🥗 STARTER
Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese)
Soft white-rind hermelín cheeses split, spread with garlic, chilli and paprika paste, layered with onion, bay and peppers in a jar of oil and left to ripen, the Czech pub snack for beer.
Czech · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 0 min · plus 5 days hands-off time
~724 cal · 2g protein · 10g carbs · 77g fat · 2g fiber · 4g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Nakládaný hermelín is the great pub snack of the Czech Republic, and has been a fixture of the hospoda, the Czech pub, for decades. Hermelín is the Czech camembert-style cheese with a bloomy white rind, created in the 1920s in Sedlčany in Central Bohemia; its name means ermine, after the white fur of royal robes.
To pickle it, each small round is sliced in half, spread on the cut sides with a paste of garlic, chilli and sweet paprika, sandwiched with thin rings of onion and packed into a jar with more onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and small hot peppers, then covered completely with oil. After a day at room temperature the jar goes into the fridge, and over the following days to two weeks the cheese softens, turns creamy and takes on the garlic and spice.
It is served as a chuťovka, a snack to go with beer, on a small plate with some of the onion and a spoonful of the flavoured oil, and a thick slice of bread to mop it up. The ideal partner, Czechs agree, is a properly poured lager.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 6 hermelín cheeses (100 g rounds), not too ripe; they soften further in the oilHard to find? 6 small camembert rounds - a little richer and stronger than hermelín; choose firm, young ones
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
- 1 fresh red chilli, very finely chopped, or 20 g pickled hot peppers
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- a pinch each salt and black pepper
- 2 onions (red or white), sliced into thin rings
- 4 bay leaves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 4 small pickled hot peppers, optional
- about 500 ml sunflower oil, enough to cover the cheese completely
- 6 thick slices bread, to serve
Instructions
- 1Mix the garlic, chilli, paprika, salt, pepper and a few drops of oil into a spreadable paste.
- 2Cut each cheese in half horizontally. Spread the cut sides thinly with the paste, lay a few onion rings on one half and press the other half back on top.
- 3Pour about 2 cm of oil into a clean, dry jar. Layer in the cheeses, tucking the remaining onion, bay leaves, peppercorns and pickled peppers between them and drizzling oil over each layer.
- 4Top up with oil until the cheeses are covered by at least 1 cm, and close the jar. Leave at room temperature for 1 day, then refrigerate.✎ Chef’s noteAnything poking out of the oil can spoil; press the cheeses down and keep them submerged.
- 5Let the cheese ripen in the fridge for at least 4 more days and up to 2 weeks, until soft and creamy. Take it out an hour before serving.
- 6Serve as a beer snack with some of the onion, a spoonful of the oil and thick slices of bread.
Czech pub tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bohemia. Bohemian beer has a precise birthday. The first pale lager was brewed in Plzen on 5 October 1842 by a Bavarian, Josef Groll, using Saaz hops and unusually soft local water, and poured for the first time that November. The town's name went on to label the style wherever it is now brewed.
🗺️
Czechia. Czech cooking is built for its beer, all roast pork, bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and rich gravies. Hearty, Central European, and unapologetically comforting, it centers the pub and the Sunday table.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Czechia
Bramboráky (Potato Pancakes)Crisp-edged garlicky potato pancakes flecked with marjoram, Bohemia’s answer to any hour of hunger.
KoláčeSoft sweet buns with a dimple of fruit, poppy seed, or sweet cheese filling.
Smažený SýrA thick slab of breaded, deep-fried cheese served with tartar sauce and potatoes, a Czech pub lunch.
Browse all Czechia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Czechia meal
Beton (Becherovka and Tonic)Drink
Ovocné KnedlíkyDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Chakka (Tajik Strained Yogurt with Herbs and Garlic)Tajikistan
Bollitos de Yuca (Dominican Cheese-Filled Cassava Balls)Dominican Republic
Guacamole con TotoposMexico
Sorullitos de Maíz (Puerto Rican Cheese Corn Fritters)Puerto Rico
Pidan Doufu (Taiwanese Century Egg Tofu)Taiwan
Borani BanjanAfghanistan
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese)?
Soft white-rind hermelín cheeses split, spread with garlic, chilli and paprika paste, layered with onion, bay and peppers in a jar of oil and left to ripen, the Czech pub snack for beer.
Where does Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) come from?
Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) is a Czech dish from Bohemia, Czechia.
Can Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Nakládaný Hermelín (Czech Pickled Hermelín Cheese) take to make?
About 5 days in all: 20 minutes prep and 0 minutes cooking, plus 5 days of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.