbs sausages, black pudding, brawn and other delicacies. The pig slaughtering will mark the beginning of the Pork Feast, which takes place until 2nd February.

The traditional pig slaughtering and the Pork Feast rank among the most successful gastronomic events in the Masné krámy restaurant, this year’s event being the fifth one.  “The interest of the public is generally huge. Last year our guests consumed about 2,000 servings of pig-slaughtering delicacies and about 500 servings of pig’s head soup. This year we are going to prepare about 1,200 pieces of hash-and-crumbs sausages, black pudding and many other delicacies,”says the Masné krámy restaurant’s head chef Luděk Hauser. “Owing to last year’s big interest in viewing the traditional butcher skills from the public, we are naturally going to continue in the same demonstration this year as well directly on the pavement of Krajinská St.  Even village people have now fewer and fewer opportunities to view hand processing of meat, cooking a pig’s head in a typical ‘caldron’, hand stuffing of hash-and-crumbs and black pudding or cutting the lard into greaves,”  adds Luděk Hauser. The freshly made delicacies are subsequently going to appear on the Masné krámy restaurant’s tables in front of its guests. The organisers are not planning to sell directly in the street.

For this year the Masné krámy restaurant is again planning many special thematic gourmet events, this year’s introduction being June’s “Exotica”. The nearest gourmet event - “Slovakian Cuisine Days”, takes plays between 18.2. and 23.2.2014. The Masné krámy restaurant offers not only great cuisine to its guests, but mainly perfectly treated drawn beer, particularly Budweiser Budvar Krausened Lager. The Masné krámy is the only restaurant in the world, where Budweiser Budvar Krausened Lager is drawn directly from beer tanks. The restaurant’s capacity is 200 places. Further information on the restaurant can be found at www.masne-kramy.cz.

This year, the Masné krámy restaurant in České Budějovice celebrates two important anniversaries. On 13th February, it will have been 650 years since the moment when Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. ordered the demolition of the original meat market on today’s Přemysl Otakar II. Square and its subsequent moving to Krajinská St. to the spot where the Masné krámy (meat market in English) restaurant is today. The restaurant was open to the public on 1st October 1954, therefore nearly 60 years ago. The restaurant has always exclusively drawn beer from Budweiser Budvar Brewery.

Pork Feast in the Masné krámy restaurant
24. 1. 2014 – 2. 2. 2014
Appetisers to go with beer
150g Homemade brawn, 1pc bread CZK 64
100g Lukewarm farm greaves, 1pc bread CZK 42
100g Homemade smoked meat, pickle, horse radish, 1pc bread CZK 69

Soup
0.22 l “Prdelačka” - pig’s head soup with hulled barley CZK 35

Head chef Luděk Hauser recommends
1,100g Pig slaughtering platter /2 hash-and-crumbs sausages, 2 pcs black pudding, grilled flitch, mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut, mustard, horse radish and sauerkraut/ CZK 410

Main meals
200g Pig-slaughtering goulash with onions, regular and bacon dumplings CZK 85
250g Cooked pig’s head platter, mustard, horse radish, chilli pepper, 2pcs bread CZK 94
170g Homemade hash-and-crumbs sausage, horse radish, mustard, mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut CZK 82
170g Homemade black pudding, horse radish, mustard, mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut CZK 82
200g Fried neck of pork, homemade potato salad CZK 98
400g Grilled garlic flitch, horse radish with apple, 2pcs bread CZK 129

We recommend something to go with meat
160g Masné krámy mini loaf of bread CZK 30
160g Sauerkraut  CZK 25
200g Cabbage salad with horse radish CZK 35

Something sweet to finish
200g Scrambled pancake, apple purée, cinnamon CZK 29

Luděk Hauser
The creative head chef of the “Masné krámy“ restaurant can boast a 14-year long foreign experience in the Bavarian hotel of Bayerischer Hof, which was selected for the Michelin guidebook. He began working in this hotel from scratch, gradually making his way up to the position of assistant head chef where he then worked for several years. His experience was also acquired by helping to prepare so-called “culinary trips” to various destinations worldwide for the guests, which were special thematic evening buffets of various cuisines. During his professional career, he often prepared menus for interesting personalities of the German show business. Furthermore, he also cooked for HRH Bavarian Prince Leopold and prepared a menu for the Czech ex-President Václav Havel, who visited the “Masné krámy“ restaurant in 2008. He likes cooking Czech cuisine as well as venison dishes and specialises in preparing uncommon types of fish and Mediterranean dishes as well. He spends his leisure time fishing, playing golf and being with his family.  

About the Masné krámy restaurant
The meat market (“masné krámy” in Czech) has been at the present location in Krajinská St. for nearly 650 years. On 13th February 1364, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. ordered the demolition of the original meat market on today’s Přemysl Otakar II. Square and its subsequent moving to Krajinská St.  The present building of the meat market dates back probably to 1554. As the name suggests, the meat market’s original purpose was to process and sell meat. The reconstruction change into a restaurant took place in 1953. The restaurant bearing the name of Masné krámy was then officially opened to the public on 1st October 1954. The restaurant quickly became very popular owing to the first-class beer from Budweiser Budvar and its great cuisine. Following the 2002 floods, the Masné krámy restaurant had to be closed down, being re-opened again after a five-year break on 5th December 2007. The reconstructed interior follows not only the original restaurant’s tradition but also the historic character of the building. Therefore such architectural elements and traditional materials had been chosen so that they support the historic outcome (solid oak, natural leather, black mat metal and patina copper). The interior furniture is of a simple and purposeful character, its features evoking the historic unity with the building. That is not to say that even more modern trends of restaurant facilities equipment were not used in the Masné krámy. For that reason LC screens and other LC projection equipment can be found in here, so can WIFI internet connection or wireless cashier equipment. The capacity of the restaurant is 200 places.

“Krausened Lager” in the “Masné krámy” restaurant
“Masné krámy” ’s beer offer is dominated by Budweiser Budvar Krausened Lager, which is drawn directly from the beer tank there. Krausened Lager is only available in selected Czech restaurants. Due to its content of live yeast, the lager is very vulnerable to storing and care conditions (a temperature of 6-8 C°), which are met only by some restaurants. The initial brewing procedure of the Krausened Lager is the same as with Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager. The difference lies in the fact that a certain amount of “rings” is added into the ready-to-consume beer, supplying the beer with a new culture of brewing yeast at its best condition plus another share of the extract. Further fermentation of the beer then takes place and the live yeast gets directly to the customer, providing the resultant Krausened Lager with better sensory qualities distinct from the traditional keg lager (greater fullness of the flavour, stronger relish, firmer head etc.).