Yesterday there was a very nice meeting. The invitation to lunch was accepted by the six winners of our Christmas competition: Matúš Gajdoš, Anna Gyorgyfiová , Ján Diňa, Miroslav Vojčík, Peter Šarudi and Jozef Hamrák. And, of course, representatives of TAURIS, who donated beautiful prizes to the competition: Ivan Treľo , Director of Human Resources and Member of the Board of Directors of TAURIS, a.s., and HR Manager Marián Šajban.

Even before our colleagues from TAURIS a.s. handed over the gift baskets and bags, we wanted to know how they did during the year, what they have new and what they would like to boast about.

Ivan Treľo says: "We have 4 production plants. The largest is in Rimavská Sobota, where we have our own cutting plant, so the uniqueness of Zipser sausages and ham, for example, is that we do not add any frozen meat to them, but fresh meat directly from the cutting. Maybe that's why these products of ours taste so good. From a financial point of view, we are not one of the cheapest producers, but our products contain high-quality meat, smoked on beech or oak wood. Our philosophy is for people to eat quality products. A novelty in the offer of Rimavská Sobota is that we managed to break through with pâtés made of mouflon, deer and fallow deer, and at Agrokomplex Nitra we received the Golden Sickle award for the deer sausage Fuet. You will also be able to taste this delicacy, because we have added it to the gift baskets. In the operation in Mojmírovce, we produce well-known sausages such as Malokarpatská, Nitran and a wide range of sausages. We have a large cutting center in Spišská Nová Ves and a whole range of Zipser products come from this operation. The fourth operation is Ryba Košice. The well-known Treskoslovenská cod was 70 years old this year, which you must have noticed at several events in the city. At Ryba, we started to produce or sell our mayonnaise and tartar sauce in consumer packages. We have significantly increased the number of U býka butchers, of which we currently have 117 throughout Slovakia and also in Prague, where we opened Bistro u býka in the Hybernia Palace. It was christened by Jiřina Bohdalová and Pepo Vojtek. There is a large community of Slovaks living in Prague, who like our bistro very much and found their way to it very quickly.  This year, we opened a large distribution and logistics center in the Nad Jazerom housing estate, which is one of the most modern not only in Slovakia, but also in EU countries."

After the presentation of really generous prizes, the pleasant debate continued. It revolved, of course, mainly around food and, given the date, especially around Christmas food.

Miroslav Vojčík is not only a good cook, but he is also a gourmet. He follows the work of famous chefs, not only does he like to cook himself, but he also makes his own meat products. He sent us recipes for less classic Christmas dishes for the competition. Pea porridge with sauerkraut was especially interesting.

 

 "I used to give classic recipes, my grandparents come from Telgárt, so we have a classic Christmas dinner. There is cabbage soup, bobaľky, potato salad and fish,"  said Peter Šarudi, who also won our competition last year and added: "The gift basket was amazing. I had to give away half of the products to my colleagues right away. Everyone was very happy. I'm happy that I won again. I didn't have much luck this year, but in the end it smiled on me."

In Ján Diňa'  s household, they always cook the same dishes for Christmas, they never miss any of them.  All family members are involved in their preparation.

In the family of Jozef Hamrák, the  dinner has 5 courses: "We start with a wafer with honey, followed by garlic, cabbage soup with mushrooms, pork knuckle, also smoked and sausage. Then everyone has the choice of whether to have a schnitzel or fish with the potato salad. At the end, there is something sweet - bobaľky with poppy seeds. We also make                                                               bobaľky from rolls, they are very good."

Matúš Gajdoš : "We also start with a wafer that is drizzled with honey. Next comes the cabbage soup. I smoke the sausages. Since I am mushroom picker, the mushrooms are picked and dried by myself. We eat cabbage soup with cabbage soup."

"We also serve the classic menu. However, the table must not miss gingerbread, which we bake together with my granddaughter, and various types of cakes. I bake a lot. Classic Linzer cakes are my favorite, I got the recipe from my grandmother, lard is added to the dough instead of butter. They are sprinkled with nuts," Anna Györgyfiová revealed.

Ivan Treľo and Marián Šajban invited our winners to a tour of one of the establishments. The winners of last year's Christmas competition visited Ryba Košice and this year's winners will head to Rimavská Sobota.

We would like to continue our cooperation with TAURIS and organize, for example, a tasting of new products associated with evaluation, or various other activities. At the beginning of the year, we want to welcome them to us, at U. S. Steel Košice, to see our operations. Ivan Treľo, who spent 20 years in the tax department in the ironworks and is still in contact with his former colleagues, is especially looking forward to the show.

Anna Györgyfiová described her feelings about her win after unwrapping the gift basket as follows:

I don't even know how to say thank you, I didn't expect such a gift at all.  At home, when I unwrapped the gift basket, what it was hiding, believe me, I was surprised.  Half a table of goodies, true quality, from now on, we will only eat products from Tauris.  Sausages, bacon, pâtés and venison salami, this is what our sweet tooth will appreciate.