Matchday with friends? Advanced snack tips for your guests

2023. 08. 28.

Watching matches with friends

Every major sporting event attracts viewers to the screens. What's more, it's not just major sports events: who doesn't know someone (perhaps even themselves) who wouldn't miss a single match of their favorite team...? Sports such as football or, say, handball, can attract thousands of viewers across the country to sit down in front of the television.

Watching a game like this can turn into a real community experience if relatives, friends or even neighbors come over to support our favorite team together. Such events have an incomparable atmosphere.

And this atmosphere is not only due to the intoxication caused by many beers! (Of course, a chilled beer dispenser can come in handy!) But there is no doubt that the food and drinks that accompany us through the excitement of the match also contribute to these occasions.

What is a beer skate?

The beer skate was originally the device with which the beer barrels could be taken down to the cellar. The apt name then began to be used metaphorically for people who drink a lot of beer. Today, we also call the snacks that we eat with beer the same. These are typically fatty and/or salty to induce a pleasant thirst, which beer will be able to alleviate.

A simple scone, pretzel, or salty skiffle can also be a beer skate, but the palette is much wider than that. Any snack that matches the beer in appearance, smell, and taste can essentially be a beer skate, because it highlights the character of the beer (and makes you want to go for the next round).

Beer skates for guests: tips and recipes

There is no shortage of creative ideas around the world. Unfortunately, the selection of beer skates has become quite poor here, only the best caterers would serve with more options than salted peanuts and chips. However, this doesn't mean that you can't make some curious beer skates for your guests at home!

The Czech beer skate: utopenec 

One of the typical Czech snacks offered with beer is "utopenec", which interestingly translates to "drowned". (According to legend, it got its name from its inventor, who later tragically drowned.) It is nothing more than a sausage, which is cut into rings and matured in a salt-vinegar juice. Onions, cherry peppers and various spices are also used in the marinade. 

In the Czech Republic, the offer of any decent pub cannot be without utopenec.

But of course you don't have to rush to the Czech Republic right away if you want to try it! You can also make it at home! It is best to use hot dogs named crinoline. Circle the sausage, place it skillfully in a mason jar, add onions, pepper, pickles, cherry peppers and other similar things! Then pour salt-vinegar water on it and let it stand for a while! By the time the match starts, the Czech beer skate will be ready!

Another Czech beer skate: marinated Hermelin (or Camembert cheese)

Another typical Czech snack that is usually served with beer is pickled hermelin. Hermelin is a cheese similar to camembert (some consider it a type of camembert). They are marinated in oil infused with red onion, garlic, red onion, peppercorns, and chili for days (even a week or two). Due to its piquant, pungent taste, the Czechs are sure that it is one of the best things to eat with beer.

Hermelin is perhaps harder to find here, but other Camembert cheeses are available in most stores. You can choose the spices in the marinade according to your taste, but onion must be included! You can also use olive oil or sunflower oil: the taste will obviously be a little different, but neither is better or worse! Cut the cheese into discs and layer the ingredients in the mason jar: cheese, then the onions and spices, then the cheese again, and so on. 

And if you can, eat the marinated hermelin with Czech beer: it will still be the real thing!

Hot dog beer skate

If you would vote for a slightly simpler method than the Czech marinating method, you can throw together a simple beer skate with hot dogs at any time. Let's see how to do this now, before we get to another surprising feature in the following paragraphs!

To make the classic hot dog beer skate, you only need 40 hot dogs, 1 kg of puff pastry, 1 egg, 4 tablespoons of flour and your favorite sauces (mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, etc.).

Roll out the puff pastry at room temperature on a floured board. Cut them into small squares or triangles, coat them with your favorite sauce, and wrap the hot dogs cut into small pieces in them! 

Brush the top with an egg and bake for about a quarter of an hour at 180°C, using top-bottom baking or the fan function! Keep an eye on it so it doesn't get caught - and enjoy it with your favorite beer as soon as it's ready and cooled to an edible temperature!

German beer skate: lip ring (ringli)

Last but not least, there is a German specialty, the German beer skate, which is nothing but the lip ring also known as ringli.

Germans are famously creative when it comes to pairing beer anyway. Almost every province has its own signature beer skate. And it is common for all Germans that it is difficult to imagine a friendly beer without white sausage or crispy hot dogs.

That's why the lip ring is unique, which is not a sausage, but something completely different: an anchovy, rolled into a ring. Knowing the snacks of the Czechs, we are no longer surprised that ajóka is also an oily snack. Strongly salty fish bite flavored with capers: in most cases, it is rolled up precisely so that a caper can get inside.

Now nothing can stand in the way of turbo-charged beers and watching matches with special beer skates! Try one of the specialties and discuss with the guests who likes the Czech or German snack! Here you can get all the kitchen tools you need to prepare them!