recipe

Recipe of the week: Hungarian strudel (rétes)

The Viennese apple strudel is among the world’s 100 most famous foods. But where does this hearty dessert come from, and how do Hungarians make it? Nowadays we tend to do it the lazy way, not like our grandmothers who even made the pastry from scratch. We tried to find out their secret 🙂

In Hungarian we call the dessert rétes, which comes from réteges (layered), while the German strudel comes from swirl/ whirl. According to mindmegette.hu, rétes used to be a layered dessert baked in a furnace without filling. The stuffed version is known since the 17^th century, and it spread in the Habsburg Empire in the 18^th century. The first written document speaking about the dessert is from 1696, and it is kept in the Viennese Municipal Library.

The dessert is known as strudel all over the world, even though it is a traditional dish in almost all Central-Eastern European countries. For instance, it is called zavitek in Slovenia, závin in the Czech Republic, savijača or štrudla in Croatia, and gibanica in Serbia.

It is closely related to baklava and burek, which are the beloved delicacies of the Mediterranean, Turkish, Arab and Iranian cuisine. It is believed that the Turks introduced the dessert family in the 16^th century. Today’s stuffed strudel was created in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 18^th-19^th century. It has been a traditional festive dessert in Hungary since then.

The Parisian Ritz Hotel featured the “rétes Hongrois” (Hungarian strudel) on its menu in the 19^th century. They wanted it to be authentic so they ordered pastry flour from Hungary and even sent their confectioners to learn some tricks in Pest. We don’t know whether or not they succeeded, but we do know who to turn to for the secret: grandmas or elderly ladies who still know the tricks of making strudel pastry.

*Rétes á la Gundel – Photo: www.facebook.com/GundelRestaurant*

If you like challenges and having fun in the kitchen, you should definitely try to make it at home. It all comes down the flour, which has to be lighter than normal flour and has to be high in gluten. Regarding the filling, you can basically use anything. You can make a filling out of everything, just make sure to use some ground nuts or wheatmeal in the case of juicy fruits.

A few filling options:

cottage cheese filling: cottage cheese, sour cream, egg, sugar, possibly vanilla sugar, zest of lemon/ lemon juice, raisins, wheatmeal;
poppy seed filling: ground poppy seeds and sugar scalded with milk, spiced with cinnamon/ lemon zest/ orange zest etc. or mixed with apricot jam/ grated apple;
apple filling: grated and steamed apple (sour type) mixed with sugar, raisins, ground walnut, cinnamon;
sour cherry filling: pitted sour cherry with ground walnut and cinnamon
pumpkin-poppy seed filling: ground poppy seed mixed with sugar and grated pumpkin or squash;
walnut-plum filling: quartered plum mixed with ground walnut and cinnamon sugar.

These are only a few options, you could even use savoury fillings or basically anything you’d like. The recipe variations are endless, it is all up to you how you want to mix and match the flavours 🙂

Now comes the fun part: the homemade pastry. According to pekszovetseg.hu, you’re going to need 500 grams of good quality pastry flour, two tablespoons of fat (plus some more here and there), one egg, 2.5 dl of water, a teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of salt. Moreover, you’re going to need a big table and patience.

Heat up the water until it becomes lukewarm and add the salt and the vinegar. Sieve the flour onto a flat surface, add the egg and half of the fat, and start mixing with your hands. Slowly start adding the water mixture while constantly kneading the dough until you reach a soft consistency with bubbles forming on the surface of the dough. Also, it shouldn’t stick to your hand, nor the surface.

Separate he dough into two loaves, cover them with the rest of the fat, put them into two separate bowls, and let them raise in a warm place. It should double in size and become even lighter. Meanwhile, you can prepare your table. Put a table cloth onto the table and spread some flour on the cloth.

After the dough has raised, flat it with a rolling pin in the middle of the table. Then, slowly start pulling it outwards with floury hands – mainly the back of your hand – while going around the table. You need to do this carefully until the pastry becomes paper thin (you should be able to read a magazine through it). Tear off thicker edges, and let the pastry cool off.

*Rétes á la Gerbeaud – Photo: www.facebook.com/GerbeaudCafé*

After it has cooled off, spread some fat/oil/butter over the pastry, and fold it with the help of the table cloth. Butter it after every fold. When you’ve reached a normal rectangular size, add the filling. Make sure to add something that absorbs juice in the case of fruits (ground nuts, wheatmeal etc.). Juicy fillings are usually placed in the centre of the pastry, while other fillings are spread evenly over the pastry.

Roll up your rétes with the help of the table cloth, and grease the top with some fat/oil/butter. Cut it in a way that you can fit the loaves into a greased baking tin. Bake it at 180-200° Celsius until golden and crunchy. Let it cool for a while, then cut it up diagonally (~4 cm pieces). Sprinkle some powdered sugar or vanilla sugar on top.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/GerbeaudCafé

Ce: bm

September 24, 2017

Recipe of the week: Stuffed cabbage

It is the splendour of the Christmas table, it is the taste of grandma’s love and it is the indispensable part of the festivity – it is the stuffed cabbage. This hearty meal is the essential part of the Hungarian cuisine, which you must try when in Hungary 🙂

“…and then came the stuffed cabbage.” According to origo.hu, this is how the dish is frequently mentioned. It is usually followed by a deep sigh or moan. The sentence is usually said at the time of festivities, after Christmas Eve or a wedding night when recalling the menu. This part of the sentence has several meanings. First of all, we’d like to express how much we love stuffed cabbage and that we wouldn’t miss it for a thing. But it also means distress, because we tend to believe that if we miss the festivities without eating stuffed cabbage, we’ll be the victims of some kind of curse.

Stuffed cabbage plays an important but somehow secondary role in the festive menu: it always comes when we’re already full with the other delicacies. And we’re also afraid that we won’t be able to fit it onto our stomach. So we sigh. At weddings, it is served in the middle of the night when you’ve already eaten six courses, but you feel like you need to refuel so that you can keep on drinking and dancing.

This secondary role is especially interesting considering that it is such a hearty meal that a plate of stuffed cabbage can fill you up for the whole day. And you can’t make a small portion, it is usually made in a big batch. This is why stuffed cabbage is a beloved leftover from the Christmas menu.

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

According to the ethnographic lexicon, it is a meal of Turkish origin, which was originally a rice-meat filling stuffed in vine-leaves. It is an old recipe, because it is already mentioned in the oldest Hungarian cookbooks.

The ancestor of the stuffed cabbage was cabbage-meat in the Hungarian cuisine. The dish spread in the Balkans and Hungary in the 17h-18^th century. The Szakácsmesterségek cookbook from 1695 featured two versions. One of them was the cabbage from Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) which called for goose or hen meat, while the other stuffed cabbage recipe called for “cow meat” and ginger.

The recipe of stuffed cabbage went through a lot of changes throughout history, and it still remains one of those meals with plenty of variations. Every family makes it differently, with different secret ingredients. Opinions also differ on the most important steps and ingredients. Is the meat the most important part? Is it the dumpling? Or is it the cabbage? Do you have to precook the rice, do you need eggs and do you need to stir it?

It would be impossible to reach consensus in these questions and to find an ultimate or best recipe. We picked one we liked, but it is quite probable that your neighbour, mother, grandma does something differently. Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy 🙂

Ingredients:

5 kg of sauerkraut
12 cabbage leaves (sour as well)
400 grams of pork scapula
400 grams of pork leg
400 grams of smoked side ribs
100 grams of sausage
200 grams of lard
1 onion
120 grams of rice
3 cloves of garlic
tablespoon of paprika
4 bay leaves
salt, pepper
tablespoon of pork fat
tablespoon of flour
50 ml of water

Directions:

If you’re using trusty, homemade smoked side ribs, let it soak in water for a day. (Most meat made with the quick smoking technique only need a solid wash.) You need to cook it for one-one and a half hours until it becomes medium soft. Cook the rice halfway and let it cool down. Rinse the sauerkraut and put it aside.

