Hungary is a country of meat-eaters
Moscow journalist and food blogger Maria Bakhareva moved to Budapest and told Lenta.ru about the intricacies of Hungarian cuisine.
"Goulash is a soup, you know?" – the waiter habitually clarifies in every Budapest café frequented by many tourists. Half the time, this indeed comes as a surprise to customers; if not, it means the person is not in Hungary for the first time. However, Hungarian cuisine is far from just goulash. That is what we will talk about.
Three cornerstones of Hungarian cuisine are animal fat (duck, goose, or pork), onion, and paprika. About half of Hungarian recipes start with frying onion and paprika in fat – and it is this combination that gives the dish a characteristic "Hungarian" taste and aroma. However, contrary to common stereotype, Hungarian food is not at all spicy and not that fatty.
Fat is used very sparingly in cooking, and the paprika used in preparing dishes is exclusively sweet. For those who like it hot, ground hot paprika and a spicy sauce called Erős Pista are placed on the table. And sour cream, of course – although it is also added to many dishes during cooking.
But another stereotype is quite fair: Hungary is a country of meat-eaters. It is not easy for a vegetarian to live here. Firstly, as we have already said, they most often cook with animal fat, not vegetable oil or butter. Secondly, dishes made from fresh vegetables are not particularly popular in Hungary. A different story are stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls, lecsó, vegetable stew with sour cream ("főzelék"), and various pickles, which Hungarians respect no less than Russians do.
A good butcher shop can be found on every corner in Hungary. They also serve as fast food – at noon on a workday, you can always have a piece of fried chicken or a grilled sausage at the butcher's. And on the way home, buy a piece of meat or some offal – oxtail, kidneys, or liver. Fashionable chefs who advocate nose-to-tail eating would cause surprise in Hungary – "How else would you do it?"
The most beloved offal are, of course, bone marrow and goose or duck liver. From marrow bones, Hungarians cook a thick soup with vegetables, and then eat the marrow separately on toasted bread. Duck liver is made into pâtés, and goose liver is simply fried and served with mashed potatoes. However, this is already a festive or restaurant dish – it is rarely cooked at home just like that. This, by the way, applies to goose meat in general.
And what about fish? Hungary has no access to the sea, but it has rivers and lakes, so there are plenty of freshwater fish dishes in the arsenal of Hungarian cuisine. The most famous is halászlé, a thick fisherman's soup with tomatoes and paprika. There are at least a dozen variations of this dish – with or without noodles, with lemon juice and sour cream, made only from carp or only from catfish. Halászlé is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve.
However, the main thing without which Hungary cannot be imagined is coffee and desserts. It must be said that in Russia, for some reason, desserts in the Austro-Hungarian style have taken root, not French ones, so many dishes from the assortment of Budapest coffeehouses are well known to us. For example, strudels, poppy seed rolls, or pancakes with nuts and chocolate (in the USSR, these were popularized by the legendary Moscow pastry shop "Shokoladnitsa" near the Oktyabrskaya metro station, and historically this recipe was invented by the famous Budapest chef Károly Gundel) and various sponge cakes with buttercream.
The fact that Hungarians love sweets is evidenced by the fact that every year on the main national holiday – St. Stephen's Day – they choose the "Cake of the Nation". Any pastry chef in the country can participate in the competition, but they must be prepared for the winning recipe to become public domain, and any café has the right to make it. Although, of course, everyone tries to taste the original if possible. The winner is usually announced about two weeks before the holiday – this year it was a cake with caramel and apricot Pannonhalma pálinka, baked at the Kézműves pastry shop in the city of Salgótarján; but the official celebration takes place strictly on August 20.
With cakes, they drink coffee; food is washed down with wine – of course, local. And what else? In summer – homemade lemonades, soda water with syrup (the most popular is elderflower syrup) and fröccs – white or rosé wine with soda water. In late autumn, literally on every corner of Budapest, a stand appears where you can buy mulled wine. Lovers of strong drinks drink pálinka (fruit distillates) or Unicum – a strong herbal liqueur. And children adore Traubisoda – the oldest and most popular Hungarian soda brand. Today, drinks of various flavors are sold under this brand, but the classic version is grape.