recipe

Recipe of the week: Russian cream cake

Another popular Hungarian dessert is the Russian cream cake. The name is misleading, though – the origins of the cake are not known, there’s some mystery surrounding the cake.

History of the cake

Many believe that the recipe was created between the two world wars, by a Hungarian confectioner called Sándor Oroszi. The last letter of his name slowly got chipped as the recipe spread, and that’s why Hungarians know it today as a Russian cream cake, even though we are relatively confident that it has nothing to do with Russia. It is true, though, that it’s very similar to the French Mille-feuille recipe, except that that is made from puff-pastry and not a sponge.

russian cream cake, dessert — *Photo: facebook.com/sutitortakatimodra*

Not to mention the fact that the rather simple base of the recipe – cream and sponge – was popular in the 17th century already.

Layered cakes with crème anglaise and fancy decorations were very popular among aristocrats, up until the 19th century. That explains why the 1885 invention, Dobos cake, was welcomed as such a modern, refreshing invention. So, this type of cake has been around for some time, but it is possible that Oroszi was the first to have alternating layers of sponge and cream.

Either way, it is a delicious cake, and it is definitely worth trying out!

Recipe

Ingredients for the sponge:

7 eggs

7 tbsp sugar

7 tbsp flour

Stir together the egg yolks and a third of the sugar. Beat the egg whites and the rest of the sugar until stiff. Gently fold the two together, adding the flour as well. Put it into a lined baking tin and bake until 30-40 minutes on 180C oven temperature.

Ingredients for the cream:

300 ml milk

5 egg yolks

200 g sugar

1/2 vanilla stick

15 g gelatine

400 ml cream

grated lemon zest

100 g raisins

100 g candied peel

150 ml rum

Prepare a thick vanilla custard using the milk, the egg yolks, the sugar, the vanilla and the lemon zest. Add the soaked gelatine while the custard is still warm, then let it cool. Beat the cream until stiff and then gently fold in with the rest.

Soak the raisins and the candied peel in the rum. Put the first layer of the sponge into a lined tin. Drizzle it with rum, add a layer of cream and some raisins and candied peel, then get another layer of sponge. Repeat this until the ingredients are used up, but make sure a layer of cream is at the top! Cover the cake and put it in the fridge for a few hours to set.

Ingredients for the decoration:

2 dl cream

1 tsp gelatine

ground nuts

Stir together the soaked gelatine and the cream. Spread some of it onto the side of the cake so that the ground nuts stick better. Use the rest of the cream to decorate the cake by piping. You can put some colourful fruit, candied peel or chocolate on top as well.

The only thing left to do is enjoy!

If you want to find the best Hungarian desserts, check out this list of the 5 best confectioneries in Budapest.

May 23, 2018

The best Hungarian Easter recipes vol.1

It is well-known that the traditional Hungarian Easter breakfast or lunch cannot be missing the ham and the Easter eggs or the popular breaded chicken breast, but what if one would like to spice up the traditional meals and cook something new, something extraordinary for Easter?

The following recipes contain the traditional Easter ingredients, though, with a slight twist that is although quite ordinary, it makes the particular meal stand out. Your guests will surely lash unto these first.

Stuffed eggs with greens

Ingredients

10 eggs
salt to taste
6 strips of bacon
1 tablespoon of mustard
1 bunch of parsley
8-10 strings of chives
1 string of spring onions
freshly ground pepper

Preparations

Hard-boil the eggs in salty water and peel them in cold water. Let them cool down. Warm up a pan and cook the cut-up bacon for 3-4 minutes, until it is crispy.

Cut the eggs in half at their length, take out the yolks and put them in a mixing bowl. Break and soften the yolks with a fork, then add the mustard, the cut-up parsley, chives and spring onions to it. Season it with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, add the grease of the cooked bacon to the yolk and mix it well.

Replace the yolk with this paste with the help of a teaspoon. Sprinkle the eggs with the bacon and serve them with toast or fresh baguettes.

Ham in bread dough

Ingredients

1 decagram of fresh yeast
40 decagrams of flour
10 decagrams of wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon of sugar
salt
1 decilitres of room-temperature beer
1 egg white
1 kilograms of ham
25 decagrams of fresh horseradish
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preparation

Ground the yeast into one decilitre of lukewarm water and then solve it. Mix the two different flours with the sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, beer, the egg white. Knead it for 3-4 minutes, until it becomes springy. Leaven it covered for at least an hour.

In the meantime, put the ham into a pot and pour water on it. Boil it, and then cook it covered on low heat for further 30 minutes (or until it starts to soften). Take it out of the pot and let it cool for 10 minutes. Drain it afterwards.

Knead the dough again and then spread it into a 30×40 centimetres big rectangle. Cut off six pieces of 5 millimetres wide strings from the shorter end of the dough and put it aside. Place the ham into the middle of the rectangle and wrap it up.

Lay the covered ham with the joint side of the ‘wrapping’ facing down on a pan (covered with baking parchment). Sprinkle water over the dough and decorate it with the previously saved six strings. Leaven it in a warm place for at least an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place the pan on the lower side of the oven and bake the bread until it puts on a golden brown colour (takes approximately 60 minutes). Immediately after you take it out of the oven, sprinkle cold water over it so that the coat becomes crispy.

Wash the horse-radish, grate it, mix it with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Slice the ham-bread and then serve it with the radish.

Wrapped chicken breast with chives

Ingredients

4 eggs
80 decagrams of chicken breasts (4 pieces)
salt
ground white pepper
20 decagrams of portsalut cheese
20 decagrams of smoked ham
1 bunch of chives
8 strips of bacon

Preparation

If you have some extra eggs that you did not paint, take some and cut them in half. Wash and pat the chicken breasts dry and open them. After hits, tenderise them and season them with salt and pepper. Cut the cheese and the smoked ham into slices.

Place one slice of ham, two halved eggs, one slice of cheese, 1-2 pieces of chives into a breast and roll it up. After this, wrap the chicken rolls with bacon, and wrap this tightly with thin foil.

Place the wrapped rolls in a pan or on a brander and bake them in the preheated oven under 180 degrees Celsius in 30-40 minutes.

photos: mindmegette.hu

April 2, 2018

Variations on the traditional Hungarian braided scone

The braided scone is something that simply cannot miss from the Hungarian table during an Easter feast. The slightly sweet ‘cake’ is usually eaten with the hard-boiled and painted eggs, the ham and horseradish, but it can be prepared in numerous other ways so that it can become a filling breakfast or a delicious and simple dessert in itself. We have collected some of the best and special braided scone recipes for you to try (not just at Easter, but at any other point of the year).

Traditional braided scone

Ingredients

2 decagrams of fresh yeast
4 decilitres of fat milk
4 decagrams of powdered sugar
25 decagrams of fine flour
a pinch of salt
1 yolk
1 whole egg
3 decagrams of melted butter
1 decagrams of Bourbon vanilla sugar

Preparation

Add the powdered sugar along with the yeast to the milk and let it raise. Mix the flour, the salt, the egg yolk, the melted butter, the vanilla sugar and the raised yeast together and knead the dough. Spread oil in a bowl and let the dough leaven in it for 30 minutes.

