Creamy demikát with bacon: Slovak sheep cheese soup you pour over toasted bread

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Render the bacon

   8 min

   Finely dice the bacon and place it in a pot over low heat without any added fat. Slowly render until crisp. Spoon half of the bacon onto a small plate and reserve for topping.

2. Soften the onion and add the paprika

   7 min

   Add the butter and finely chopped onion to the bacon in the pot. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft but not browned. Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the ground paprika, and immediately pour in the hot water so the paprika does not turn bitter.

3. Simmer the soup

   10 min

   Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer over low heat for 10 minutes to let the onion release its flavor.

4. Stir in the bryndza

   5 min

   Place the bryndza in a bowl and stir in two ladlefuls of hot soup until smooth, then pour the mixture into the pot. Heat the soup gently without boiling, which would cause the bryndza to curdle into lumps. Taste and add salt only if needed—the bryndza is already salty.

5. Serve over toasted bread

   5 min

   Cut the bread into cubes and toast in a dry skillet. Divide among soup bowls, pour the hot demikát over the bread, and sprinkle with the chives and reserved bacon.

Tip: Take the bryndza out of the refrigerator ahead of time so it reaches room temperature and blends into the soup without lumps. For a milder demikát, stir in 100 ml cooking cream at the end.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Krémový demikát so slaninkou: bryndzová polievka, ktorou zalejete opečený chlieb