Cuisine of Hungary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hungarian or Magyar cuisine is the cuisine characteristic to Hungary and the Magyars .
Hungarian food is often spicy. It frequently uses paprika, black pepper and onions. Potatoes are also commonly used in many dishes. Hungarians are passionate about their soups, desserts and stuffed pancakes, with fierce rivalries between regional variations of the same dish, e.g. the fish soups cooked differently on the banks of Hungary's two main rivers: the Danube (Duna) and the Tisza.
Hungarian cuisine is influenced both by the history of the Magyar people and by the environment found in the Carpathian basin when the Magyars settled in the late 800s. The importance of livestock is apparent in the prominence of meat in Hungarian food. The nomadic lifestyle of the Magyars may be reflected in the many dishes cooked over the fire, from goulash in a bogrács (or cauldron) to pogácsa pastries. In the 15th century, King Matthias Corvinus and his Neopolitan wife Beatrice were influenced by Renaissance culture and helped introduce ingredients like garlic and onions to Hungarian cuisine.[1] Elements of Turkish cuisine were adopted by Hungarians during the Ottoman era, mainly in the form of vegetable dishes, but the influence is not as pronounced as in the Balkans. Cakes and sweets in Hungary show a strong German/Austrian influence.
Two remarkable elements of Hungarian cuisine that are hardly noticed by locals, but usually conjure up much enthusiasm amongst foreigners, are different forms of főzelék as well as cold fruit soups.
Hungarian cuisine uses a large variety of cheeses, but the most common are túró (a fresh curd cheese) and trappista.
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[edit] Hungarian meals
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In Hungary, breakfast may consist of fresh bread, fruit, vegetables, cereal, or a meat (such as kolbász). Lunch is the major meal of the day, usually with several courses: soup is followed by a main dish including meat, which precedes a dessert. Fruit may follow. Dinner is a far less significant meal than lunch. It may be similar to breakfast, with bread and vegetables, or perhaps a bowl of soup, and usually consists of only one course.
[edit] Typical Hungarian dishes
[edit] Soups
- Főzelék (thick vegetable purée)
- Gulyásleves (goulash, which is considered a soup, not a stew)
- Halászlé (fish soup with paprika)
- Húsleves (meat soup)
- Hideg meggyleves (chilled sour-cherry soup)
- Jókai bableves (a bean soup named after Mór Jókai)
[edit] Main courses
- Túrós csusza (noodles baked with túró - served savoury with bacon or sweet with sugar)
- Pecsenye (thin pork steak served with cabbage)
- Töltött káposzta (stuffed cabbage)
- Cigánypecsenye (Gypsy roast)
- Pörkölt (meat stew - this dish resembles the goulash eaten in other countries)
- Csirkepaprikás (chicken paprika, a stew (pörkölt) with Smetana (dairy product) or sour cream (tejföl))
- Lecsó (vegetable stew)
- Kolbász (sausage similar to kielbasa, but seasoned with paprika)
- Hurka (two types: "májas hurka, which is made of liver and rice, and véres hurka, which is equivalent to black pudding)
- Galuska (noodles)
- Hortobágyi palacsinta (pancake filled with veal)
- Paprikás krumpli (paprika-based stew with spicy sausage and potatoes)
[edit] Sweets
- Dobos torta (sponge cake layered with chocolate paste and glazed with caramel and nuts)
- Rigó Jancsi (Cube-shaped, with two layers of chocolate sponge cake - top and bottom. Between the cake is a thick layer of very rich, chocolate cream filling, accented with a touch of dark rum. The top of the cake is covered with a dark chocolate glaze.)
- Palacsinta (stuffed pancake)
- Vaníliás kifli (vanilla croissant)
- Rétes (strudel)
- Túró Rudi (túró filled chocolate bar)
- Szaloncukor (flavoured candies eaten at Christmas)
- Bejgli (Similar to rétes, eaten at Christmas and Easter.)
- Kürtőskalács Stove cake or Chimney cake, cooked over an open fire -- a Transylvanian specialty famous as Hungary's oldest pastry
[edit] Other
- Lángos (fried bread dough made of potatoes)
- Pogácsa (round puffed pastry, traditionally cooked on the fire)
- Kifli (small crescent-shaped pastry)
- Téliszalámi - (salami made of spiced pork meat, cold smoked, and dry ripened, most famously by Pick Szeged)
- Csabai salami (smoked sausage, made in Békéscsaba)
[edit] Drinks
Hungarian wine dates back to at least Roman times, and that history reflects the country's position between the Slavs and the Germanic peoples. The best-known wines are the white dessert wine Tokay (Tokaji) and Bull's Blood (Egri Bikavér), a full-bodied red wine.
Though not as famous as the country's wines, Hungarian beer has a long history as well. Hungary's most notable liquors are Unicum, an herbal bitters, and Palinka, a fruit brandy.
Also notable is Traubi or Traubisoda, a Hungarian soft drink produced in Balatonvilágos.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- From the Mozilla Open Directory
- http://lingua.arts.klte.hu/hungary/konyha.htm
- Eating the Hungarian way
- Magyar Recipes
- Anyu Receptjei
- Hungarian Foods
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