Lost in translation – the Czech steak spice mystery

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All over Prague, restaurants served delicious richly spiced grilled meats and kebabs. My inner carnivore was in heaven but I couldn’t work out the spicing. There was come citrus, a little chilli, garlic and herbs.

Not to be beaten by the mystery I headed for the market near to our hotel and many of the food stalls were selling spice mixes (labelled Steak Koreni) for meat. Case solved – I brought some back to try and ran the ingredients label through an online translation site.

There’s now always a jar of this mix in my cupboard to turn a midweek pork chop into something a bit special. It’s amazing for barbecues too – now that the summer seems to have arrived early.

To make enough to keep in a jar for a few meals, mix together two teaspoons each of:

• Sea salt
• Mustard seeds
• Dried thyme
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Dried onion or onion powder
• Black peppercorns (one teaspoon)
• Chilli flakes (up to you – two makes it quite pokey)

Grind together a couple of teaspoons of the mix as a dry rub for griddled or BBQed meat or mix with a little oil and lemon juice as a marinade. The smell as it’s cooking will bring tears of joy to the eye of any enthusiastic meat-eater.