Category Archives: Food

Kalács and Beigli

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Once a year at Christmastime, my mom (as her mom did before her and her grandmothers did and great-grandmothers did before them) makes what we call kalács (pronounced kolach). Kalács, as it’s known in Hungarian, is actually a sweet brioche-type bread commonly served at Easter, but somewhere along the line, Slovak-Americans and Hungarian-Americans smashed a few different holiday breads together and what was once known as Beigli (and still is in Hungary) is now usually known as kalács in English. The reason for the confusion is that the word  kalács (despite being a Hungarian word) is Slavic in origin. But let’s get back to the deliciousness.

 

While the breads can be filled with a variety of ingredients, the standards are walnuts, poppy seeds and apricots. My mom doesn’t really like poppy seeds, so our  kalácses have walnuts and apricots. So we mix up pulverized walnuts with a little sugar and condensed milk. It’s not too too sweet, but you wouldn’t want to eat a cup before getting your blood sugar levels tested. In a second pan we boil down the apricots until they are like jam.

 

This was my first year making the recipe (under my mom’s direct and strict supervision, of course). As she did when I was a kid, she scraped the dough from my fingers because she was worried I had too much margarine on my fingers and not enough was getting into the dough. Don’t worry though, Internet, she only scraped me with the sharp side of the knife a few times.

Dry margarine-coated ingredients are mixed with egg yolks, yeast and sour cream.

And pretty soon a rollable batter can be turned out onto the table.

We form them into dough balls, which then have to rise. This is fun because while over-kneading is discouraged, you can slam the dough balls onto the table. It’s quite satisfying.

After the dough balls rise a little bit, you can roll them out and spread on a layer of nuts or apricots.

After spreading, it’s roll up time, after which the rolls have to rise for another hour before baking.

Then it’s just a short thirty minutes before  kalács/beigli perfection!

The Colonel Comes to Szeged

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There are some stories that are so vital, so momentous, so crucial in forming a town’s legacy, that they demand telling and retelling– the shouting from rooftops– the clamoring of newsies at the ports and tram stops– the etching down of details so as they are never to be forgotten.

This is not one of those stories.

It is, however, one of the bigger news stories of late. A story to rise above the local black and whites with news of Europe’s potential double-dip recession and Hungary’s Swat teams confiscating Brat Pitt’s prop guns for World War Z.

Drum roll…Kentucky Fried Chicken has finally made its way down to SE Hungary, which is sort of a big deal, but not quite the harbinger of the dawn of Szeged’s Golden Era, as you might think was the case from reading local news reports and various frenzied social media postings.

Still, when the new mall opened last week, we decided to go and see just how Colonel-crazy people here would get.

On Thursday evening at about 8:30 p.m, there must have been 1,000 people in the food court. Every tray was scattered with little chicken bones, and each line was still 10-people deep. Would I be exaggerating to say that half of the city was in the new mall’s food court? Maybe. But I bet almost that many visited throughout the week. I would say the crowd was similar to the one with people waiting for a burned coffee from the new Starbucks in Budapest last year (now there are FOUR in the city!)

I’m sure someone on some other blog will write a scathing social critique about American fast-food globalization, how we export all of our worst qualities, how it does this and that to economic zones x through x. But the truth is that no one in this little European town was complaining. They give free refills on soda, for God’s sake, which is just about as close to a miracle as you can get in Hungary.

It was not with any journalistic intention that we ordered something as well, and I felt a little guilty pride for America’s first Colonel of chicken. I suppose the spicy wings, which are pretty damn good no matter where in the world you order them, taste a little extra special when you’ve been away from home for so long. So thank you, Harland. Love, Budajest.

Tisza International Fish Festival

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On the Saturday before we went to Bulgaria, we road down to the Tisza river, whose banks were lined with festival goers eager to try some of the city’s famous fish soup and other aquatic creature specialties. Europe is a land of festivals. Some are larger than others and most are celebrating some quirky or folkloric local love, but when in a European city, there is almost always something to do. And the first September weekend in Szeged is the fish festival.

I make it a personal goal to try to always attend any festival with oversized cooking apparati.

Any cauldron that didn’t require scaffolding and a 20 foot spoon was sort of lame.

We had the fried plate that came with fully-teethed walleye and some frittes. And for the price of the plate we got a free glass of wine! But even more surprising–the thing that made me have to pinch myself to remember that I was still in Hungary–they gave us free and UNLIMITED KETCHUP!!!!!

And even though we eat Szeged style fish soup regularly, we shared a bowl from the super-sized cauldron. It was delicious, as always.

After we ate, we headed down to the river to cheer on the dragon boat teams and enjoy our wine under that late afternoon awning. Honestly, it’s a pretty typical Saturday afternoon in Hungary, which is why even in times when I feel the most travel-fatigued, I still smile to live in Europe. Of course that day had a cherry on top of its pretty little head because we left the festival and headed to Arpad’s house to watch Ohio State’s first game on ESPN America. Ah, the great wide global world!

Cherries

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Sometimes you don’t even need to go to market to find the fresh stuff. These sour cherries appeared a few weeks ago outside Piroska néni’s house. There are hundreds of cherry trees in our neighborhood. Some sour (perfect for sour cherry soup). And some sweet.

