Carp and Potato Salad - Yup it's Christmas in Prague

Greetings Folks!!

well it's time for the time honored Czech traditions of carp and potato salad for Christmas Eve dinner!! yes you heard me right, carp.. those lovely mud-dwelling fishies known for their bones and strong taste...

And the Christmas carp are had very very fresh.. all over town there are stands with tubs of carp swimming around and guys with nets, knives and scales.. you pick your carp, they net it, weigh it, whack it on the head with a mallet and cut it up right there.. give you the body in a bag, and all the guts , tail and head in another bag (this is used to make fish soup, also part of the Christmas feast!)

Well it was amazing yesterday I stopped to watch this whole process (this is common the whole week before Christmas, though some Czechs take their carp home and keep it in the bathtub until the morning of the 24th and do the dirty deed themselves!)

Man, can you imagine this in the States!!!! ASPCA would have a field day with this.. just think going to the mall and out in the parking lot there are guys with their tubs of live carp, and smacking on the head in front of kids and everyone!!

Oh and did I mention that there is BLOOD everywhere?! Seems that as carp are very fleshy and fatty fish, they are also very bloody.. so there is blood all over the place - it's quite primal and in a very odd way a bit charming.. Can't really explain that.. it just is..

So from the Golden City (Zlate Mesto)

Hezky Vanoce ("have a " Nice Christmas)


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