Chop up the onion and the lard. Cook the lard until it releases fat and roasts a bit. Take the greaves out and fry the onion in the fat. Add the ground pork scapula and leg into a bowl along with the half-cooked rice, onion, greaves, crushed garlic, a teaspoon of pepper, two teaspoons of salt and a tablespoon of paprika. Add 50 ml of water and mix it all together (water replaces eggs, because eggs would harden the filling).

Separate the filling into 12 equal pieces. Take a look at the cabbage leaves: if they have a hard stump, cut it out because you need them to be soft so that they can be rolled up. Take a leaf into your hand in a way that the stump is facing upwards. Put one portion of filling in the middle and fold in the leaves. Start from above, then from under and lastly from the left. After the last fold, roll it up it up to the right. This way your fillings will be secure enough.

*One way to layer stuffed cabbage – Photo: Wiki Commons By sikeri*

Take a huge pot and line it with part of the sauerkraut. Add a few fillings, some pieces of sausage and smoked side ribs. Then comes the second layer of sauerkraut, and another layer of filling, sausage and side rib pieces. Continue this until you run out of ingredients. It is essentially up to you how many layers you’d like to have. Just make sure that you finish with sauerkraut on the top. Add a few bay leaves on the very top and pour in as much of the side ribs’ cooking water as is enough to cover the dish.

Cook it over medium heat for around two hours. When it’s done, let it cool for a bit. Then carefully take out the fillings. Melt the fat, add some paprika and flour. Slowly pour in water while constantly mixing until it reaches the consistency of sour cream. Add it to the cooked sauerkraut to thicken it. When serving, start with the sauerkraut on the bottom, add the filling, side ribs, and sausages on the top. You can make it even tastier with some sour cream and homemade bread.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: GLOBS Magazine

ce: bm

September 10, 2017

Recipe of the week: Sacher cake

The chocolatey-apricot jammy cake is a classic dessert, which will crown any meal for sure. We are well aware that the Sacher cake/torte was created by an Austrian confectioner, but it is still a very popular dessert in Hungary, which recalls the era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the peacetime along with specialties like the Dobos cake and the Eszterházy cake.

According to mindmegette.hu, there used to be a popular saying in Vienna, according to which the emperor ruled “Austria’s house”, but Sacher ruled “Austria’s hotel”. It referred to Hotel Sacher, which was built by Eduard Sacher, who was the son of Franz Sacher, the creator of the Sacher cake. He made it for Archduke Metternich in 1832 at the age of 16. Little did the young confectioner know that his cake would conquer the whole monarchy.

In that time, inventions and novelties flowed from one part of the empire to the other, so it’s no surprise that Hungarians quickly took a liking in the cake. This is also why it is frequently mentioned among traditional peacetime dishes and desserts.

*The official packaging by Hotel Sacher – Photo: www.facebook.com/OriginalSacher-Torte*

Getting back to the Sacher story, Eduard Sacher and his wife, Anna Sacher worked tirelessly to get across the concept of their hotel, which also spread the fame of the Sacher cake. The restaurant of the hotel was famous all over the country. There were days when 400 Sacher cakes were baked in the confectionery, because they had to be delivered to Berlin, London and Paris. In fact, the famously picky Empress Elizabeth was also among the lovers of the dessert.

After the death of Eduard Sacher, his wife went on with managing the hotel for almost forty years. Legend has it that she surprised many guest who asked for the director by saying “I am the boss in this shanty”. She was an excellent host, who loved her job passionately. She frequently visited her father-in-law, the creator of the Sacher cake, and always borrowed a new recipe from him.

Talking about recipes, the original recipe of the Sacher cake is still a secret. But the popularity of classic desserts is always proved by the fact that they are reconceptualised and reformed from time to time. Fortunately, the Sacher cake also has many variations, so you won’t be left without a trusty recipe 😉

Ingredients:

For the sponge

125 grams of butter
125 grams of powdered sugar
125 grams of dark chocolate
125 grams of flour
6 eggs

For the filling and glaze

6 tablespoons of apricot jam
140 grams of dark chocolate
1 tablespoon of oil

Directions:

Melt together the 125 grams of butter and oil, and let the mixture cool down. Mix the egg yolk and the sugar, and slowly add the buttery chocolate. Then, add the flour. Whip up the egg whites in a separate bowl and also add them to the chocolatey batter. Bake it in two parts (or one and cut it in half after it has baked) at 180° Celsius for 25-30 minutes. Let the sponge layers cool down and spread a hearty amount of apricot jam between the two layers. Melt together the remaining dark chocolate and butter, and cover your cake with the mixture. Let it sit in the fridge until serving.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/OriginalSacher-Torte

Ce: bm

September 2, 2017

Recipe of the week: Kossuth crescent

Lajos Kossuth was one of the greatest figures of the 19^th century, the leader of the fight for national autonomy and the head of the 1848-49 War of Independence. It is believed that he loved to try new gastronomic experiences during his trips. This is how the delicious half moon-shaped cake was named after him. Even though it’s called crescent or crescent roll in Hungarian (kifli), it is something different 🙂

According to mindmegette.hu, the nutty dessert, which is the Sunday favourite of many people, started its conquering tour from Pozsony (Bratislava). That was where the parliamentary sessions were held in the 19^th century, and that was where Lajos Kossuth represented two dowagers, Baron Anna Révay and Count Bóra Pongrácz. His name became famous when he started his Parliamentary Reports during the 1832-36 session and started popularising the reform opposition in the manuscript journal that was spread in the form of letters.

*Lajos Kossuth – Photo: Wiki Commons By Prinzhofer, August 1817-1885 (artist) Rauh, Johann (lithographer)*

The young lawyer usually ate at Jakab Palugyay’s Vasforrás Restaurant in Bratislava, which was the favourite of the members of parliament. The menu of the famous chef and wine-merchant always featured the characteristic dishes of the region, like the walnut and poppy seed Bratislava crescents. Legend has it that Kossuth preferred the almond version, this is why the crescent-shaped dessert created by Palugyay was named after the famous Hungarian.

The life of Kossuth and the host known as the “Gundel of Bratislava” had another joint venue: in the beginning of 1848, Palugyay took over Zöldfa Hostel (Hotel Carlton today), where Kossuth was a regular guest and where Lajos Batthyány, the prime minister of the first independent Hungarian government was presented to the public. (The balcony was taken to Hungary, it can be visited in the garden of the Calvinist Church of Cegléd.)

It is said that Kossuth who was used to a Gentry cuisine at home was not picky at all. During his country tours, he loved to try everything that was offered to him or was even named after him. This is probably how the Kossuth roast and the Kossuth bread were created. The latter was the typical dessert of the era, the dry tea biscuit flavoured with almond and chocolate was even served in the Pilvax Café.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/KatlanTóniVendéglőjeaMalomhoz*

The Kossuth crescent’s recipe has several variations, but the base of all is the buttery sponge layer. Even though most people flavour it with walnuts, the “real” one is sprinkled with almonds. It is actually quite an easy but fantastic dessert to make. Check out the following recipe 🙂

Ingredients:

200 grams of butter
180 grams of flour
200 grams of powdered sugar
4 eggs
a little bit of baking powder
one lemon’s zest
100 grams of almond or walnut

*A restaurant in Veresegyház made 1848 Kossuth crescents last year for the anniversary of the 1848/49 war of independence – Photo: www.facebook.com/KatlanTóniVendéglőjeaMalomhoz*

Directions:

Mix the butter and the powdered sugar until it becomes frothy, then add the egg yolks one by one, and mix them well. Add the lemon zest and mix again. Whip up the egg whites and gently combine it with the buttery-sugary-eggy batter. Finally, add the flour and baking powder.

