Favourite Hungarian ingredients – fish

Hungarians do not eat an extreme amount of fish, not even in a European context – some say Hungarians eat less than a fifth of the average amount of fish consumed per person in Europe. However, some dishes made with fish are still important to Hungarian gastronomy.

In Hungary, an important part of the Christmas menu is the fish soup, for instance. In fact, the fish soup of the Tisza region became an official hungaricum in 2017. The majority of Hungarians’ fish consumption actually comes from these two – Christmas celebrations and the traditions of fish soup-making, especially in the Tisza region. Some of the most popular fish kinds are pike, trout, catfish and carp.

Catfish stew with cottage cheese pasta

Catfish stew is a very popular dish in Hungary. If you combine it with cottage cheese pasta, you not only experience a unique taste sensation but you also get to experience the wonders of another ingredient Hungarians love, namely, cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is actually a very diverse ingredient as it can be used for both sweet and savoury meals. So, you cannot go wrong by pairing a nice catfish with some cottage cheese pasta, and afterwards, you can even finish off your meal with another Hungarian delicacy, the Rákóczi cottage cheese cake, for example.

For the recipe to try at home, click HERE.

Hungarian fish soup

Just like the famous Hungarian goulash, the delicious fish soup also resulted from the harmony that existed between people and nature. Even though fish meals have been around for much longer, due to the core ingredient of this dish – paprika -, we connect it to the 19th century. Fish soup is most commonly made out of carp. When the weather is good, Hungarians like to go outside and prepare it in a “bogrács”, meaning that it can become a community activity, too. If you visit Hungary, trying our fish soup is a must 😉