Smažený sýr

The food stands in St. Wenceslas Square in Prague are anything but inviting. Questionable-looking people, most of whom, as I've researched, are actually Ukrainian, not Czech, set up shop in colorful stands lit up by marquees displaying the fair-like food options such as hotdogs and fries. 


I wouldn't have thought to approach the carnival madness if it weren't for a recommendation that I had gotten to try the smažený sýr, pronounced: ˈsmaʒɛniː ˈsiːr – helpful, I know. Smažený sýr literally translates to fried cheese. So now we have these Czech stands run by Ukrainian people serving American food in addition to this smažený sýr made of Edam, which is actually a Dutch cheese. Talk about an identity crisis. And to complicate matters further, the marquee was moving too quickly for me to read where I could pick up some of this famous sýr. I finally asked a woman working at one of the stands, who then proceeded to open a drawer, dig out a mysterious brown block with a pair of tongs, and drop it in the fryer. I assumed this meant I was buying it.

Picture a fried mozzarella stick in patty-form, which is then thrown on a bun with your choice of ketchup, mustard, or mayo served out of gigantic vats that you pump out yourself. Seeing as I was confronted with my greatest guilty pleasure, I of course covered that bad boy with mayonnaise before taking my first bite.

The cheese was perfect -- still melted from the fryer, causing the white cheese to ooze out of its crispy exterior. The mayo was surprisingly fantastic, adding even more creaminess and salt to the mix. I could have done without the bun. It was a little stale and attracting too much attention away from all the delicious fat that was going on inside of it. I peeled back the bread, picked out the cheese, and I was back in business.
I've officially added smažený sýr to my list of sickeningly scrumptious treats.