Spread the batter into a prepared baking tin (either lined with a baking sheet or buttered and floured). Sprinkle the top with the chopped up almonds or walnuts. Bake it at 180° Celsius for half an hour or until golden. Let it cool down and cut crescents/half-moons with a scone cutter.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/KatlanTóniVendéglőjeaMalomhoz

ce: ZsK

August 27, 2017

Recipe of the week: Rigó Jancsi cake

There once lived a man, who was the leader of a gypsy band. He was very successful in the music world, however, he became famous through a scandalous love affair and the cake, with which he wanted to seduce a woman. This is the story of Rigó Jancsi and the cake that is sweet as love.

According to cultura.hu, János Rigó was born into a poor gypsy family in Pákozd. He loved music and started playing the violin at a young age. His career is dreamlike: he started at the bottom of the band hierarchy and slowly made his way upwards until he became the leader of the gypsy band. The band first toured Hungary and then the pubs, restaurants of trans-border regions.

This is how the man, who everyone called Jancsi Rigó (Jancsi is the nickname for János), got to Paris in 1896, where he entertained the guests of Alhambra and Restaurant Payard. The show was visited by Prince Chimay and his beautiful wife one night. Jancsi noticed that his music and more so his personality impressed Princess Clara Ward. Being a fine-looking and talented man, he was used to women admiring him, but that night was different.

The princess became a regular guest at the performances of the gypsy band, they met more and more until they fell in love. The romantic escape of the princess and the fiery-eyed musician was the greatest sensation of 1896. They both divorced so that they could remarry. The press loved their relationship and frequently reported about their life. Their romance was a real phenomenon that was even made eternal by painters and caricaturists.

*Rigó Jancsi and Clara Ward – Photo: Wiki Commons By Tim Ross*

Their fame was still unbroken in 1905, when they visited the Rémy (later Nemzeti) Hotel, and the clever confectioner of the hotel took advantage of their visit. Legend has it that Jancsi asked the confectioner to make an irresistible cake that would dazzle Clara. This is how the chocolatey, sweetly creamy cake was created. It is believed that Jancsi presented the cake to his love with following sentence: “Taste it: it’s brown like my skin and sweet like your heart”.

The cake turned out so great that it also impressed the guests of the hotel and later the whole country. It became popular quite quickly and its sweetness remained its main characteristic throughout history. But unlike the cake, the love of Jancsi and Clara wasn’t eternal. The lack of money, cheating and constant fights poisoned their life until Clara escaped with an Italian porter.

The story of Rigó Jancsi is the perfect example of the power of gastronomy and how it’s able to preserve someone’s memory. The cake named after him combines sponge, cream and chocolate. According to mindmegette.hu, the chocolatey sponge layer is followed by a layer of chocolatey whipped cream, another sponge layer and a chocolate glaze. No wonder people can’t resist it. If you want to impress your guests with a truly sweet dessert, take a look at the following recipe.

Ingredients:

For the sponge

3 eggs
60 grams of sugar
60 grams of flour
20 grams of cocoa powder

For the cream

4 dl of whipping cream
100 grams of dark chocolate

For the chocolate glaze

40 grams of dark chocolate
a tablespoon of butter

Directions:

For the sponge, separate the eggs and mix the egg yolks with the sugar. In another bowl, whip up the egg whites, add it into the sugary mixture and combine carefully. Then add the cocoa powder and the flour, and mix everything together. Bake the sponge at 180° Celsius for 8-10 minutes.

For the cream, melt the chocolate over boiling water. After it has melted, take it off of the heat and slowly mix in the whipping cream. Cut the sponge into two layers and spread the cream between them. For the glaze, melt the chocolate and the butter and spread it on top of the upper sponge layer. Store the cake in the fridge, and cut it into squares with a knife dipped into hot water before serving.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.mindmegette.hu/FazekasKira

ce: ZsK

August 20, 2017

Recipe of the week: Zserbó cake

One of the most popular Hungarian desserts is zserbó, a crispy pastry with walnut, apricot jam and a shining chocolate glaze. It is traditionally made at Christmas and Easter time, but you can taste it in confectioneries all year around. Why not try it in Gerbeaud Café, founded by Emil Gerbeaud, the creator of zserbó? This is the story of how a proper name became common name known by everyone.

According to the official website of the café, Emil Gerbeaud worked in German, French and English confectioneries before moving to Hungary in 1884 at the invitation of Henrik Kugler. The owner of the café at Gizella Square (Vörösmarty Square today) was looking for someone widely travelled, open to novelties, a true confectioner who would be able to take over the lead of the confectionery, which was the meeting point of the elegant world.

The timing was perfect because Emil Gerbeaud was instantly blown away by the shop, so he bought is from Henrik Kugler. The confectionery flourished under his direction. He won a gold medal with his products at the World Exhibition of 1898 and 1900 thus getting acknowledged on behalf of the Hungarian confectionery industry.

Mindemegette.hu writes that the confectioner introduced many novelties. He broadened the confectionery’s selection with unique, new products: bonbons, candies, buttercream desserts, tea-biscuits etc. He even set up a small chocolate factory, which produced the famous “konyakos meggy”, made from sour cherry, matured in cognac and covered with dark chocolate. But the most famous dessert connected to the confectioner is definitely the zserbó cake (Gerbeaud is pronounced zserbó in Hungarian).

*Hungarian classics (Zserbó, Eszterházy Cake, Dobos Cake) on one plate – Photo: www.facebook.com/GerbeaudCafé*

The success of the dessert was so huge that the proper name became a common name: zserbó instead of Gerbeaud. The secret of the classic zserbó lies in the perfect triumvirate of chocolate, walnut and apricot. What’s great is that is lasts for a long time (unless your guests destroy it at once), in fact, it only gets better and softer with time.

Just like most desserts, this one also has many variations thanks to the creativity of kitchen fairies. Some people make it in the form of bonbons, dumplings, noodles, pancakes and even ice cream. We definitely recommend making zserbó at home, because you will feel quite accomplished for creating such a divine dessert. Below, you’ll find a classic recipe 🙂

Ingredients:

For the pastry

500 grams of flour
250 grams of butter
20 grams of yeast
100 ml of milk
half a teaspoon of sugar
4 egg yolks
pinch of salt

For the filling

800 grams of apricot jam
350 grams of ground walnut
250 grams of powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of vanilla sugar

For the glaze

5 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
5 tablespoons of powdered sugar
5 tablespoons of hot water
80 grams of butter
5 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice

*Photo: www.facebook.com/ZserbóKávéházésCukrászda*

Directions:

To make the pastry, mix the yeast with the sugar and let it rise in warm milk. Mix the flour and the salt and crumble the soft butter in the flour. Add the egg yolks, the risen yeast, then mix well, preferably with your hands. Separate your pastry into four equal parts and form small balls, put them into bowls and let them rise in a warm place for an hour.

For the filling, mix the ground walnuts, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar and divide the mixture into three parts. Also divide the jam into three bowls.

After your pastry balls have rested, roll them out so that they fit the size of your baking tray (lined with parchment paper). Start layering: brush the first layer of pastry with jam, sprinkle it with one third of the filling, and repeat this process twice more. Finish with the fourth pastry layer, poke it with a fork at several spots and bake it for around 35 minutes at 180° Celsius.

Once your zserbó is baked, let it cool down. For the glaze, mix the ingredients except for the lemon juice. Heat up the mixture, then add the lemon juice and pour your chocolate glaze over the cake. Let the flavours come together and serve your dessert.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Cookta

ce: ZsK

August 6, 2017

Recipe of the week: Gundel pancake

Several legends can be connected to the Gundel family, which played a prominent role in the popularisation of the Hungarian gastronomy. We’d like to commemorate their achievements with the story and recipe of the delicious Gundel pancake.