Split the dough into 3-4 equal parts (depending on whether you would like smaller or bigger scones). Split each part into two and then spin and braid them.

Spread a half a beaten egg over the scones and leaven them at room temperature for yet another 30 minutes. Spread the other half of the egg on the dough once it is leavened.

Bake the scone in a pre-heated oven under 175 degrees Celsius for approx. 30 minutes, until it puts on a golden colour.

Braided scone with cottage cheese, ham and ramsons

Ingredients:

for the dough:

45 decagrams of flour
2 decagrams of fresh yeast
2 decilitres of lukewarm milk
1 bigger egg
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar

for the cottage cheese filling:

25 decagrams of curd cheese
1 tablespoon of sour cream
1 coffee spoon of ground pepper
salt to taste

for the ransoms filling:

8-10 ramsons
1 tablespoon of sour cream
salt to taste

for the ham filling:

15 decagrams of ham
½ tablespoon of sour cream

Preparation

Take half of the lukewarm water and add the sugar and yeast to it, then leave it to raise. Pour the remainder of the milk into a mixing bowl, then add the oil along with the egg to it, then mix it. Next, add the raised yeast to the previous mixture. Mix the flour with the salt, then after sieving it, add this to the mixture too, and knead the dough in a few minutes.

Put the kneaded dough into a leavening bowl and let it rest and leaven for one and a half hour. Then, spread some flour on a flat surface where you will knead the dough. Split the dough into three equal parts and form small balls out of them.

After softening the cheese with a fork, add the sour cream, the ground pepper and the salt to it. Mix it thoroughly. Cut the ramsons into tiny bits and add them to the sour cream with a pinch of salt, then mix it well. The ham should be cut into small bits too.

Roll out the dough balls one by one so that their dimensions will be approx. 35×30 centimetres and spread the fillings evenly unto them one after the other. Each ball should have a separate filling. Then fold the two sides of the dough a bit and roll it in a bejgli-like fashion (you can find the instructions here).

Lay the rolls next to each other and start braiding them. After you are done braiding, place them on a pan with baking parchment.

Cover the braid and let it leaven for 25 minutes at room temperature. After leavening spread a whole beaten egg on the dough and place it in the preheated oven. It should be baked for 45-50 minutes on a higher-than-average temperature until it becomes red.

Scone flower with poppy seeds

braided scone fonott kalács — photo: http://noriezmegaz.blogspot.ro

Ingredients

for the dough:

3 decilitres of milk
60 decagrams of flour
5 decagrams of yeast
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of salt
10 decagrams of melted butter

for the filling:

20 decagrams of ground poppy seed
20 decagrams of powdered sugar
1 package of vanilla sugar
some slightly sour jam
1 grated lemon peel

Preparation

Mix the lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar and the yeast, then let it raise. Then, mix it with the flour, eggs, rest of the sugar, oil, salt and knead it well. Leave it until it becomes twice in size.

Spread flour on a board and roll the dough out into a rectangle shape. Spread butter on it and a thin layer of jam. Mix the poppy seed with the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar, and sprinkle this on the rolled-out dough.

Roll the dough up like you would roll up a bejgli, place it unto a baking parchment in a pan, then shape it into a wreath.

Cut slightly into it at 3 centimetres distances and then turn the slices out. Spread some yolk on top of it.

Bake it in a pre-heated oven under 180 degrees Celsius in 20 minutes.

photos: mindmegette.hu

April 2, 2018

What do Hungarians eat at Easter?

The Easter Holiday is just around the corner, so it is just the time to talk about our favourite Easter dishes. Magyarorszagom.hu collected the most popular dishes that Hungarians usually go for this time of the year. These cannot be missed from the traditional Hungarian Easter breakfast table.

Easter Ham

The Hungarian cuisine is very heavily meat-based, and the Easter menu reflects that. The main dish in the middle of the family table is always the Easter ham. Ham is the meat cut from the thigh of the pork which is most often salted or smoked. There is no Easter without ham.

What do we eat the ham with?

Horseradish

I would bet that the majority of Hungarians never eat horseradish except at Easter. This is the time of the year when supermarkets and shops sell their horseradish supply for a year. You have to go and get yours very soon because there is no way that there is any left a day before Easter.

Eggs, eggs, eggs

The egg has become the symbol of Easter, there are traditional Easter egg hunts for children, and painting eggs is a special activity that Hungarians, especially kids enjoy. Apart from all of these, eggs are fundamental components of the Eastern meal. Boiled eggs often accompany the Easter ham on the table.

Easter cake

Something must accompany the Easter ham and the boiled eggs, and that something is the Easter cake. It is a particular kind of bread, as it has a unique form, it is baked in a braided shape. It is relatively easy to make; you only need some sugar, milk, yeast, flour, eggs, salt and butter. If you would like to make the special Easter cake, here is a good recipe.

All of these, the ham and the eggs are pretty heavy meals. Therefore, the Easter table is often covered in various spring vegetables to accompany the other food groups (the meat and the carbohydrates). You will most likely find tomatoes, paprika, radish and spring onions next to the boiled eggs.

The Easter meal is what Hungarians often call a cold meal because nothing is really fresh and hot when you eat it. The ham and the eggs are often cold by the time the family sits down to eat, but it is perfect just the way it is.

March 25, 2018

Recipe of the week: paprikás krumpli/potato paprikash

Cooking skills become especially essential when you start living on your own. This week’s recipe is perfect for those who have just started to perfect their abilities in the kitchen and would like to have a hot meal that is both cheap and super easy to make. Do you know which famous Hungarian spice is the dominant ingredient of this meal? You guessed it; it is paprika. I present to you: Hungarian potato paprikash.

When I was a child, my mother always used to make this dish when we reached the end of the month, and we needed to “tighten the belt.” She also called it the poor man’s stew. I did not use to like this meal to be honest because it was like a stew but not that good as a stew. Since then, I learnt many ways to spice this dish up. I became familiar with many different varieties of it, and now I really enjoy both making and eating it.

This meal has many advantages: it is one of the cheapest meals I know how to make (together with tócsni) and it does not require a lot of time (done in less than an hour) nor any special cooking skills.

Basically, all you need to do is peel and chop some veggies, then stir everything in a pot.

Fun fact, you can easily make this a vegan meal, just skip the sausage and the sour cream.

I genuinely believe that paprikás krumpli tastes the best when you make it together with your friends and family in a huge cauldron somewhere outside. During my university career, potato paprikash was in the centre of every get-together in the summer.

food gastronomy — Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org by Par Tivadar

Similarly to other popular Hungarian dishes, such as goulash or fisherman’s soup, there are as many varieties of paprika potatoes as there are households in the country. For example, some people use hotdogs instead of sausage, and some people put tarhonya (a traditional Hungarian egg-based pasta grain) in it to make it thicker.

