The big Hungarian fisherman’s soup guide

The red gold, the fisherman’s soup. We all eat it, we all love it, we all make it differently. The fisherman’s soup you eat at one part of the country is prepared entirely differently from another. What are the major regions, and how are they different from each other?

Fisherman’s soup of the Tisza region

The collective term “fish soup of the Tisza region” can refer to the Szeged, the Szolnok, or the so-called Tisza vinous varieties. The recipes of the Tisza region are more complicated than the recipes of Baja: while in the latter one fish are not sieved, but simply stewed with onion and the soup is made strictly from carp, in the Tisza region first a broth is made from onion, paprika and fish offal, then it is sieved, and the fish steaks cut earlier are prepared in it. This soup also lacks noodles, while the Baja fish soup is prepared with pasta called “gyufatészta”. And as of 2017, fish soup of the Tisza region officially became a Hungaricum.

For a great recipe in English click here.

Fisherman’s soup of Baja

This type of fisherman’s soup originates from the town Baja by the Danube. The main difference between the Baja and Szeged varieties is that people in Baja put noodles into the soup when they cook it in Bajai style. Hungaricum.hu writes that

“Fish soup is consumed by almost all residents of the town of Baja ever since it was added to civilian cuisine in the second half of the 19th century. The Baja fish soup is a tradition and cultural heritage that was passed on through generations. Baja fish soup is an intellectual asset that contributes to the national cohesion and strengthening of new generations. The preservation of the cultural heritage of Baja fish soup can also be an example to other settlements in how to preserve local culture and local identity in our current multicultural world.”