Stories and recipes from my Hungarian family and the history of food in Hungary
Growing up in a hybrid household, words sometimes got scrambled. My Hungarian born father was the primary care giver when it came to food, so I learnt the Hungarian before the English, and often didn’t retain the translation. Kukorica (pronounced cook-a-ritz-ah) is a perfect example. This is sweetcorn, or corn. It took me years to […]
Read More Summer GoldMy father was the youngest of four children, arriving when his nearest sibling was 6 years old. By all accounts, Klári wasn’t thrilled with the arrival of a brother who usurped her place as the baby of the family. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and they became very close in later years. It’s […]
Read More Magyar ShortbreadThis blog has mostly featured my Dad. He was in many ways the head cook and bottle washer in our family, and it is from him and my paternal family – aunts, grandma, that I learnt to cook. My mother wasn’t always very present in my child and teen hoods. She was a fragile soul […]
Read More Offally GoodAnyone of dual or more heritages will recognise this – the clash of your familial customs with the festive traditions of the home country. Growing up in Liverpool with a Hungarian father meant we didn’t quite follow the script laid down by others. It was only after I started school that I discovered other families […]
Read More FestiveMy original plan was to call this post Meaty Balls, mostly because despite my advanced age, I have a childish sense of humour that finds joy in wines called bastardo. But wiser counsel has prevailed as I don’t particularly want internet searches for this recipe to take folk down rabbit holes best not explored. Naked […]
Read More Naked StuffingHungary remains an agrarian country, less so than 30 plus years ago when it was still behind the Iron Curtain and thereby needed to be a self sufficient as possible, but the growing of food, both domestically and large scale continues. Not for Hungarians the manicured lawns and rose gardens, land is used for food […]
Read More Summer SurplusI was inspired to think about this after watching Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina being interviewed by Caroline Eden as part of a #cookforUkraine event at the British Library. A question from the audience prompted reminiscing about life under Soviet rule, and the banning of religious holidays. During the communist rule (1949 to 1989), the […]
Read More Spring Sprinkling“The fire of love’s altar might die down, but the seduction of the stove is eternal. Every plate is the declaration of love, or its opposite: a quiet divorce.” – a fantastic quote from 19th C Hungarian romantic novelist Mór Jókai. Much admired by Queen Victoria, who was also someone who both loved and ate […]
Read More Seduction By StoveI do love a bit of alliteration but I am being slightly disingenuous in translating palacsinta as pancake, as it’s much closer to a crepe. Having said that, it is also similar to the British style of thin pancake rather than the thicker American version. Whatever you compare it to, the palacsinta is a thing […]
Read More Palacsinta, Pancake perfectionI’ve been recuperating from a major abdominal operation for most of January. This has meant not cooking, which is akin to inhumane treatment in my case because I use cookery as therapy. It soothes me. Stress melts away when I potter in the kitchen. But a moratorium on standing too long and lifting heavy pans […]
Read More Ice Cream Dreams
Finom - the food of Hungary 