The initial steps of all of the paprika-based Hungarian meals are the same: steam some finely minced onion and garlic in a little oil and then add lots of paprika. The base is essentially the same for goulash, fisherman’s soup, chicken paprikash and stew as well. What makes these dishes unique is the thing that happens with this paprika-based base hereafter. Not much happens with potato paprikash, but that is what makes it so good. It is simple, yet tasty.

In this article, I include this particular recipe from Nosalty.hu.

Ingredients

70 dkg potatoes
10 dkg sausage
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 small tomato
1 chili paprika
1 teaspoon paprika
salt
4 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 dl water

Instructions

Peel the potatoes, onion and garlic. Dice the potatoes and chop the onion and garlic finely.
Heat up vegetable oil in a pot.
Put the finely chopped onion and garlic into the oil and steam for a few minutes.
Remove the sausage’s skin. Add sausage slices to the pan, stir for an additional few minutes.
Remove pot from the heat, then add paprika and stir.
Add the chopped potatoes to the mix, then add water (just enough so that all of the potatoes are under water, can depend on the pot’s size). Put the pot back on the stove, turn up the heat.
Add salt, chilli and the chopped up tomato (chop the tomato into 4 pieces).
After it starts to boil, reduce heat, then cook on medium heat until the potatoes are cooked.
Serve with sour cream and bread.

See? I told you it was SUPER easy.

(Just a small tip: if the potatoes are already cooked, but there is still too much water in the pot, just smash a few of the potatoes to make it thicker.)

Featured image: Nosalty

March 5, 2018

Recipe of the week: The Hungarian főzelék

főzelék gastronomy food Hungarian cuisine

The főzelék is a traditional Hungarian vegetable-based meal, which plays a vital role in our cuisine as it complements meat dishes perfectly and has a good effect on metabolism. For many people, főzelék symbolizes childhood, because it is a common method parents and grandparents use to endear vegetables to kids. Well, it is definitely a delicious way to do so 😉

The most exciting thing about our főzelék is that it cannot be translated to any other languages. We mainly explain it as “thick soup” which is probably an adequate analogy.

What makes this meal truly Hungarian is that other nations do not have any dish comparable to főzelék, at least to its thick form and the way we make it.

According to gasztro.ucoz.hu, our ancestors already cooked this vegetable-based, thick, almost juiceless dish in the 16^th century. However, it remains a mystery how people thickened it back then because the conventional way of thickening dishes only spread in the 19^th century. Still, from that moment on, it was a frequent meal in Hungarian families – served with meat on festive days and without meat on weekdays.

It is probably the most significant and most diverse group of meals in the Hungarian cuisine because it can be made from any vegetable, even by combining them. According to gasztroabc.hu, the flavour of the fresh vegetables is further enhanced by the different thickening methods and the spices, of course.

Any főzelék can become a fine dining specialty by adding a piece of bacon or lard skin, rosemary, bay leaves, a few drops of lemon etc 😉

Hungarian főzelék meals are frequently thickened with flour, either in the form of traditional thickening (rántás made with fat or habarás made with milk or sour cream) or simply by sprinkling some flour into the dish. According to divany.hu, the most traditional method is the rántás, which is not as common anymore as it used to be because it can be substituted with alternative methods. Opinions differ regarding the healthiest option: nowadays it is believed that it is better to use habarás, starch or thicken the főzelék with the vegetable itself.

The főzelék options are endless, but we decided to detail two popular versions below (taken from Nosalty). Since the recipes are quite similar, you can easily substitute our vegetable choices for whatever you feel like eating. Moreover, you can read about our traditional New Year’s lentil főzelék here.

If you have not had főzelék before, you should definitely try it, because it is not only easy to make but also quite filling 🙂

Pea főzelék

1200 grams of peas
3 tablespoons of butter
1 onion (the original recipe does not call for it, but as we know, onions are staple ingredients in the Hungarian cuisine, and they make everything taste better)
3 tablespoons of flour
2 dl of milk or sour cream
parsley
salt, pepper

If you are working with fresh peas, you first peel them (great communal activity). If you are working with frozen peas, take them out of the freezer for some time. Melt the butter and add the chopped onion. Let it cook a bit and add the peas. Let them steam together for a few minutes. Add the salt, pepper, parsley, and water to cover the mixture. Cook for 20 minutes. Prepare your thickening in a bowl: mix the milk/sour cream with the flour and some of the juice of the főzelék. Slowly add your thickening to the saucepan and cook for 10 more minutes. Serve with fried eggs or some stew.

Enjoy!

Potato főzelék

2 tablespoons of oil
1 teaspoon of paprika
700 grams of potato
2 tablespoons of marjoram
3 bay leaves
2 dl of sour cream
15 grams of flour
salt, pepper

Chop up the potatoes into small cubes. Heat up the oil, carefully add the paprika and the potatoes. Mix and heat them for a minute, then add as much water as is needed to cover the potatoes. Add the salt, pepper, marjoram and bay leaves, and let the mixture cook for 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes soften. Meanwhile, prepare your thickening: mix the sour cream with the flour and a ladleful of cooking juice. Then stir it into the főzelék and let it cook for 5 more minutes. Serve it with meatballs.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.nosalty.hu

February 27, 2018

Here is a traditional English Tea shop near Lake Balaton

“Where there is cake, there is hope. And there is always cake. ” Dean Koontz, author

For centuries people have commemorated important people and events with unique cakes: Victoria sandwich for Queen Victoria, Churchill Fruit cake for Winston Churchill, Trench cake for the end of the First World War or Coronation Cake for the crowning of a new monarch are just a few examples. This March 15 commemorate one of Hungary’s most influential statesmen with a delicious “Kossuth Cake”.

But first a little history:

After the Hungarian uprising of 1848, Lajos Kossuth was invited to visit America in 1851 to raise awareness of the plight of Hungary and to raise funds for a renewed revolt. Although his visit only raised $25, he was hailed as a hero and a champion of freedom. To commemorate his visit to Baltimore a local confectioner created a unique dessert.

Based on an old recipe for the famous Charlotte Russe, the Kossuth cake that he created combined a soft sponge cupcake with a filling of sweet whipped cream and a topping of either strawberry or chocolate sauce.

Although now largely forgotten, the team at Florridora’s Pantry will be paying homage to Lajos Kossuth during March by serving these delicious cakes in their newly restored and relocated English Tea Room which is now in Balatonmagyaród.

Ken Jones, one of the tearoom’s owners said “ In addition to offering traditional, home-baked, English cakes, we are proud to offer our guests the opportunity to sample this unique treat that celebrates the life of this famous Hungarian statesman”.

Neil Stevens, another of the owners, adds “We aim to continue offering visitors a unique experience that merges authentic English baking using vintage recipes and a traditional Hungarian setting.”

Florridora’s Pantry is open at weekends and public holidays throughout the year with extended hours during the tourist season.

Recipe

Ingredients for the Cake:
100g butter
200g sugar
2 eggs
225g pastry flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
100ml milk
½ tsp vanilla

Cream butter and sugar well, add beaten eggs, and fold in flour, baking powder and salt (sifted together), alternately with the milk. Add the vanilla. Bake at 180° in muffin pans for 16-18 minutes. When done, cool, cut almost in half, fill with sweetened whipped cream and ice top of cakes.

