Recipe of the week: Újházi chicken soup

If you’ve ever been to a Hungarian wedding, the topic of this article is probably familiar to you. We’re going to learn about the Újházi chicken soup, which is – besides being one of the most famous Hungarian soups – the elemental part of traditional Hungarian weddings.

According to mindmegette.hu, the soup was named after Ede Újházi, a popular Hungarian actor, who was born in 1844. He was the admired artist of the second part of the 19^th century. He was a tall, well-built man with a walrus mustache, who was known for his roles as Tiborc and Paul Apostle.

Besides being a great actor, he was also known for his love of gastronomy and sophisticated sense of taste. He was a regular guest in the Wampetics Restaurant (Gundel Restaurant today) and it is believed that the soup was first created in the restaurant.

He frequently shared his ideas with the chefs of the restaurant and he also liked to give instructions to them. This is how the famous chicken soup was created, which was then named after the actor.

However, fooodandwine.hu writes that the soup only became famous a few decades later, after the death of the actor. It is believed that the soup was created around 1889-1893, while it was only featured in the writings of Endre Nagy, Gyula Krúdy and Zsigmond Móricz in the 1930s. That was when the popularity of the Újházi chicken soup started spreading all over the country and the soup slowly became the favourite of many people.

Endre Nagy once wrote that “he (Ede Újházi) spared no effort and travelled to Debrecen to get the ingredients for his soup. He was looking for old roosters, which had to be cooked for three days so that they became as soft as the vegetables. He took really good care of the roosters’ crest and other organs as he superstitiously believed in their power”.

So the original soup was made with rooster, adding its crest and testicles as well. Moreover, the ingredients included chicken, dove, carrot, parsley, pees, green beans, celery, kale, turnip cabbage, pepper, cauliflower, mushroom, tomato puree and asparagus.