Stories and recipes from my Hungarian family and the history of food in Hungary
Rakott. Translates as “casserole” in food terms but rather pleasingly to my mind, also means pleats, like those pleated petticoats worn as Hungarian folk dress by men and women alike. Women wear as many as 40 at a time – denoting their status and marriage prospects, layers and layers of frothy white petticoats that force […]
Read More Rakott – the art of the bakeIt’s that time of year when the courgettes in the veg patch have absorbed all of that lovely summer rain and swollen into marrows. This makes them a little bit watery, dilutes the flavour a bit but makes them perfect for stuffing or if you’re a Magyar, you make tökfőzelék. Yep. It’s yet another variation […]
Read More Marvellous MarrowsWith the timing only I can manage, I’ve chosen to write about spinach főzelék just as the weather here in Liverpool has suddenly remembered that it’s August and has finally stopped raining. In my defence, last week it was proper ark building weather so I thought a lovely comforting bowl of creamy garlicky spinach was […]
Read More Popeye’s favouriteI love cherries. I eat them like sweeties, in greedy handfuls. Spitting out the stones inelegantly, and occasionally tallying them up old school – tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief. Usually thief. I like to think that means a thief of hearts rather than an actual robber but who knows? […]
Read More Cherry loveAs the weather in Northern England has finally decided to allow us a little glimpse of summer, it seems an apposite time to write about that stalwart of Hungarian summer drinks – the fröccs. Pronounced (by my father) as Frutch – it’s a white wine and soda or spritz. But obviously, being a Hungarian drink, […]
Read More Fröccs and more…Say what now? főzelék? (pronounced fur-zel-lake) What’s that when it’s at home? Well, that’s kind of the point. You’ll rarely find főzelék in a restaurant, though I hear the new generation of Hungarian chefs are starting to bring this epitome of home cooking into their culinary world. So what is it? It’s a way of […]
Read More FőzelékI’ve mentioned previously the long trek from Liverpool to Hungary undertaken every summer by my family and I. Three to four days in a non air conditioned car, fighting with my sisters, shouting at my father to NOT overtake on a blind bend as we drove through various mountain passes, waving at other GB stickered […]
Read More Longing for LángosI was wittering on Twitter the other day about how right Proust was about his madeleines and how the taste, scent or sight of food can trigger memory. Being a somewhat greedy person, there are rather more of these sensory triggers in my life than just a simple cake. One of them is sorrel. A […]
Read More Sour TimesYes. Salami made with chocolate. Don’t panic. This isn’t some weird medieval recipe involving pork or horse with chocolate for added interest. It is in fact a sort of fridge cake. There is almost no cooking involved beyond a bit of chocolate melting, so it’s very simple to assemble, and rather satisfying, as there’s a […]
Read More Salami. The chocolate one.Hungarian salad is a bit different. For starters there’s rarely any oil involved, instead a dressing is made of water, vinegar, sugar and salt and is used to lightly pickle the vegetables. It’s tart, refreshing and slightly sour on the palate. Of course, much depends upon the base ingredient being tasty in the first place. […]
Read More Salad, but not as you know it
Finom - the food of Hungary 