Chocolate Icing:

50g squares chocolate
50g butter
225g powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
Salt
Vanilla

Melt chocolate and butter, add sugar and a little hot water until just soft enough to spread, then beat in egg yolks and add a pinch of salt and a little vanilla. Makes a soft icing to spread on top of the cakes.

Strawberry Icing

10 ripe strawberries
½ tsp lemon juice
225g powdered sugar

Mash berries with a fork, add lemon juice. Gradually add sugar until stiff enough to spread, yet soft enough to run over top of cream-filled cakes. Ready to serve.

Florridora’s Pantry

8753 Balatonmagyaród, Petőfi utca 237.

About Florridora’s Pantry

Florridora’s Pantry is a traditional English Tea shop and exhibition located in Balatonmagyaród, Hungary. It is owned by Ken Jones and Neil Stevens, both originally from England but have lived in Hungary since 2007. The enterprise was established in 2015 with the aim to promote rural tourism and introduce English customs and tea drinking rituals to a wider audience. Balatonmagyaród is situated in the Balaton Uplands National Park and is a popular destination with visitors both from Hungary and abroad. Locally the tourist destinations of Kis-balaton, Kányavári islands and Fenyvespuszta animal park are all within a few kilometers.

February 19, 2018

Recipe of the week: carnival doughnut

To ring in the carnival season in Hungary and the Busójárás of Mohács we thought that we would share the story and recipe of the most traditional carnival meal: the carnival doughnut (farsangi fánk). We can guarantee that this decadent dessert will top off your carnival celebrations, festivities.

Doughnuts are popular desserts, snacks all over the world, and are believed to have been cultic meals in several ancient religions. According to fusz.hu, there are two famous legends about how the doughnut spread in Europe.

One of the legends is centred around the French beignets dessert, which Queen Marie Antoinette came to know during an adventurous carnival night. The queen escaped from the masquerade held in the Tuileries Palace and mingled with the crowd on the streets.

She got hungry after a while, so she bought a doughnut from a gingerbread master. She very much liked the doughnut, so the cavalier accompanying her had to buy a whole basket. After the carnival, she ordered the baker to the palace, who then told the recipe and directions to the confectioner of the queen. The confectioner modified the recipe here and there, but from that moment on, the doughnut became a beloved dessert of royal dinners.

Since it was very delicious, filling and cheap, the fame of the doughnut spread quite quickly among people.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/Mindmegette.hu*

Based on the other legend, the European doughnut was born in Vienna. According to the rumours, there was a baker called Krapfen living in the city. After his death, his widow took over the bakery. She had a tough life, but still, her bread was the best in Vienna.

There was a day when the daily bread portion was not ready in time, so the customers waited impatiently or left while cursing the bakery. After a while, Mrs Krapfen lost her temper too and wanted to throw a piece of dough at someone’s head. But she missed the target, and the dough ended up in a pan filled with fat. The dough turned golden brown in a few minutes, and this is how the first doughnut was born.

It’s up to you whether or not you believe these legends 🙂

However, it is almost 100% sure that doughnuts spread widely in Hungary in the 19^th century. According to a memoir, doughnuts were already served as the seventh dish at the feast of Count Szaniszló Thurzó in the castle of Galgóc in 1603.

The tradition of baking doughnuts first spread in Transdanubia region. It slowly became an essential part of the carnival season between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday.

*A quite decadent version of chocolate and caramel – Photo: www.facebook.com/ZilaKávéház*

According to zilakavehaz.hu, the carnival doughnut is usually made from an eggy dough, but it has several other versions as well (e.g. made with potatoes or the cruller type). It can be created with or without a filling, salty or sweet. The most important characteristic is that it must be baked in a lot of fat or oil.

Several superstitions are connected to the doughnut. The carnival season used to be the period of finding love. Girls gave doughnuts to the desired boy, while the boys called the girls “little doughnut”. If a couple tore a doughnut together, it was inevitable that they were going to get married soon because the ribbon going around the doughnut symbolised the wedding ring.

After recapping the history of the carnival doughnut, we would like to share with you the recipe of the traditional Hungarian version – taken over from nosalty.hu.

Photo: www.nosalty.hu

Ingredients (for 12 big doughnuts):

500 grams of flour
25 grams of yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of rum
5 dl of milk
1 egg
750 grams of fat (for baking)

Directions:

Heat up one decilitre of milk until it reaches a lukewarm temperature. Stir in the sugar and the yeast. After it has risen, add the mixture to the flour. Add the leftover milk, egg and the rum. Start mixing it with a wooden spoon and keep on working it for ten minutes or so until you get a soft, blebby dough. Sprinkle the top with some flour, cover it and let it raise in a warm spot for around an hour.

After the dough has doubled in size, roll it out to a thickness of 2-3 centimetres and cut out round shapes. Let them raise again for 30 minutes in a warm place. Then, heat up the fat and slowly add the doughnuts upside down (starting with the side that was on the rolling board). Turn them over 2-3 minutes later (if your pan is deep enough, they might even turn around by themselves after just touching them). You’re looking fun golden brown, crispy doughnuts. Blot them a bit and serve the doughnuts while still hot. Sprinkle with some powdered sugar and add some jam if you’d like to 🙂

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.zilakavehaz.hu

February 1, 2018

Recipe of the week: Golden dumplings (Aranygaluska)

Raised pies are popular dessert bases all over Europe, and the culture of loaves, scones, rolls and sweet dumplings flourished in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. The flagship of the dessert revolution was the aranygaluska (golden dumplings), which is unmatched all over the world. It truly gilds your days and meals 😉

The aranygaluska is probably the Hungarian dessert with the most beautiful name. According to hvg.hu, it is frequently referred to as the queen of raised pies, batters, while some people even go as far as calling it a Hungaricum.

However, its glory is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that is has become a “canteen dessert” in schools. Naturally, those are simpler versions, since it wouldn’t be worth the fuss-making real golden dumplings every two weeks. Because one thing is for sure: it’s a complicated dessert which takes a few hours to prepare.

*Photo: www.cookta.hu/www.facebook.com/ZsofiaHamoriPhotography*

But the result is worth the energy, it could even stand as a second course after a hearty soup. At least this is how Hungarians serve it most of the times. To be honest, the name is a bit tricky because it has nothing to do with dumplings since aranygaluska centimeter with raised batter.

The base of delicious golden dumplings is the light raised batter, which you boost with butter, ground walnuts and raisins (if you prefer). Then, you complete it by pouring over vanilla custard or wine custard.

Naturally, you can serve it however you want to. Some people make it with caramel or chocolate sauce, replace the walnuts with poppy seeds or ground hazelnuts, while others serve it with cinnamon and homemade jam. But the traditional version calls for ground walnuts, raisins and vanilla custard.