According to the official website, the Gundel legend started with Johann Gundel, who tried his luck in the field of catering at the age of 13. He reached the peak of his career in the elegant restaurant of the Stephen Archduke Hotel. His son, Károly grew up in the world of gastronomy. In 1910, the family moved to Budapest to take over the Wampetics Restaurant, which is the world-famous Gundel Restaurant today.

Károly Gundel tamed the Hungarian cuisine and combined it with new, international impacts. His pioneer work put Hungary onto the world’s gastronomic map. His career is also of historic importance, because he collected Hungarian specialties from all over the country, just like Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók did with Hungarian folk songs.

The restaurants of Károly Gundel were frequently visited by famous Hungarian politicians, artists, authors and sportspeople. The staff was happy to create unique dishes for their famous guests. This is how the Munkácsy style egg, the Újházi meat soup, the Jókai bean soup and the Feszty beefsteak was created.

This brings us to the topic of this article, the Gundel pancake. You would think that it is the family’s specialty, but is was actually created by the wife of a famous Hungarian writer, Sándor Márai. According to foodandwine.hu, the theatrical adaptation of his novel titled “Before consulting” was presented in the October of 1940. The banquet following the premiere was held in the Gundel Restaurant. Ilona Matzner (Lola) made one of her family’s specialties, pancakes filled with walnut, raisin and orange zest for the occasion. Károly Gundel liked it so much that he put it on the menu under the name of Márai pancake. But after the emigration of the couple, he renamed it to Gundel pancake.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/GundelRestaurant*

The Márai-Gundel pancake went through quite a lot of changes in the past 70 years. In the 1940s and 1950s it was baked in an oven with a butter topping before serving, the vanilla flavoured chocolate cream was only poured over the pancakes in the last minute. However, the original pancake didn’t blaze and had a characteristic rum flavour.

A few decades later, another famous Hungarian dessert was created with very similar ingredients: walnut, rum, vanilla, chocolate and whipped cream. It is the Somló sponge cake, which was also born in the Gundel Restaurant.

The Gundel family has always played a prominent role in the Hungarian gastronomy. We’d like to commemorate their achievements with the recipe of the phenomenal Gundel pancake.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/ZsofiaHamoriPhotography*

Ingredients (makes four servings):

For the pancake

5 dl of milk
250 grams of flour
2 eggs
salt
oil

For the filling

200 grams of ground walnut
2 dl of milk
1 vanilla stick
3 tablespoons of powdered sugar
a handful of raisins
the zest of one orange
1 tablespoon of rum

For the sauce

200 grams of sugar
5 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 dl of water
5 cl of rum

Directions:

Mix the ingredients of the pancake, and let the batter sit for 20-30 minutes. Heat up a pan, spread the batter evenly and bake thin pancakes. For the filling, heat up the milk in a pan, add the vanilla beans and stick, let it simmer for a while and then take out the stick. Add the ground walnut, powdered sugar, grated orange zest and the raisins soaked in rum.

For the chocolate sauce, heat up the water and add the sugar. After it has melted in the water, mix in the cocoa powder and the rum. Let the mixture cook until it thickens. Fill the pancakes with the walnut filling and fold them twice so that they form a fan. Serve them with the chocolate sauce.

Enjoy the dessert.

Ce: bm

July 30, 2017

Recipe of the week: Hortobágy-style pancake

Combining meat and pancake is a common procedure all over the world, but the Hungarian Hortobágy-style pancake or crepe somehow stands out in the field of meaty specialties. Its origin is not as obvious as it sounds, but its recipe is just as time-consuming as it sounds. However, you must try to make it at home at least once in your life 🙂

Cookta.hu writes that even though the Hortobágy-style pancake is world-famous and is listed in all guide books as a Hungarian specialty, it’s actually not a real Hungarikum: it has nothing to do with the Hortobágy puszta (grassland biome on the Great Hungarian Plain) and it doesn’t look back on a long history. Still, it is very delicious when prepared properly, and it is still one of the most popular specialties you can get in Hungary.

The Hortobágy-style pancake was created for the 1958 world exhibition in Brussels (just like the Rákóczi cottage cheese cake, earlier) by a Hungarian chef, who thought that naming the meaty pancake Hortobágyi would be a great marketing plan. He filled the pancakes with veal stew. Thanks to its unique flavour it spread quite quickly among the visitors of the exhibition.

According to origo.hu, a very similar recipe is featured in a 1939 cookbook that was published by Andrea Kolmanné Lemhényi Dávid. She describes a pancake filled with veal stew and topped with sour cream mixed with gravy, which needs to be roasted in the oven. This is basically the gist of the Hortobágy-style pancake.

It is frequently referred to as the ultimate “leftover-saver” dish, because stew meals and pancakes are staples in the Hungarian cuisine, and you can also recycle other type of leftover bits in the filling. However, this is exactly why most people don’t suggest ordering it in a restaurant, only in trusty ones.

This great meal is actually a warm starter, but it is so filling that it stands its ground as a main course as well. It’s not the quickest dish, it requires several phases, but if you desire a truly divine Hungarian savoury meal, you should definitely try this recipe at home.

Regarding the recipe, it’s hard to choose the “real” one, because several variations have been created. It is commonly made with the meat of chicken thighs due to its juiciness. The key to the recipe probably lies in the quality of the paprika and sour cream that characterise many Hungarian meals.

Ingredients:

For the pancake

5 dl of milk
250 grams of flour
2 eggs
salt
oil

For the filling

500 grams of chicken things
1 onion
1 pepper
1 tomato
salt
pepper
cumin
2 tablespoons of paprika
5 dl of oil
2 cloves of garlic
4 dl of sour cream
2 tablespoons of flour

*Photo: www.cookta.hu/ZsofiaHamoriPhotography*

Directions:

First, prepare the stew. Chop up the onion and simmer it in the oil in a pan. After a few minutes, add the chopped up paprika and tomato, and roast them together for a bit. Then, add the spices and the crushed garlic cloves. Add the chicken thighs (in whole) and let them cook in the covered pan on low heat for 40-45 minutes. If the juice cooks away, add some water so that the meat softens.

While the stew is cooking, make the pancakes. Mix together all the ingredients, and let the batter sit for 10-20 minutes. Heat up a pan, add some oil and a ladle of the batter. Move the pan in circular motions so that the batter spreads evenly. Cook your pancakes on both sides and set them aside.

After the chicken thighs have cooked, take them out of the pan, debone and shred the meat with the help of a fork and a knife. Pure the shredded meat and some of the stew gravy with a mixer. This is the filling for the pancakes. Stir together the flour and the sour cream, and thicken the leftover gravy with the mixture. This is the sauce.

Fill the pancakes with the meat mixture, and roll them up into smaller reels or squares. Pour some sauce on top of them. At this point you can either bake them in the oven for a little time, or serve it as it is. Add some more sour cream on the very top, decorate it with parsley if you’d like, and you’re done 🙂

Enjoy!

Featurd image: Wiki Commons By I, Themightyquill

July 23, 2017

Recipe of the week: Rákóczi cottage cheese cake

The Rákóczi cottage cheese cake (Rákóczi túrós) brought the Hungarian pies to a whole new level. What made it so special back in the day is that the cottage cheese layer was covered with meringue instead of pastry. The dessert instantly became popular and still remains one of Hungary’s specialties.

The name can be deceiving, because it was not named after the famous monarch Ferenc Rákóczi II, but a confectioner named János Rákóczi. He was a unique master chef who worked all around Europe’s best restaurants. His dessert debuted in 1958 at the world exhibition is Brussels.

According to mindmegette.hu, the confectioner was the manager of hotel restaurants, he published cookbooks and won several awards at gastronomic exhibitions. He published his all-around cookbook titled Hungarian gastronomy in 1964, which features the famous cake. But the cake was actually created a few decades before, the recipe appeared in a gastronomic journal in 1937 for the first time. It was presented to the audience at the 1958 world exhibition in Brussels.

