Cookbook:Cuisine of Hungary

Cookbook | Ingredients | Cuisines | European cuisines

Hungarian cooking Traditional Hungarian cuisine relies on a wide variety of high quality ingredients produced in the country including meats, seasonal vegetables, fruits and honey.

Here are some recipes:

• Goulash Stew (pörkölt)
• Goulash Soup (gulyás leves)
• Paprika Chicken (paprikás csirke)
• Rackott Krumpli (rakott krumpli), potato casserole
• Silvash Gombotz (szilvás gombóc), plum dumplings
• Vanilla Kifli, crescent-shaped sweet pastry

Starters

Soup is the quintessential Hungarian starter, and there are literally hundreds of types including cold fruit soups in summer. Another Hungarian speciality is various types of entrails, tripe or particularly pork, duck and goose liver. (foie gras - goose liver).

Main Dishes

Various types of meats are key to many main dishes, particularly pork, beef and chicken. Two breeds unique to Hungary are the Mangalica pig and the Grey long-horned cattle. Game meats such as venison, vild goose, pheasant and wild boar are also common. Freshwater fish such as trout, pike, perch and carp are used in Hungarian cuisine. Potatoes are the usual accompaniment to many dishes, but rice, egg barley, dumplings and pasta are also used. Onions, garlic caravay, parsley and fresh or ground paprika add flavour to many dishes.

Desserts and Cakes

Hungarians are passionate about their desserts and cakes. A typical dessert is pancakes stuffed with jam, sweet curd cheese or the Gundel pankake, hazelnut puree and served with chocolate sauce. Hungarian cakes tend to be very sweet and are often laced with cream. Famous examples include Dobos and Esterhazy Cakes. Strudel is as much a Hungarian as an Austrian dish, and is typically filled with apple, sour cherries, curd cheese or poppy seeds.