The following recipe is from nosalty.hu, and we chose it because it is said to be a full-proof recipe from a gastro-expert grandma 🙂

Ingredients:

For the batter

500 grams of flour
20 grams of yeast
70 grams of butter
3 dl of milk
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of butter (to grease the baking tin)

For the topping

300 grams of ground walnut
150 grams of sugar
100 grams of butter

For the custard

7 dl of milk
4 egg yolks
1 vanilla stick
60 grams of sugar
1 tablespoon of flour

Directions:

Sieve the flour into a bowl. Add the yeast to the lukewarm milk along with the sugar and let the mixture raise. Melt the butter and add it to the flour along with the egg yolks and the raised yeast. Persistently mix and knead the batter with your hands until it becomes blebby. Sprinkle some flour on the top, cover it and let it raise to double the size.

After the dough has raised, roll it out to a thickness of approximately one centimetre and cut out circles with a round dough-knife. Grease a cake tin, melt the 100 grams of butter, and mix the sugar and ground walnuts. Dip the round dumplings in the melted butter, then in the sugary walnut mixture and place them in the cake tin. Carefully bake them at 180-200° Celsius.

While the dumplings are baking, make the vanilla custard. Add the vanilla seeds to the milk, and bring it to a boil. Then, take it off the heat. In another pan, mix the egg yolks with the sugar and flour. Slowly start adding the vanilla milk to the egg mixture and cook it on low heat until it reaches a custard consistency (not too thick, still liquidy).

After the dumplings have baked, let them cool for a bit. Then, tear them into smaller pieces and serve them with the vanilla custard.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: www.nosalty.hu

January 11, 2018

A Hungarian recipe for New Year’s Day: lentil stew

Origo.hu reports that the consumption of lentil stew at the end of the Old Year and at the beginning of the New Year is a common practice in Hungary to make the following year more successful compared to the previous one. Besides this ancient belief, however, it is also very healthy to eat and easy to prepare, so if you happen to wonder what to prepare for New Year’s Eve, you might find the recipe below very useful.

New Year’s Day cannot pass without the traditional Hungarian lentil stew. According to a long-standing belief, it is the symbol of promotion, success and desired financial prosperity in the New Year.

In fact, the power of the lentil stew can be explained by the small-size lentils that symbolize money and wealth, therefore the more you eat from it, the more prosperous your next year is likely to be.

However, the question might pose: why should it be particularly eaten on New Year’s Day? As the superstition goes, the things people do on this day are going to be their regular practices in the following year, too. So if you happen to eat lentil stew on this day that symbolizes material well-being, financial stability is going to wait for you in the New Year. Of course, lentil can be substituted for rice, bean or any other small-size ingredients, but the real good luck-bringing power is attributed to lentil. 🙂

Ingredients of the lentil stew

250 grams of lentil
250 grams of smoked-cooked trotters
1 finely chopped onion
1 tbs of flour
2 tbs of sunflower oil
1 tbs of sweet Hungarian paprika
2-3 bay leaves
salt and pepper
2 dl of sour cream
1 tbs of vinegar
1 tbs of mustard

Directions

Rinse the lentils and then soak them. If possible, leave them in water for the night in order to make them softer.
Add the smoked-cooked trotters to a pot and fill it with enough water to cover the meat. If they are ready, remove them from the pot and chop them up into smaller pieces, but do not discard the water in the pot as it can be used later on.
Chop the onions into fine pieces, then heat the sunflower oil in a pot and golden the onions.
Then, add the paprika and a bit of water from the one in which the meat was cooked.
Add the lentil and fill the pot with enough water to cover the stew.
Gently stir the lentils and season to taste.
While the lentils are cooked over medium-high heat, prepare the rántás by adding the flour, the sour cream and a small amount of water from the cooked lentils. Then, do not forget to constantly whisk it. If it is ready, add to the stew. Reduce the heat to low until the lentils are cooked, then serve it with sour cream.

Enjoy! 🙂

January 1, 2018

Recipe of the week: Pogácsa

The pogácsa (turf-cake, small round cake, scone) is the king of savoury cakes and the indispensable product of Hungarian bakeries. This simple but amazing dish is a great on-the-go snack, welcome dish for guests, refuelling bite during excursions, and most importantly: a must-know recipe of the Hungarian cuisine.

The round pogácsa is one of the oldest and most famous baked food in Hungary and many other countries as well. There’s no accounting for tastes, and there’s no “ultimate” recipe – everyone flavours it differently. However, the most common versions are the potato, buttery, cheesy and crackling pogácsa.

According to vilagkonyha.network.hu, the name comes from the Latin “focus” (fire). At first, you might not understand the connection, but if you think about the baked pastry of Italian bakeries – the Latin focacea – you’ll start to see the relation. The Italians still call the flat, small bread focaccia.

The Hungarian language took over the south Slavic pogača naming, which originally meant a type of flat pie.

The Germans call it pogatschen, the Turkish call it poğaça, while the Spanish call it hogaza.

The turf-cake (pogácsa baked in ashes) plays an important role in Hungarian folktales because it is what the mother gives to her son, who leaves for a journey full of challenges. It’s hard to imagine how a few pogácsa could be enough for a journey, but this is the magic of folktales. Among others, the tradition lives on in school graduations, when students receive pogácsa in their bags as kind of a lucky charm.

There are several ways of making pogácsa: it can be created with puff-pastry, leavened or rolled dough technique. And when it comes to flavouring, the options are endless.

Pogácsa can be made with cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, crackling, cabbage, butter, fat, seeds, potato, onion, leek etc. and the different combinations of these.

The most popular is probably the puff-pastry technique, which’s secret lies in persistent folding and resting. This is why we thought we’d pick a recipe that explains this method. Moreover, we wanted to present a traditional version, so we chose pogácsa with crackling (tepertős/töpörtyűs pogácsa) as it is a very Hungarian way of flavouring the pastry. Plus, it is connected to the winter pig-sticking season. The following recipe is from nosalty.hu.

Ingredients:

600 grams of flour
300 grams of crackling
60 grams of fat
20 grams of yeast
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 dl of milk
salt, sugar
2 eggs

Directions:

Add a teaspoon of sugar to the lukewarm milk along with the yeast and let it rise for a few seconds. Sieve the flour into a big bowl, add one egg, the fat, the sour cream, the salt. Mix the ingredients gently and slowly start adding the yeast. Start mixing and kneading the dough with your hands. You can add 1-1.5 dl of water if needed. You’re looking for a puff-pastry consistency, which needs to rest for 20-30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, grind the crackling. Then, roll out the dough to an approximately 40×30 cm big rectangle shape and spread the ground crackling on the top. Roll up the dough and push it down gently with the rolling-pin. Fold in the two edges of the long-shaped pastry, and then fold the whole pastry in half. Let it rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Then, flatten it with a rolling-pin once more and fold it in three layers. Let it rest for another 30 minutes and repeat this process once more. Finally, roll the pastry out, cut a square pattern on the surface (the top of the crackling pogácsa should look chequered). Cut out circles, place them on a baking tin and grease the top of them with a beaten egg. Bake them at 180° Celsius, and they are ready to be served.

Enjoy!

