A Real Mouthful
Hungarian cuisine is known all over the world, but there is much more to our cooking than goulash soup and a generous sprinkling of paprika. Down the centuries, Hungary’s top chefs and a legion of committed grandmothers have drawn influences from Turkish, Slavic, French, Italian, Austrian and German cooking. As a result, Hungarian cooking is actually quite difficult to define. But there are some ever-present ingredients, including tejföl (sour cream), túró (curd, often, but not always sweetened), szalonna (smoked bacon or pork fat), cumin, caraway seeds, garlic, sauerkraut, and of course paprika. Unmissable specialities include goose liver, kolbász (spicy sausage), salami, palacsinta (pancakes, both sweet and savoury) and paprikás csirke (paprika chicken).
In many families, soup is an essential starter, and with good reason. Finding a bad soup is quite a challenge and, surprising though it may sound, even sour cherry soup makes for a refreshing summer appetizer. Main courses are usually generous and generally meaty, and vegetarian options are often limited. Most menus do offer fish, including local fogas (perch), and some soups, főzelék (vegetable stew), tészta (pasta, often with potato, cabbage or curd) and pancakes are also vegetarian. Whatever you do, don't miss out on dessert, particularly if it is Somlói galuska – a sponge, chocolate, rum and cream delight.
We do have one word of warning: Salad usually means pickled vegetables, green salad is a recent addition to the menu, and does not take centre stage in traditional Hungarian cuisine. But what many Magyars miss out on when it comes to vegetables, they make up for by eating plenty of fresh (and often organically grown) fruit, particularly melons, berries, cherries, peaches, apricots and tomatoes. It is worth avoiding the supermarkets and going to a local grocer – or a market or market hall – for something home-grown to snack on.
Be a Hungarian Chef for a Day
Yes, you too can don a toque and apron and learn to how to make the perfect goulash!
As part of its wide-ranging programme of presenting the best in local food and wine at Budapest's Great Market Hall, Bridge Tours has hired a local chef to teach visitors the fine art of Hungarian cuisine. Guests in small work groups learn how to prepare a main dish and garnish on the spot. Each light, enjoyable session on the
first floor by the Fakanál restaurant lasts about 90 minutes and is
conducted in English. Sessions (£17 in Hungarian forints in cash) start at 10am (arrive by 9.45) except on public holidays and days when the Market Hall (IX.Fövám tér) is closed. Participants can take advantage of the 30-minute baking time to make a shopping tour of the riverside market, beautifully restored to its 19th-century glory in 1994.
Recipes
Try some Hungarian recipes for yourself!
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