The Rákóczi cottage cheese cake is made from easy components. Its base is a shortbread-like pastry, which is covered with a cottage cheese cream flavoured with lemon zest, vanilla and raisins. Then comes the innovative part, the soft sugary merengue. Finally, the apricot jam pulls everything together.

*A new touch on the classic dessert – Photo: www.facebook.com/Rákóczitúrós*

Besides the classic cake, you can also make the dessert in the form of a muffin, tarte, galette or even serve it as a mousse in a cup. When trying out new varieties, pay attention to the ratios, because all components have their roles 😉

Ingredients:

For the pastry

300 grams of flour
150 grams of butter
1 teaspoon of baking powder
100 grams of sugar
2 egg yolks
1 dl of sour cream
pinch of salt

For the cream

500 grams of cottage cheese
1 dl of sour cream
the zest of one lemon
2 handfuls of raisins
150 grams of sugar
30 grams of wheatmeal
2 egg yolks

For the topping

4 egg whites
200 grams of sugar
apricot jam

Directions:

Mix the ingredients of the pastry together with your hands, roll it out and put it onto your baking tray. Prebake it for 12-14 minutes. For the cream, mix the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture whitens, then add the cottage cheese, sour cream, raisins, lemon zest and wehatmeal, and combine well. Add the cream onto the prebaked pastry, put it back into the oven and bake for 25 more minutes at 180° Celsius.

For the merengue topping, start with whipping the egg whites, then slowly add the sugar so that it becomes a stiff mousse. Put it into a piping bag and draw bars on top of the cream. Bake it for 20 minutes and lower the temperature to 130° Celsius so that the heat slowly dries out the merengue. After you take it out of the oven, fill in the gaps between the bars with apricot jam. Let the dessert cool down and serve it.

Enjoy!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Rákóczitúrós

Ce: bm

July 16, 2017

Recipe of the week: Chimney cake

In the Hungarian speech area, the chimney cake (kürtős kalács) is a Szekler, Transylvanian and Hungarian dessert at the same time. Its origin has been the topic of arguments for many years, several legends can be connected to its story. Chimney cakes are characterised by an unmatched smell and aroma, and divinely sweet flavours. If you’d like to learn how to make it, you’re in the good place 😉

Vitezkurtos.hu writes that the chimney cake is mostly referred to as a Transylvanian specialty, as the national dish of Szeklerland, which used to be made at the time of weddings, religious festivities, christenings and other events. The tradition is still alive, although the consumption of the dessert is connected to certain occasions any more.

*Photo: Wiki Commons By International Kürtősh Kalách Trade Corporation*

One of the main arguments around the chimney cake is about its Hungarian name. Some people pronounce it as kürtös kalács, while others say kürtőskalács. The first group traces back the origin of the dessert to the time of the Hungarian conquest. It is believed that when the incursive Hungarians sacked some flour and eggs, they made a dough, rolled it on their horns (kürt) and baked it over fire. However, others doubt that the chimney cake has anything to do with the Hungarian conquest, because the method necessitates a more developed cuisine.

According to the other theory, the chimney cake was named after the stovepipe, because it is called kürtőcső in Szeklerland. The resourceful Szeklers wanted to reuse the ember of the hardwood used for cooking and heating, so they put the burning ember on top of the stove or in front of the furnace, and baked the chimney cake.

There are many myths about the origin of the chimney cake. One of the most popular ones is connected to the Mongol invasion. It is believed that the population of Szeklerland decided to escape from the Tatar troops. Some people went up to the hills, while others hid in the caves of Budvár and Rez. Since the Tatars couldn’t attack or approach them, they decided to starve the Szeklers out. This went on for a long time, until both the Tatars and Szeklers lived up their food. But a smart Szekler woman scraped together the leftover flour, mixed it with ash and baked huge loafs, which they put on wooden dongs or tall poles and showed to the Tatars: “Look, how great we’re doing while you’re starving!” The Tatars gave up and marched off resentfully.

This is why the chimney cake is also called a dong doughnut (dorongfánk). The long and short of it is that there are many stories, but one thing is for sure: the whole world loves these characteristic and delicious treats that you have to try at least once in your life. Here is a recipe if you’d like to impress your guests with a unique dessert choice.

Ingredients (for 10):

1 kg of flour
300 grams of butter
100 grams of powdered sugar
40 grams of yeast
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
5 dl of milk
possible toppings: caster sugar, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, ground walnut, coconut flakes etc.

Directions:

Let the yeast rise in 1 dl lukewarm milk, and mix it with the flour, soft butter, powdered sugar, eggs and egg yolks. Add the remaining milk and knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. Let it sit in a warm place for an hour.

After the dough has doubled in size, roll it out and cut 1.5 centimetre wide strips. Wrap the strips around the buttered wooden dongs in a way that one layer slightly overlaps the next layer. Roll the dongs on the table so that the dough will be evenly spread. Then, roll the dough into the cinnamon sugar mixture (or whatever topping you chose to go for).

Some supermarkets carry wooden dongs, but if you can’t seem to find any, wrap a smaller rolling pin with aluminium foil, brush it with butter and continue as if it was your homemade dong.

Place the wooden dong on a baking tin and bake your chimney cakes at 170-180° Celsius. Make sure to turn it two or three times until the sugar melts on the outside.

Enjoy the dessert!

Provide your audience with essential culinary tips and video tutorials by streaming live videos into the cloud with windows virtual desktop with remote access to your windows applications and data from CloudDesktopOnline.com powered by one of the best DaaS providers – Apps4Rent.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/VitézKürtős

Ce: bm

July 9, 2017

Recipe of the week: Esterházy cake

This delicious cake doesn’t have a single story about its origin, but this is probably why several versions of the Esterházy cake still exist. The walnut-creamy dessert and its emblematic pattern have a special place in the heart of Hungarians.

Finding the origins and the perfect recipe of the Esterházy cake is quite a hard task, because it is not even mentioned in classic Hungarian cookbooks. This is why several legends evolved around its story.

Most people connect the cake to the famous Esterházy family. Some sources mention Miklós Esterházy, while others state that the cake was made for Pál Antal Esterházy since he was known to be a real gourmand. For instance, the Esterházy sirloin was named after him.

Mindmegette.hu writes that further questions arise when it comes to the confectioner who created the recipe. Since the cake spread quite quickly in Austria and Germany, it can be assumed that Austrian confectioner Franz Sacher had to do something with the cake. According to hvg.hu, most people know that Joseph Haydn was the court composer of the Esterházy family, however, it is less known that the creator of the Sacher cake, Franz Sacher was the court chef of the family in the 1830s. This is why some sources believe that he played a role in the creation of the Esterházy cake.

*Gerbeaud Café also serves it in a cup – Photo: www.facebook.com/GerbeaudCafé*

If this is true, the cake had every chance easily conquer all parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from Fertőd. During this path, the dessert went through several changes, this is why today we can find many different recipes online. The cake is basically the combination of four or five walnut sponge layers, buttercream, a chocolatey fondant cover and the emblematic pattern on top.

The sponge-cake is mostly made with ground walnut, but there are recipes which call for almonds, hazelnut or flour instead. There are also many versions when it comes to the filling of the cake. It is usually made with buttercream, to which some kind of alcohol is added (brandy, rum, amaretto, walnut liquor, coffee liquor etc.). Certain recipes call for sprinkling the sponge layers with alcohol instead of adding it into the cream. The buttercream can be made with chocolate or even a lighter mascarpone cream.

The glazing of the cake is the most important part, because this is what the cake is mostly known for. The Esterházy pattern (or Eszterházy?) forms a web, which is usually made from chocolate. The classic version features a dark pattern on a light base, but some people like to do it the other way around. Besides the pattern, the cake is sometimes decorated with dried fruits, while the creamy side is dipped into almond flakes.