Featured image: Wiki Commons By Top Budapest

December 27, 2017

Recipe of the week: tócsni

I personally think that the simplest meals are the greatest. And there is no simpler dish than tócsni. If you have ever visited one of the many wonderful Christmas fairs in Budapest (or in any other city in Hungary for that matter), you most probably came across tócsni. Tócsni is a typical festival food usually sold in fairs, markets, festivals, anywhere with wooden cottages selling food. This article provides a little bit of background to this dish as well as a really good recipe you can try today.

This meal is the one which has dozens of different names depending on which side of the country you are in. You might hear all of the following names, all of which refer to the same dish: bere, beré, berét, berhe, bodag, bramborák, cicedli, cicege, enge-menge, görhöny, harula, huláble, kremzli, krumpliprósza, lapcsánka, lapotyka, lapsi, lepcsánka, lepkepotyi, matutka, nyist, pacsni, pacsa, placki, ragujla, recsege, röstiburgonya, rösztike, taccs, tócsi.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/recipe-week-ujhazi-chicken-soup/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Recipe of the week: Újházi chicken soup[/button]

What is a tócsni?

Tócsni is a fried dish made out of raw grated potatoes, flour and eggs. It is a national food that invokes the poorest of times. People were creative and made the most out of the little that they had. Potatoes, flour and eggs were accessible to everyone, and these ingredients were quite cheap too.

Origins

The true origin of tócsni is not known for sure, but presumably it comes from Upper Hungary that is now part of Slovakia. Its name hlebcsánka means bread in Slovakian. It has many versions, people from different parts of Europe make it differently: the Swiss have their rösti, the Swedish have rarakor, the Anglo-Saxons have their hash browns and the Hungarians have tócsni. At the end of the day, these are all very similar dishes.

People from different parts of Hungary call it differently:

Northern Hungary – toksa
Mátra region – macok
Somogy county – lapcsánka
Baranya and Zala county – lepcsánka
Central Hungary – matutka
Szabolcs-Szatmár county – görhöny
Vas county – lapotyka

The main theme is the same, no matter what you call it: raw grated potato fried in oil. You might think that this is so simple that there is no way it can be good. Well, trust me. You will not be able to stop once you have tried tócsni, it is addictive just like the other famous fried wonder of Hungary: lángos.

The recipe below is from Nosalty.hu and it is the original, simplest recipe one can find. Of course, there are hundreds of variations.

Ingredients

1/2 kg potatoes
1 egg
salt
pepper
4 tbs all-purpose flour
oil or grease for frying

Directions

Peel all the potatoes, wash them, then grate them (use the side with the big holes).
Put the grated potatoes in a bowl, then add egg, flour, salt and pepper
Mix the ingredients (you should get a thick pancake-like mixture).

Heat oil or grease.
Put 1 tbs of the mixture into the heated oil, gently press it down to create a somewhat circular shape.
Fry each side for 3-4 minutes then put the finished tócsni on a paper so that the excess oil can be absorbed.
Enjoy!

You can eat them on their own or you can put toppings on top such as sour cream and cheese.

Featured image: Nosalty.hu/recept/rusztikus-tocsni

December 17, 2017

Bejgli – The traditional Hungarian Christmas cake

Bejgli is often referred to in English as “walnut roll” or “poppy seed roll” and it is considered to be a typical Hungarian pastry in the Christmas period. Its traces can be found in folk traditions as well, where both fillings had their different symbolic meaning: walnut provided protection against hexes, while poppy seeds — which were imported from Eurasia through the Ottomans — meant prosperity.

The most popular theory is that bejgli is based on a type of a cake from Silesia, while other sources claim that it originates from Armenia. It reached Hungary in the second half of the 19th century. It was first made only by families for celebrations. Its spreading to confectionaries has been debated. One theory relates bejgli to bakers from Pozsony (Bratislava). According to this version, they decided in 1559 that they will begin to bake curved walnut and poppy seed cakes for selling.

Others claim that an unnamed confectioner from Pozsony came up with the idea who made a kind of a mini-bejgli on St. Nicolas day to present his children.

There is a similar cake in the Jewish cuisine, the so-called flodni, but it is made with both walnut and poppy seeds at the same time. It is probably thanks to the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy that it received a German name. It originates from the Yiddish word Beigl and the German expression for bending (beugen), according to Life.hu. Beigl is a popular Jewish U-shaped cake, the predecessor of the American Bagel. It shows some resemblance to the crescent of Pozsony.

The recipe comes from the urban areas, the countryside adapted it into its cuisine only in the 19th century.

It became a regular meal in some regions, but it is still related to Advent and Christmas.

The traditional baking process of bejgli requires a lot of time, often a whole day. Grinding the walnut and the poppy seeds, forming and stretching the pasta and baking it are complex tasks. Of course, as in the case of many other traditional dishes, many cooks tried to figure out a recipe with less calories. It can be baked from spelt flour and the filling can be flavored with sugar substitutes.

Here is a simple recipe of bejgli, retrieved from Nosalty.hu.

Ingredients

500 grams of flour
200 grams of melted butter
50 grams of powdered sugar
10 grams of yeast
150 milliliters of milk
1 egg yolk
1 dip of salt
10 grams of vanilla sugar
grinded lemon peel

The filling

500 grams of grinded walnut or poppy seeds
grinded lemon peel
cinnamon (in case of poppy seeds)
grinded orange peel
grinded cloves (in case of poppy seeds)
260 grams of sugar
20 grams of vanilla sugar
300 milliliters of water

The covering

1 egg
2 egg yolk

Directions

Stir the sugar and the yeast in one half of the cold milk and the butter, egg yolk, salt and lemon peel in the other.
Mold everything together with the flour. Let the dough raise for 15 minutes in a dry place.
Meanwhile, make the filling: boil the sugar with the water for one minute.
Mix the walnut or the poppy seeds with the flavorings, then scald it with the sugar syrup. If the syrup proves to be too little, add some jam or honey to the mixture.
Cool down the filling.
Cut the dough into four identical parts, then measure them, as they will require the same weight in filling.
Roll the dough to be 4-5 millimeters thick. Try to make it a rectangle.
Spread the filling evenly on the dough (or stretch it between two bags).
Roll it all up, then shut the two ends with the dough and pat it.
Put it into an oven pan and cover it with the mixture of two egg yolks and an egg, then wait for it to dry. Then repeat both the covering and the waiting.
Pierce it with a fork 4-5 times and put it into the oven.
If it deforms, you can repair it while it is still hot with two cutting boards.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

December 17, 2017

Recipe of the week: Dödölle

Dödölle, mostly known from a popular children’s song, is a traditional Hungarian meat-free meal, which is very filling and cheap. Hence, it was almost an everyday dish in older times: people only had to go out to the garden to get the ingredients. It is still popular all over Hungary, however, it has several variations.

It is believed that even picky kids love it: they first take a liking for the song and then the meal. It is quick and easy to make, it tastes delicious and it is very filling. The icing on the cake is that it is also cheap.

Éliás, Tóbiás, egy tál dödölle,                    Elias, Tobias, one pot of dödölle,

Ettél belőle. You had some of it.

