Despite the Misused Term, Klobásníks Are Indeed Kolaches in Texas (2024)
Kolaches are arguably one of the most popular pastries in Texas. Brought to the Lone Star State by Czech immigrants, the pastries were a weekly mainstay and snack in local households, made with sweet yeast dough with a center filled with fruits typically available in Eastern Europe.
Flash forward to 2023, though, and it’s no secret that the term “kolache” has been misused for quite some time, so much so that the misuse has proliferated and become a norm. Kolache is the plural form of kolach, which indicates one, single pastry despite many Texans still adding an extra “s” to indicate many “kolaches” (plural). In actuality, when most Texans are referring to a “kolache,” they actually mean a single klobásník or klobasnek, a savory pastry similarly adopted from the Czech community. In Houston, these klobásníks can be found at most doughnut shops, stuffed with traditional ingredients like sausage, breakfast items like egg, cheese, and/or bacon; or more creative options like boudin and even curry chicken.
Ordering a “savory kolache,” then, for some, feels like a cultural blunder that needs to be corrected. But, realistically, knowing the more accurate name likely won’t change how many Texans and their favorite restaurants use the term. Though savory “kolaches” are certainly not traditional Czech kolaches, they’re very Texan. Houston’s restaurants have also seemingly bowed out of the discussion, taken sides, or chosen to go with what has become a Texas cultural norm. Kolache Shoppe, for example, separates its pastry menu simply by sweet and savory. Koffeteria is known for its beef pho kolaches that are certainly klobásníks, though not defined as such, and at local chains like Shipley Do-Nuts and Southern Maid, no klobásníks, at least in reference, exist. All of the boudin and bacon, egg, and cheese “kolaches,” however, are indeed savory. Have we completely given up on using the correct term? It certainly feels like it, which can be particularly frustrating for members of the Czech community.
I can’t say it’s not fascinating how terms evolve or expand. The word “meat,” for example, once referred to food in general in Old English, not just animal flesh, according to Dictionary.com. Somehow people still use the word “thongs” to refer to flip flops and not underwear, and “conversate,” once an improper term for “converse,” is now in the dictionary (and in a Beyonce song, might I add). “Kolache,” similarly, feels like a Texas short-hand, a word that could be added to a book of Lone Star State vernacular with a much-needed asterisk or footnote regarding its history. It’s still important for people to engage with context and name things accurately in a way that acknowledges its cultural origins or resonance. That’s how we learn.
So in Texas, can a klobasnek be a kolache? It’s complicated. According to many Texans, it is. But when you happen to hear someone call a savory pastry that is technically a klobásník a kolach, no need to wince or chide them. A fun history lesson never hurts.
Editor’s note:This article has been updated to include a note about the plural and singular form of kolach/kolache.
Klobasneks are much more commonly known as kolaches in Texas, but should not be confused with traditional Czech
Czech
In the Czech cuisine, thick soups and many kinds of sauces, both based on stewed or cooked vegetables and meats, often with cream, as well as baked meats with natural sauces (gravies), are popular dishes usually accompanied with beer, especially Pilsner, that Czechs consume the most in the world.
kolaches, which are also popular and are known by the same name. Klobasneks are similar in style to sausage rolls, but the meat is wrapped in kolache dough.
While you can find kolaches almost anywhere in the United States, outside of Texas, they remain most popular in areas where Czech immigrants settled, such as Nebraska, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
While kolaches are a Czechoslovakian creation that arrived here in Texas in the 1800s along with thousands of Czech immigrants, the sausage-filled impostor is unique to Texas, and actually called a klobasnek (pronounced CLOW-boss-neck).
A kolach, from the Czech and Slovak koláč (plural koláče, diminutive koláčky, meaning "cake/pie") is a type of sweet pastry that holds a portion of fruit surrounded by puffy yeast dough.
Klobasneks are much more commonly known as kolaches in Texas, but should not be confused with traditional Czech kolaches, which are also popular and are known by the same name. Klobasneks are similar in style to sausage rolls, but the meat is wrapped in kolache dough.
By the early 1900s more than 9,000 Czech people had immigrated to Texas. They brought with them recipes for koláč—hand-sized circles of yeasty baked dough, imbued with fillings like apricot, prune, and sweetened soft cheeses.
Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, and Croatia all made their own versions of kolache, with various spellings (and the Russian kulich can be seen as its Orthodox cousin). Bohemians and Moravians paired the pastry with povidla, a kind of plum butter.
Klobasniky are Czech American sausage pastries “invented” by late-19th-century Czech immigrants to Texas. They are adapted from a savory food typically eaten at Easter in Central Europe, where they originate from.
A nod to the Czech immigrants in Texas, Buc-ee's kolaches are a breakfast must-have. These soft, sweet pastries are filled with fruits, cheeses, or meats. The sausage and cheese kolache, in particular, is a filling and delicious way to start your day.
Kolach or kalach is a traditional bread found in Central and Eastern European cuisines, commonly served during various special occasions – particularly wedding celebrations, Christmas, Easter, and Dożynki. The name originates from the Old Slavonic word kolo (коло) meaning "circle" or "wheel".
Kolaches are arguably one of the most popular pastries in Texas. Brought to the Lone Star State by Czech immigrants, the pastries were a weekly mainstay and snack in local households, made with sweet yeast dough with a center filled with fruits typically available in Eastern Europe.
And so the kolache—a ball of dough not unlike a slightly sweetish dinner roll filled with fruit or cheese—was born, its name having evolved from the Czech kola, meaning “wheels” or “rounds.” Texans also enjoy the sausage kolaches that resemble pigs-in-a–blanket.
Kolaches are Czech pastries made of a yeast dough and usually filled with fruit, but sometimes cheese. The ultra-traditional flavors — such as poppy seed, apricot, prune and a sweet-but-simple farmer's cheese — can be traced back to the pastry's Eastern European origin.
Brooklyn Kolache is a scratchmade bakery specializing in small-batch Texas style kolaches; hand filled and baked fresh daily. We use all natural, often organic, and locally sourced ingredients. Our fillings are handmade without the use of preservatives or artificial sweeteners.
This is the new world of the kolache, a food that now straddles several constituencies: the descendants of Czech immigrants, who still make the pastry in the broad swath of central Texas known as the Czech Belt; the highway commuters who have made it a coveted road food; and the artisans and entrepreneurs around the ...
Brooklyn Kolache is a scratchmade bakery specializing in small-batch Texas style kolaches; hand filled and baked fresh daily. We use all natural, often organic, and locally sourced ingredients. Our fillings are handmade without the use of preservatives or artificial sweeteners.
There are currently more than 60 company-owned and franchise stores primarily located in the Houston, TX area, with additional stores located in San Antonio, TX; Austin, TX; Dallas, TX; McAllen, TX; Carmel and Castleton, IN; Brentwood, MO; Deer Creek & Overland Park, KS; Omaha, NE; Albuquerque, NM; Virginia Beach, VA; ...
Kolaches are only really known from north of San Antiono to DFW. That corridor had many Czech and Germany immigrants. There is still a Czech gas station or two on I-35 at advertises in these. Even driving around Ft Worth in the 80s you would see Kolache shops but not many knew what they were.
Introduction: My name is Mr. See Jast, I am a open, jolly, gorgeous, courageous, inexpensive, friendly, homely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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