*Hungarian classics on one plate (Esterházy cake on the left) – Photo: www.facebook.com/GerbeaudCafé*

The story and recipe might seem like a complete chaos, but the end result is exceptional. The Esterházy cake is a special treat which is perfect for any type celebration or get-together.

Ingredients:

For the sponge-cake

10 egg whites
300 grams of sugar
350 grams of ground walnuts
pinch of salt

For the cream

2 teaspoons of brandy
3 tablespoons of flour
5 dl of milk
2 packs of vanilla sugar
5 egg yolks
50 grams of sugar
300 grams of butter

For the glaze

100 grams of white chocolate
50 grams of dark chocolate

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

Directions:

Prepare five parchment paper pieces and draw 20 cm diameter circles onto them. Whip up the egg whites and slowly add the sugar. Then carefully add the ground walnut and the pinch of salt. Mix them together without breaking the mousse. Spread the mixture equally on the five circle-shaped parchment papers and bake each of them at 200° Celsius for 10 minutes.

Next up, you have to make the filling cream. Pour the milk into a pan, add the brandy and the sugar and start heating it. Mix the egg yolks with the flour until you get a smooth consistency, and slowly add this mixture to the milk. Stir constantly until the cream thickens, and take it off of the heat. Leave it to cool, and then mix in the room-temperature butter.

Then, layer the cake. Spread the filling between the sponge layers and on the side. Cover the top layer with melted white chocolate and draw circles with the dark chocolate. Take a toothpick and draw lines from the inside of the cake, thus forming a web shape. If you wish, you can decorate the side of the cake with shredded almond. Let the cake sit in the fridge for a few hours and serve it.

Enjoy the dessert!

Featured image: www.mindmegette.hu

July 2, 2017

Recipe of the week: Hungarian plum dumplings

Sweet cinnamon plum melting in the soft potato dough rolled into crumble – yet another indispensable dessert recipe that will get round your guests even if they’re on a diet. Hungarian plum dumplings (szilvásgombóc) are best when made by our grandmothers, but you can also become and expert with practice 😉

Because the truth is, this won’t be the simplest recipe in your traditional Hungarian dishes cookbook. It takes time, practice and a lot of preparation, but the end result is worth all the sweat. The recipe itself is not that complex, but you need to know the tricks of dough-making so that you won’t end up with too big or too small dumplings.

According to szilvasgomboc.hu, plum dumplings are an essential part of the Hungarian cuisine. They belong to the family of stuffed doughs, which are very popular again in Hungarian restaurants. It is believed that some restaurants still employ special ladies who are experts in dough-making.

The toughest part is filling the dough with the plum in a way that the dough completely covers the fruit, so that it will stay put during the cooking process. Otherwise, the cooking water will be more delicious than the dumplings.

Most of us have lovely memories connected to plum dumplings. Let it be the dumpling fight scene from the famous Hungarian movie The Rascal of the Railroad Shack (Indul a bakterház), the song titled Plum Dumpling from Hungarian musical The Attic (A padlás), or just the joy of making it with granny as a kid.

When buying the ingredients, ask for help with the potatoes as the best are the ones with high starch content. The plums should be ripe and sweet. You’ll also need some flour, butter/fat, bread crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. But let’s see the exact amounts.

Ingredients:

1 kg of potatoes
5 kg of plums
350 grams of flour
130 grams of butter/fat
ground cinnamon
100 grams of bread crumbs
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Cut up the potatoes into cubes, cook them, mash them and let them cool down. While the potatoes are cooking, you can pit the plums. Mix the mashed potatoes with the flour, 30 grams of butter and a pinch of salt. Roll the dough until you reach the thickness of 5 mm, and cut 6×6 cm big squares. Place the plums in the middle of each square and sprinkle them with some cinnamon. Cover the plums with the dough and form dumplings with your hands. Carefully put them into boiling water. Wait until they rise to the surface and cook them for 3-5 minutes. Meanwhile, roast the bread crumbs on the leftover butter. Take out your dumplings with some sort of a sieve, let them drip and cover them with the roasted crumbs. When serving the plum dumplings, sprinkle them with some cinnamon sugar.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Mindmegette.hu

Ce: bm

June 24, 2017

Recipe of the week: Hungarian cocoa rolls

Chocolatey cocoa swirls, puffy dough and sprinkle of powdered sugar – this is the divine kakaós csiga (literally cocoa snail ~ cocoa rolls), the childhood favourite of all Hungarians.

The baked wonder was invented by Mór Pösch, a confectioner in Göd, in 1908, who originally called the dessert chocolatey twirl (csokoládés tekerge). He made it for his friends on his 33^rd birthday, but he made so much that even his customers got some. That was the point when the cocoa roll started its world-conquering journey.

Since then, it’s the staple dessert of school canteens, bakeries and Hungarian kitchens. It’s mostly consumed for breakfast, but there’s no rule when it comes to which part of the day you should eat it: it’s just as good of a morning-starter as the coronation of any meal.

As hvg.hu captured the essence of cocoa rolls: the cocoa roll is the perfect creation of the Bakers’ Universe. Its strength lies in its endless shape: we look up to the sky and see the Milky Way swirling in a spiral. We look deep into ourselves and see our DNA twine into a double-helix. Helices are found at the biggest and smallest creations of nature, and the cocoa roll is somewhere in the middle. The cocoa roll is harmony. The cocoa roll is an impeccable shape. It is the gilt edge conceived in raised batter.

Eating cocoa rolls brings people together. We all remember those school lunches and afternoon snack times when we could hardly wait to indulge in the chocolatey heaven. As kids we thought of it as a special treat and couldn’t wait to reach the centre of the roll, which was the most chocolatey and sweetest part. You felt like the luckiest person on earth when you met someone who was willing to trade the centre of the roll for the outer layers.

*Photo: www.facebook.com/FornettiMagyarország*

Making homemade cocoa rolls is an activity that kids are guaranteed to love and enjoy. For one thing, they love cocoa and chocolate, and for another thing, the rolling process is very fun. They can also learn how to be patient, while the cocoa rolls bake and cool down 😉

As the name suggests, the classic dessert is made with cocoa. However, there are several other versions that taste just as great. Some people like to make it with cinnamon, strawberry, jam, but savoury versions are also popular, especially the pizza flavoured one. Nonetheless, we’d like to share the recipe of the original cocoa roll.

Ingredients (for 12 medium-sized or 8 big cocoa rolls):

600 grams of flour
5 dl of milk
30 grams of yeast
50 grams of sugar
10 grams of salt
300 grams of butter

250 grams of sugar
100 grams of cocoa powder

Directions:

Start by heating up the milk to a warmish temperature, add half of the sugar and the yeast, and let it rise for 10 minutes. At this point, you have two options: you can either make the dough as our grannies used to do back in the day, or choose the fast and simple way. If you’re looking for a challenge, choose the first option, which will give you crispy layers in the end.

Start by rolling the butter between two baking sheets and let it cool in the fridge. Then, mix the flour with the remaining sugar and salt. Add the yeast, mix it all together and let the dough cool in the fridge for an hour. After it has reached the temperature of the butter, roll it out, place the butter sheet in the middle and wrap the sides of the dough over the butter. You basically need to wrap it as an envelope and put it into the fridge. You take it out every 30 minutes to roll it and wrap it again. You have to repeat this three times. You can watch the process here.

If you want to stick to the easier version, then all you have to do is mix the flour, sugar, yeast, salt and butter with your hands and knead the dough. Then let it rise for an hour.