Kertbe mentek a tyúkok,                             The hens went out to the garden,

Mind megették a magot.                             And ate all the seeds.

It’s no surprise that its consumption was almost an everyday activity in older times: all ingredients grew in the garden.

The key ingredient is the potato, therefore the first step to this lovely dish was the discovery of the New World and the spread of the vegetable. According to netfolk.blog.hu, before that, our ancestors mostly ate mushes made from wheat, rye, corn and millet. They flavoured the mushes with lard, sour cream, cottage cheese and crackling, or sugar and jam when consumed as dessert.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/KanizsaiBorésDödölleFesztivál*

The word “dödölle” was first written down in 1792. The potato mush became thicker than the normal mushes, but the list of “toppings” didn’t change much. Queen Maria Theresa indirectly facilitated the birth of the meal since she was the one who ordained the cultivation and consumption of potatoes in Hungary to combat famine.

What’s also quite interesting is that its name differs by regions. It is called dödölle in most places, but it is also referred to as krumpligánica in Zala and Vas County, gánica in Baranya and Somogy County, gáncá in Palóc Land, cinke in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County. Moreover, if someone says pipice or chamulya, they also mean something very similar.

According to magyarkonyhaonline.hu, it is said that hare-lipped, blunt-witted people were called “dölle, döddö” in folk slang which resonates with the simplicity of the meal.

Just like in the case of many traditional meals, the aim was to come up with a filling but cheap creation. Dödölle is a simple village-dish, which can be consumed as a separate meal or as a garnish.

The secret to its popularity is probably the diversity and that it is basically a quick-change artist: you can make anything out of it or with it. It can be a delicious one-pot meal, a garnish on the side of magnificent main courses or even a great dessert base.

The onetime meal of the poor slowly made it onto the menus of illustrious restaurants as well. We’d like to share the recipe of Master Chef József Prikryl, who dazzles guests with dödölle wonders in Keszthely.

Ingredients:

800 grams of potatoes (floury type)
300 grams of flour
60 grams of lard
2 onions
salt

Directions:

Peal and wash the potatoes, then cut them up into similar cubes and start cooking them in salty water (as much water as is needed to cover the potatoes). After they have softened, mash them.

Place the pot over low heat and slowly add the flour. The goal is for the potatoes to “take up” the flour. Mix until this happens and you reach such a thick consistency that you can barely knead it any more. It’s a great arm workout 😉

Let your dough cool down a bit. In a separate pan, melt the lard and sauté the chopped up onions until golden. Tear the dough into small rolls and roast them on some lard in a separate pan. Right before they turn a beautiful golden colour, add the onions and mix them all together. Serve your dödölle as it is or with any topping you like.

Enjoy!

+ Here’s a recipe video by NoSalty, in which dödölle is spiced up with bacon

Featured image: www.facebook.com/KanizsaiBorésDödölleFesztivál

October 29, 2017

5 Hungarian soups to die for

When thinking about the Hungarian cuisine, one of the first meals that come to your mind is probably the goulash soup. Hungarians love to eat, and we love spicy soups, especially when the weather gets cold. Here are five Hungarian flavoured soups to try this autumn/winter 🙂

The reason we wrote “Hungarian flavoured soups” in the lead is that it is not necessarily a collection of traditional Hungarian soups that is coming up. These are soups magyarorszagkul.nlcafe.hu highlighted as some of the favourites of Hungarians.

Spicy sausage and bean soup in a loaf of bread

A filling and a delicious soup, perfect for cold nights. It is especially great when served in a loaf of bread. You’re going to need 1litre of chicken stock, 300 grams of sausage, 2 tomatoes, 1 turnip, 2 carrot, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 150 grams of beans, salt, pepper and some sour cream for the topping. It’s spicy, it’s served with sour cream – doesn’t it sound typically Hungarian? 😉

Bacon and potato soup

This video was shared on a popular international page, but it could fit into a Hungarian cookbook as well. We love hearty meals, and the combination of potatoes and bacon/ham/lard is a divine one. You’re going to need 2 strips of bacon, 1 cup of onion, 1 cup of carrot, 1 cup of celery, 3 tablespoons of flour, 2 cups of ham, 2 potatoes, 6 cups of chicken stock, 2 cups of heavy cream, some sage, salt and pepper.

Sausage and lentil soup

By this point, you probably realised that Hungarians like to pair one kind of meat with one kind of vegetable, and base whole dishes on these pairings. Lentil soup is delicious in itself, but why not add some sausages and potatoes? You’re going to need 300 grams of lentil, sausage, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 4 potatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of flour, parsley, paprika, salt and pepper.

*Photo: www.gastrobertollini.cafeblog.hu*

Palóc soup

Did you know that the soup wasn’t named after the Palóc ethnic group? It is believed that it was created by János Gundel in honour of the author Kálmán Mikszáth, “the great Palóc”, who loved to eat. You’re going to need 600 grams of meat, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 400 grams of green beans, 400 grams of potatoes, 2 tablespoons of flour, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper and 2 dl of sour cream.

Goulash soup

Of course the goulash couldn’t be missing from the list. It is very Hungarian and very delicious. It’s so filling that it’s not even like a soup, more like a one-pot meal. You can read about its story and recipe here.

Featured image: GLOBS Magazine

Ce: bm

October 15, 2017

Recipe of the week: Palóc soup

The Palóc soup is frequently referred to as the summerly version of the goulash soup. Even though its name suggests that it originates from North Hungary, it actually has nothing to do with the Palóc ethnic group. It is believed that it was inspired by Kálmán Mikszáth, one of the most famous Hungarian writers.

Origo.hu thinks that the Palóc soup is like the vet’s horse: many of the Hungarian cuisine’s characteristics can be demonstrated with the help of the soup.

The story starts with János Gundel, the founder of the famous Gundel dynasty. Mindmegette.hu writes that he left Bavaria in 1857 to try his luck in Hungary. His career was an instant success. In 1867, he was asked to organise the ceremonial feast after the crowning of Franz Joseph, and he opened his own restaurant two years later.

His guests included the “celebrities” of the time: Kálmán Tisza, István Tisza, Ferenc Liszt, Mór Jókai and Kálmán Mikszáth. This is where the facts end and legends start.

According to one of the stories, Kálmán Mikszáth asked János Gundel to create a meal that was new and featured the most important characteristics of the Hungarian cuisine.

If this is true, then the chef lived up to the expectations as he basically created a goulash soup combined with green beans, dill and sour cream.

However, others believe that Gundel made the soup for the birthday of Mikszáth, “the greatest Palóc”. Other documents claim that the dish was made for the inauguration of the Mikszáth Hall in István Főherceg Hotel in 1894.

Whatever the truth may be, János Gundel created a great meal: a green bean lamb soup with sour cream and dill. The Palóc soup became the elemental part of Hungarian gastronomy throughout history.

According to the original recipe, the base of the soup is a stew made from hogget/lamb, but if you have a kick at the tallow meat, you can substitute it with beef or pork. The key of the dish is the fresh dill and the sourish flavour, which you can achieve with vinegar, tarragon vinegar or lemon.

