Hungarian cuisine is recognisable from the first spoonful β by its warm red-orange colour and the aroma of paprika. This cooking was born from the nomadic past of the Magyars, who arrived in the Carpathian Basin more than a thousand years ago, boiled meat in cauldrons over open fire and dried it for the road. Hence the love of thick, robust dishes, of the bogracs cauldron, and of a generous, warming flavour.
The great hero of the Hungarian table is, of course, paprika. Ground red pepper arrived here relatively late, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but it took such firm root that it became a national symbol. Hungarians distinguish many kinds, from sweet and mild to hot and smoky. Paprika is almost never thrown into boiling fat β it turns bitter quickly β so it is stirred into slightly cooled onions to release its colour and aroma.
Goulash is a soup, not a stew
Hungary's most famous dish abroad is often misunderstood. Goulash (gulyas) in Hungary is not a thick meat stew but a soup. The word itself comes from gulyas, meaning herdsman or cattle drover. Long ago herdsmen cooked beef with onion and paprika in a cauldron out on the plains.
Real Hungarian goulash is a brothy, fragrant soup of beef, potato, carrot, onion and paprika, often with small pinched dumplings called csipetke. The dense stew served as "goulash" in other countries would, to a Hungarian, be closer to a perkelt.
Paprikas, perkelt and tokany
To avoid confusion, it helps to know the Hungarian family of braised dishes, which differ by technique and sauce:
- Perkelt β meat braised with a great deal of onion and paprika in a thick, concentrated sauce. This is what many people mistake for goulash.
- Paprikas β close to perkelt, but with sour cream stirred into the sauce, making it gentle and creamy. The classic is chicken paprikas (paprikas csirke) with nokedli dumplings.
- Tokany β the meat is cut into thin strips, less paprika is used, and black pepper, mushrooms and sometimes sour cream or wine are added.
This fine distinction between dishes is a genuine point of pride for Hungarian cooks.
Lecso and vegetables
Lecso is a summer dish of sweet peppers, tomatoes and onions stewed together. In its basic form it is a side or a base, but it is often enriched with smoked sausage or eggs, turning it into a full meal. Hungarians preserve it for winter, sealing the sunny taste of summer in jars.
Vegetables are loved here, but almost always in a hearty context: stuffed peppers in tomato sauce, potato dishes, bean soups. Climate and history taught Hungarians to stock up and eat substantially.
Halaszle β a fiery fish soup
Hungary, a country without a sea, has a great river-fish tradition. Halaszle is a brilliant red fish soup made from river fish (most often carp and catfish) with an enormous amount of paprika. It is cooked on the banks of the Danube and the Tisza, differently in every town. The Szeged version is strained smooth, while the Baja version is served with thin homemade noodles right in the bowl. It is searingly spicy and astonishingly aromatic.
Sweets and kurtoskalacs
Hungarian desserts are a pleasure of their own. The most spectacular is:
- Kurtoskalacs β the "chimney cake," a hollow sweet dough wound around a wooden spit, roasted over coals and rolled in sugar that caramelises into a crisp shell. It is baked at fairs and its scent fills the whole square.
- Dobos torte β a many-layered sponge cake with chocolate cream and a mirror-smooth caramel glaze on top.
- Palacsinta β thin pancakes with curd, nut or jam fillings; the famous Gundel version comes with walnut and chocolate sauce.
What to cook first
To feel Hungarian cuisine at home, start with chicken paprikas: it is forgiving for beginners and in half an hour fills the kitchen with the aroma of paprika and sour cream. Once you have mastered it, make a true goulash soup β and you will understand why Hungarians insist that it is a soup. And if you find a good sweet paprika, count half the battle already won.