After the dough has risen, you roll it out in a rectangular shape. Mix the 250 grams of caster sugar with the 100 grams of cocoa powder and spread the mixture all over your rolled out dough. Before this step, you could grease the dough with some oil or water so that the powder sticks better. Finally, you need to roll up the dough and cut it into smaller disks. Place your cocoa rolls on a baking sheet, let them raise for some time, and bake them in the oven at 200° Celsius. After they have cooled down, sprinkle them with some powdered sugar for even more sweetness 🙂

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: www.facebook.com/KakaósCsiga@

Ce: bm

June 17, 2017

Recipe of the week: 10+1 cocktails with pálinka

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about the Hungarian way of having fun and merry-making? We bet that our world-famous national drink, pálinka, is on the top list. It warms you with a special sensation you’ll never forget. Since the weather is getting warmer and warmer, we thought we’d share some pálinka cocktail recipes that can cool you down in the summer months 🙂

Pálinka is the most ancient beverage of our society and it is consumed in every part of the world, even though, the ingredients differ in countries. Such a diversity was created by the weather and the natural conditions.

The tastiest kinds of pálinka are said to be made in the Carpathian Basin, as there the drinks are made of fruit, and therefore are uniquely luscious. For example, the climate of the Great Hungarian Plains is exceptionally suitable for fruit production, especially apricots, plums, cherries, strawberries and pears.

Good homemade pálinka is so strong that it actually kills bacteria. There’s a Hungarian adjective which we use to describe how strong pálinka is:

It’s perfectly suitable for warming up your body in the winter, but you can also serve it as a cocktail, mixed with various ingredients. Pálinka is very special for Hungarians, this is why we like to put it into both sweat and sour meals, drink it traditionally as a shot, or make killer cocktails with it.

So for now, we collected some great cocktail recipes that are all based on different types of pálinka. Pálinka cocktails could be the new trend of the summer, because it is guaranteed that a night fuelled by cooling pálinka cocktails will be unforgettable.

Most of the recipes are from a blog called pálinkatona, but we also chose some recipes from palotaspalinka.hu.

Crystal Cherry:

4 cl of bedded sour cherry pálinka
the juice and pieces of 2 lemon slices/quarters
6 sour cherries
ice

*Photo: www.facebook.com/NobilisPálinka*

Charm:

4 cl of honeyed plum pálinka
half of a ripe plum (partly decoration)
half of a fresh apricot
the juice of three lemon slices/quarters
2 bar spoons of apricot jam
plum juice
ice

Q & Bee:

4 cl of quince pálinka
a bar spoon of sugar
the juice and pieces of 2-3 lemon slices/quarters
5 cl of elderberry syrup
8 cl of soda
ice

Kiwi Diablo:

4 cl of honeyed grape pálinka
1 sliced up kiwi
lime slices
ice
fill up the cup with Sprite

Pearing:

4 cl of pear pálinka
1 cl of Amaretto liquor
1 cl of Martini Bianco
lime slices
fill up the cup with one part ginger ale and one part mineral water
ice

Árpád Limo:

4 cl of apple pálinka
1 bar spoon of sugar
the juice and pieces of 2 lemon slices/quarters
4 cl of apple juice
4 cl of soda
ice

Creamy Plum:

4 cl of plum pálinka
2 cl of cocoa liquor
2 cl of heavy cream
pieces of dried plum
roasted almond slices
ice

Cherry & Orange:

3 cl of gin
5 cl of cherry pálinka
1 tablespoon of rum
1 tablespoon of orange juice
cherries (for decoration)

Madame Marmalade:

4 cl of peach pálinka
2 teaspoons of apricot jam
the juice of 2 lemon slices/quarters

Pálinka on the Beach:

2 cl of peach pálinka
10 cl of orange juice
4 cl of cranberry juice
orange slices and maraschino cherry (for decoration)
ice

+ Morning Pálinka

(referring to a fun way of saying “Good morning!” in Hungarian: “Pálinkás jó reggelt!”~ “Pálinka good morning!”)

5 dl milk
5 dl heavy cream
1 serving of espresso
2 cl of plum pálinka
2 teaspoons of honey
a pinch of ground cinnamon

Featured image: www.facebook.com/Pálinka

June 10, 2017

Recipe of the week: Fisherman’s soup

The peasants of Hortobágy gave us goulash, fishermen gave us fisherman’s soup (halaszlé): both traditional dishes evolved from the meals of simple people living in harmony with nature. Even though most people consume fisherman’s soup once a year at Christmastime, it is just as Hungarian as goulash, chicken paprikash or stuffed cabbage. Get to know the story of fisherman’s soup and learn a great recipe 🙂

Based on Hungarian ethnographic sources, fisherman’s soup is similar to fish paprikash, only with more liquid. The secret of authentic Hungarian fisherman’s soup is the good quality fish (mainly carp), the shaving-horse, the bogrács (in case the meal is cooked outdoors), onion and paprika. Do these ingredients sound familiar? Well yes, they form the base of most of our national dishes.

According to korkep.sk, the tradition of making fisherman’s soup is relatively young, it is around two centuries old. Fish meals had been part of the Hungarian cuisine for a much longer time, but the special flavouring of today’s soup is connected to the presence of paprika, more exactly to the 19^th century, when it started conquering the spice shelves of Hungarian kitchens.

Different versions of the dish evolved throughout history, but all of them are connected to our waters, meaning the Danube, the Tisza, and Lake Balaton. However, the rivalry between the different versions and methods is still present today. The most famous versions are probably the fisherman’s soup of Baja, Szeged and the Tisza region.

The variations are truly endless. For instance, the classic recipe of Szeged swears by pureed fish, while other recipes call for leaving the fish in bigger pieces, chunks. According to hvg.hu, the main difference between the Danube and Tisza versions is that when making fisherman’s soup of the Tisza region, you first make the broth and then add the fish, while the Danube-version calls for adding everything to the bogrács/pot at once, also noodles. (The Balaton-version is closer to the Tisza-version than the Danube-version.)

*Fisherman’s soup of the Tisza region – Photo: www.iszolnok.hu*

So highlighting a single recipe is quite hard. We tried to look for one, which you can alter any way you’d like to. Therefore, think of the following recipe as a guideline to finding the flavours you enjoy the most 🙂

Ingredients for a bigger batch:

1 carp (that weighs more than 5 kg)
1 kg of onions
5 litres of water
paprika
salt

Directions:

Start by gutting/cleaning the fish with the adequate tools (it’s recommended to ask for suggestions at the fish-dealer). Cut off the head, net the fish and remove the inedible parts (gill, eyes). Chop up the onions, put it into the pot along with the head, fins and bones. Add enough water and let the mixture cook for 5-6 hours or until the fish parts fall apart. At this point you could puree the fish. Finally, you need to flavour the dish with salt and paprika (and whatever your heart desires) and add the prepared, salted fish pieces and haslet (again, optional) which you need to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: Wiki Commons By Themightyquill

Ce: bm

June 3, 2017

Recipe of the week: Hungarian lecsó

Lecsó is one of our most special national meals, which originally started out as a sauce, but ended up as a cultic vegetable casserole. It is the urban, civilian dish of the Hungarian cuisine’s paprika-scented world. Let’s find out about its story and how you can make it at home 🙂

According to magyarorszagkul.nlcafe.hu, the love of lecsó connects Hungarian people, even though it hasn’t been with us for as long as many people believe. We think of it as a national meal, even though several other nations have their own versions of the roasted vegetable one-pot meal. Just think about the French ratatouille, the North African shakshuka, the Turkish menemen or the Basque piperrada. But all of these are made from different ingredients, so we can rightfully say that lecsó is ours.

However, lecsó is not an ancient Hungarian meal, people only started making it in the 19^th century, after the European spreading of pepper and tomato that came after the discovery of the New World. In fact, tomatoes were believed to be poisonous until the 19^th century so the vegetable was kept out of the kitchens.

Still, where does lecsó come from, then? You might be surprised, but it originates from the capital city’s civilian kitchens. The bogrács version is not quite authentic. The lecsó we know today can be traced back to truck gardeners working in Káposztásmegyer and their sweet pepper cooked over open fire, to which the countryside relatives of families sometimes added onions and eggs. Then, they started growing tomatoes in Dunakeszi in the 1870s, which led to the birth of peppers with tomatoes a.k.a. lecsó.