Ingredients:

700 grams of hogget/lamb meat
400 grams of potatoes
400 grams of green beans
1 onion
1 tablespoon of fat
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
a bunch of dill
salt, pepper, paprika
chicken or bone stock

Directions:

Clean and cut up the meat into cubes. Chop up the onion and start cooking it on the fat. After a few minutes, take it off the heat and sprinkle it with paprika. Then add the meat, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Pour in the chicken or bone stock so that it covers the meat. Cover the pan and steam the meat on low heat.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the potatoes and the green beans. Put them into separate pans with salty water and cook them. When the meat is almost done, add the garlic cloves, the cumin and the vegetables with their cooking water. If you still find it to be too thick, add some more broth. Finally, thicken it with sour cream and serve it with fresh dill.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.mindmegette.hu

Ce: bm

October 14, 2017

Recipe of the week: Hungarian layered potatoes

Layered meals can be found in the cuisine of most nations, because you can easily make them from a few ingredients, and they are quite filling. The Hungarian king of these dishes is the layered potatoes, which is considered to be a real comfort food. Its story and recipe are not too complicated, and definitely worth a try 😉

According to origo.hu, there are certain dishes that don’t call for a lot of ingredients, but the different versions can still cause serious debates, because those are are examples of how “there is no accounting for tastes”, and we all grow up loving the version our family makes. Fisherman’s soup, stuffed cabbage and maybe even the roast á la Brasov belong to this category.

The Hungarian layered potatoes is the recurring meal of family lunches or dinners, we have many pleasant memories connected to the dish, and we tend to search for the flavours of our childhood while eating layered potatoes on occasion. However, in this case there aren’t significant differences. Most traditional (not new wave) recipes call for the same ingredients.

*Photo: www.cookta.hu – ZsofiaHamoriPhotography*

Naturally, there are slight differences, but you can achieve the amazing combination of flavours with nearly all of the recipes. Chefs believe that the only issue that might arise during making this meal is how to serve it aesthetically in a restaurant. If you’ve ever made layered potatoes at home, you know that this can be a real struggle.

Our layered potatoes is a traditional comfort food, which recalls homely feelings.

Foodandwine.hu states that in the 19^th century it was listed among thick soups (főzelék) as stuffed potatoes. It was first mentioned under this name in an 1840 cookbook. However, it was mentioned as sour cream potatoes in the Dobos cookbook.

Photo: www.facebook.com/Nosalty

The “stuffed” qualifier turned into “layered” throughout the centuries. Today rarely anyone calls the meal rakott burgonya, we call it rakott krumpli (burgonya and krumpli both mean potato, but krumpli is a more informal version).

Its closest cousin is the French tartiflette, which features a camembert-like cheese, lard, onion, potatoes and white wine. But there are no eggs, sausages, and sour cream that are key ingredients in the Hungarian recipe. So let’s see how you can make this hearty meal at home 😉

Ingredients:

1 kg of potatoes
6 eggs
250 grams of sausage
6 dl of sour cream
2 tablespoons of fat
salt, pepper
optional: egg yolks to mix into the sour cream, cheese as a topping

Directions:

Cook the potatoes in boiling salty water without peeling them, and also cook the eggs. After they have cooked, peel off the skin of the potatoes and the eggshell, and cut them into circular disks. While the potatoes and the eggs are cooking, you can slice up the sausages similarly.

Melt the fat, mix in the sour cream and flavour with salt and pepper. Spread some of this mixture in the bottom of a pan. Then, start layering. Firstly, put down a layer of potatoes and sprinkle them with some fatty sour cream. Then comes the egg layer, which you should also sprinkle with some sour cream. After this, add the sausages and finally the remaining potatoes.

Pour the remaining sour cream over the potatoes. It’s not a problem at all if the layered potatoes kind of slop about in the sour cream, because as we know: you can’t have enough sour cream in Hungarian dishes 😉 Cook your layered potatoes at 200° Celsius for an hour. The meal is ready when the top is golden brown. Serve it with mixed salad or pickles.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.nosalty.hu

Ce: bm

October 8, 2017

Recipe of the week: Roast á la Brasov (Brassói aprópecsenye)

Geographic locations have always been favoured constituents when naming meals. They are easy to remember and imply some kind of tradition. However, they can be misleading, because many times they have nothing to do with the actual place. This is probably the case when speaking about roast á la Brasov (brassói aprópecsenye), which has several origin stories.

Unraveling the story of the name of roast á la Brasov is not an easy task, because quite a few people claim to be the “godfathers”. According to beol.hu, some people believe that it was Nándor Gróf, the chef of the Hungarian State Railways, who created the recipe in 1948 on the train circulating between Budapest and Brasov.

However, master chef György Dózsa claims the recipe was first shared in a 19^th century cookbook, which defines it as a meal from Brasov. According to him, it should be a garlic beef pot made with potatoes roasted on fat and garlicy beef.

The next story is about Endre Papp, the onetime head of the Mátyás Cellar of Vienna, who said that it was him who created the roast. He made it for a “food innovation” competition on the 17^th of September, 1950.

He called the dish “á la Brasov” because he still remembered the Treaty of Trianon, and the name of Cluj Napoca (Kolozsvár) was already taken.

Still, the locals of Óbuda (Budapest’s 3^rd district) argue that the recipe was created by the wife of the Weiss Pub’s owner as a one-pot meal (made with marjoram-onion pork and egg barley) for the birthday of master carpenter Károly Brassóy.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/Cookta – ZsofiaHamoriPhotography*

So the meal has probably nothing to do with Brasov, and the “apró” (tiny) qualifier was only added to the Hungarian name as a joke, when someone accidentally cut the meat into pieces that were too small.

The most credible story is found in Sándor Csáky’s The Gastronomy of the 20^th century, where he writes that the roast á la Brasov was originally made with tenderloin, tomato, mushroom and egg barley by an unknown chef.

According to foodandwine.hu, the dish is characterised by a constant evolution, as more and more versions are created. Some people cut the potato and meat into cubes, some cut them into sticks. Some people like to add peas, while others prefer it without the vegetable.

We tried to pick a very juicy, hearty recipe with which you’re guaranteed to impress your guests 😉

Ingredients:

600 grams of pork shoulder
800 grams of potato
5 cloves of garlic
2 tomatoes
100 grams of lard
100 grams of bacon
a half/one hot pepper
tablespoon on paprika
salt, pepper

Directions:

Cut up the meat, the lard and the bacon into cubes. Roast the lard and the bacon until the pieces become crunchy. Take out the pieces and add the meat to the leftover fat. After a few minutes, add the paprika, the tomatoes cut into cubes and the hot pepper as well.

Add the finely chopped garlic and cook the mixture on low heat for about 90 minutes (stir it from time to time). You can add some water if you feel like the mixture is about to burn, but the gravy should remain thick.

When the meat mixture is almost ready, roast the potatoes cut into cubes on some oil. After they have cooked through, put them on blotting-paper. When the meat has softened, add the greaves and the potatoes, and serve it right away.

Enjoy!

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Ce: bm

September 30, 2017