Recipe of the week: flódni

Flódni can be considered a staple dish when it comes to Jewish gastronomy. It is undoubtedly the most well-known and loved in Hungary. Its preparation requires a great deal of meticulousness, but the result is well worth the wait.

The history of flódni

According to foodandwine.hu, flódni is “the queen of Purim desserts”. Purim is a Jewish celebration – the ‘Jewish Mardis Gras’, as The Independent calls it -, in the centre of which stands a woman called Esther and the fact that the Jewish population managed to survive a Persian king’s attempts to wipe them out about 2500 years ago.

The name ‘flódni’ most probably comes from the German version, ‘Fladen’, though it is important to note that

the German word refers to a broad, flat and thin piece of cookie, unlike the Hungarian word that is attached to a tall piece of cake that has several layers.

Interestingly, the first flódni mentioned describes the dish as having a cheese filling, suggesting that the walnut and plum jam fillings are a new addition and that the flódni that we know today is actually pretty young, 200 years at most. However, by now, it has definitely become a staple food and a popular dessert option for Jewish celebrations.

2012: world record set in Hungary

Flódni has a special place in Hungarian culture, partly because of Ráchel Raj. In 2012, she managed to win the title of ‘World’s Largest Flódni’ with her creation. The attempt at the record-breaking took place at the Sziget Festival, of all places.

For the event at the 20th Sziget Festival, Raj and her team used over 500 kilogrammes of ingredients.

Luckily, it was all worth it, and the team won the title with the dessert that was over 20 meters long.

The team of 8 worked on the challenge for a total of 100 hours. The number of flódni they made, if placed on top of each other, could have reached 96 meters, the height of the Parliament.

Recipe

First of all, do not be daunted by the length of the recipe. It has several stages, but a lot of the time you just have to cool the ingredients. It may seem like a lot of work but it actually takes about 2 hours (one hour each day, since the fillings have to be done the previous day) and you will definitely be pleased with the results.

Ingredients for the pastry

500 g flour

200 g butter

75 g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

some salt

130 g white wine

Ingredients for the fillings

It is best to prepare all the fillings the day before and cool them until the pastry is ready.