Egg lecsó – Photo: Wiki Commons By Burrows

According to origin research, lecsó is an onomatopoeic word: in some regions people used the words lecses, lecskes to express that something was soft, juicy and pulpous. It’s a misconception that the word comes from Bulgarian (due to the fact that truck gardener is Bulgarian gardener ~ bolgárkertész in Hungarian), they only use лечо on tin cans.

Regarding the recipe of lecsó, this is one of the most versatile Hungarian dishes, which is the best when made by our mother, father, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle etc. Some people make it with fat, some with oil. Some people swear by the basic version, some people like to spice it up with sausages and salamis. Some families mix it with sour cream, others with beaten eggs. Lecsó with rice is a quite popular version, but others make the squash-dill version instead.

Further questions include whether or not to peel off the skin of the tomatoes, whether or not to use the seeds of the pepper, whether or not to use paprika and garlic etc. So lecsó means something different for most of us, hence below you can read the basic recipe, which you can perfect and vary any way you’d like to 🙂

Photo: www.nosalty.hu/recept/lecso

Ingredients (for a bigger batch):

1 dl of vegetable oil
100 grams of smoked lard
5 onions
2 kg of peppers (you can find separate lecsó peppers in Hungarian shops)
1 kg of tomatoes
salt and pepper

Directions:

Start by chopping up the lard, onions, peppers and tomatoes. Render the fat of the lard on the oil, then add the onions and let it roast a bit. Add the peppers and let them roast while constantly stirring. When it starts to let out it juices, lower the heat. When the peppers seem crushed and cooked, add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and let the whole mixture simmer until the tomatoes are soft and cooked.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: Wiki Commons By Dencey

Ce: bm

May 28, 2017

Recipe of the week: Mákos Guba

Mákos guba (poppy seed bread & butter pudding) is one of the most important Hungarian Christmastime meals. However, it makes a delicious and filling dessert at any time of the year. The combination of soft poppy seed bread with vanilla custard is simply phenomenal. Keep on reading to find out about its history and how you can make it at home 🙂

Let’s start with the origin of the word guba. According to falatozz.hu, it is an onomatopoeic word of Finno-Ugric origin, and is closely connected to words like gubacs (nutgall), gubó (seedpod), göb (knot), gömbölyű (rounded). Guba doesn’t only mean a meal made from a type of dough or pastry, but also the fruit of a plant and an old clothing item, although these conformities are based on similarities in appearance.

Our ancestors called this dessert lőnye, while the traditional version made with raised batter was called bobajka in certain regions. The first printed Hungarian cookbook (1695) contained the recipe of mákos guba, and it was quite similar to how we make it today.

Based on the recipe mentioned in the cookbook, the dessert was made from both pretzel and bread, which they softened with water instead of milk due to economic and financial reasons. The reasons are similar behind the spread of dry crescent roll as the main ingredient, because it was hard to get hold of fresh bread after WWII.

A lot of folk beliefs can be connected to poppy seeds. It was believed that the seeds will bring money to the house. Just like lentils, it is the symbol of wealth. Moreover, mákos guba was traditionally served at the time of fasts, before Christmas, or on Good Friday as part of the meat and fat free diet. Since then, the dessert has become a very popular dish that can be eaten at any time.

Photo: www.nosalty.hu – szepucs_ka

And now for the recipe. The main ingredients are the crescent rolls, milk, sugar and poppy seeds. The crescent rolls can be dry, but they should be of good quality, just like the milk, with at least 2.8% or 3.5% fat. Some people use bread or milk-loafs instead of crescent rolls. You should flavour the milk with real vanilla, because it makes a big difference. You can also spice up the milk with cinnamon, cloves, lemon zest, orange zest or even dried fruits if you want to make something special.

Ingredients:

15 tablespoons of ground poppy seeds
7 tablespoons of powdered sugar
10 pieces of dry crescent rolls
1 litre milk
1 vanilla stick or 1 pack of vanilla sugar

Directions:

Start by cutting up the crescent rolls to small circles. Then bring the milk to a boil with the vanilla seeds or the vanilla sugar. Pour the milk over the rolls, let it soak for some time and then sieve the excess milk. Put one layer of rolls into a bigger glass bowl, sprinkle it with the mixture of poppy seeds and powdered sugar and keep on layering until you run out of ingredients. If you’d like, you could bake it for a few minutes, but it is not necessary. Serve it with vanilla custard or pudding.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: www.nosalty.hu – Gréti

Ce: bm

May 21, 2017

Recipe of the week: Chicken paprikash

Chicken paprikash (paprikás csirke or csirkepaprikás in Hungarian) is one of the most popular Hungarian dishes, because it has everything that characterises our cuisine: paprika, pepper, onion, garlic, green pepper, tomato, meat and sour cream. It’s a must-try meal, which you can also make at home with the help of this article, for instance 🙂

According to Wikipedia, the story of chicken paprikash started in the 19^th century, when stew became a wide-spread meal among the peasants of the Great Hungarian Plain. Besides the ones made from beef and mutton, the chicken version was also quite popular. The most common way of cooking meat in the 1840s was “stew meat” and “paprika meat”.

French traveller and sociologist Pierre Guillaume Frédéric Le Play wrote about the meat meals of a landlord from Hatvan in Les ouviers européens (1855): “They mainly consume meat in the form of a national meal called paprika meat, which is made from different types of meat or poultry that is mixed with the fat of smoked or non-smoked lard, onions, salt and red pepper (paprika) – after which the meal was named”.

During the age of reforms, the Hungarian nobility found unity in speaking the language, wearing traditional clothes and eating the simple meals of peasants. Palatine Joseph’s court chef, István Czifray was the first to write down the recipe of chicken paprikash in his “Hungarian national cookbook”, which was written for Hungarian housewives in 1830. It was the time when the meal flourished and became one of the most popular Hungarian dishes.

István Czifray’s cookbook – Photo: Wiki Commons

More and more foreign travellers started to recommend chicken paprikash besides the already popular goulash. Its development was incredible as people could also include garlic and even different types of mushroom. But the greatest flavour combination was achieved by adding sour cream, which opened up doors to new dimensions.

Some of the variations of the meal include, the Bakonyi-style paprikash made with mushroom, packed paprikash, paprikash with heavy cream, butter, dumplings etc. But for now, we bring you the recipe of the classic chicken paprikash with sour cream.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of fat (goose or anything else)
100 grams of smoked lard, cut up to pieces
1,5 kilograms of chicken
300 grams of onions, chopped up
5 cloves of garlic, chopped up
1 medium-size tomato, chopped up
1 red pepper, chopped up
1,5 litres of broth or water
3 heaped teaspoons of sweet noble paprika
salt
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon of flour

Photo: Wiki Commons by stu_spivack

Directions:

According to receptneked.hu, you first need to roast the lard pieces on some fat until they become crispy, and take them out of the pan. Add the salted and peppered chicken pieces onto the leftover fat and fry them until they start to develop some colour. Take them out of the pan. Add some more fat if needed, and roast the chopped up onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes, red pepper and paprika.

Pour in 2 decilitres of broth, fry the mixture, then add another 2 decilitres of broth along with the prepared chicken. Then add 2 more decilitres of broth and simmer the whole mixture until the gravy and the meat fry, to then add the remaining broth. Cover the pan and cook the meal until the chicken softens.

Mix the sour cream and flour in a separate bowl, add some of the gravy, mix the whole thing and add it to the paprikash. Mix constantly until the gravy starts boiling. Serve the meal with dumplings or pasta.

Enjoy your meal!

Featured image: Wiki Commons by János Korom Dr.

Ce: bm

May 13, 2017