Most of the sweet have been picked clean. People just get out their ladders, baskets and shears and go to town. On our street alone not even one sweet cherry is left except for the few that dropped early and now rot in a dark purple stain on the sidewalk. I won’t put all of the harvest hoarding blame on Gyorgyi and Barnabas, but I imagine they deserve a good 80% of it. And that’s pretty restrained. After all–peach and nectarine season are on the horizon and the golden and ruby orbs are currently fattening on the branches. Everyone is sweet with anticipation.

Dinner at Szeged Étterem

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I’ve been to Szeged Etterem several times, primarily due to the fact that they always have a great daily menu in the pub area for about 5 Euros. But Gyorgyi and I decided to have dinner there last weekend because the weather was perfect and they have a really nice patio.

 

We started with the Sigillum Loliense 2009, which is a terrific blend between Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and f Reisling. It’s a dry wine from the southern Balaton region, but had a lot of lively acids and character. Like my mother, I’m perpetually drawn to Chard, but this really isn’t a wine that takes itself too seriously. It was perfect for a warm evening.

 

 

Because we wanted to sit and enjoy the last of the sunlight and the great wine, we ordered a little appetizer. I don’t remember what it was called now, but it was a trio of spreads, pickled vegetables and some freshly baked bread. My favorite was the red pepper spread. The pesto had a little too much garlic, but mixed with the peppers it was a divine bite. I had to resist the desire to eat more than two pieces of bread, especially since we wanted to stay hungry for our entrees.

I should mention here that our waiter was very friendly and patient. One great thing about eating in Europe is that you can really have the time to sit and enjoy your drink, small plate or long meal without being pushed out of the table. Our waiter spoke English, didn’t bother us, and was very attentive and helpful when we needed him. Sincerity isn’t a typical wait-staff trait here in Hungary, and I really appreciated that he didn’t try to rush us.

For my main course, I ordered the duck breast steak with spring seasoned mashed potatoes and red-currant sauce. The light was getting dark and I didn’t have my main camera on me, just my iphone, so the picture doesn’t really do this dish justice. It was incredibly delicious. Decadent, actually. On the top of the duck was a perfectly crisped layer of fat, which just added the most remarkable flavor to the meat. I only dipped one time into the red currant sauce because I didn’t want to disrupt the duck. The mashed potatoes were also delicious, though considering the recent E. coli scare, I wasn’t rushing to go near the sprouts.

I haven’t eaten duck or goose that often since coming to Hungary, which I know acknowledge to be a grave mistake considering how abundant it is and how well it can be prepared at restaurants such as Szeged Etterm. I will certainly endeavor to try more.

Gyorgyi had the pork medallions with a goat cheese cap, which were served with mashed potatoes, asparagus and rosemary sauce. She said that everything was delicious and the pork was cooked perfectly. Not overdone, which is the tendency here. She’s also going through an asparagus stage right now so it was a welcome side. I think ultimately, however, she was a little jealous of my duck. I would have been too.

Next time we go we will have desert, but we were just too pleasantly stuffed to think about overdoing it that night. Instead, we just sat back and enjoyed the auburn colors of the sun setting behind city hall.

Wine, water, food and tip came to 17,000 HUF, which is just under 64 Euros. It’s one of the more expensive restaurants in the city, but I think still worth a few extra pennies.

Szeged Étterem
6720 Szeged,
Széchenyi tér 9
06 62 649 448
szegedetterem.hu 

 

Blues Kert

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This Wednesday Györgyi and I went to Blues Kert (garden) for the daily lunch menu. The weather has been so nice, and we wanted to eat outside, so at the last minute we remembered Blues Kert. It’s in Újszeged (New Szeged) and just a few minutes from where we live. We had been meaning to go back to this nice little grill terrace ever since last summer, when we attended a wedding reception there for one of Györgyi’s closest friends, Julia.

The first course that day was a tomato soup with little square pocket noodles. I don’t know if it was homemade soup or not, but it was very delicious. Not too heavy or creamy, and just the right amount of sweetness for lunchtime.

The second course was a simple chicken breast seasoned with paprika and maybe a little salt. This isn’t the best picture of the plate, but I had to include it to show my Mom how tan my arms are getting. She’ll be proud.

Even though the chicken breast suffered the usual Hungarian culinary sin of pounding chicken breast as thin as paper, it was cooked well and had a great flavor. And typically I’m a critic of chicken breast dishes here and almost never order them because in addition to thinness, they’re usually very, very oily. This one was not oily however–not at all–which made it a pleasure to eat.  The chicken was served with a big pile of delicious potatoes. They were boiled then smashed with butter, parsley and salt. I restrained myself from eating the whole pile and just ate half, but I could have easily eaten all of them. And probably another bucked-sized bowl.

We went to Blues Kert around 11:45, which is early for lunch. But by the time we left, the terrace was filling up, and almost everyone was ordering the daily menu.

In addition to the daily menu, we each ordered a diet coke. The daily menu was 900 HUF (5 USD) per person and the coke was 300 HUF (1.60 USD). The menu price (900) is a little higher than other area restaurants, such as Szeged Etterem, which is about a buck cheaper and where you will also get complimentary water. But for $7, it’s a pleasant lunch outside.

We’re going to go back soon for dinner. As we were leaving one of the cooks was firing up a giant charcoal grill, which is a very good sign since I almost never see or eat food that is cooked to order on a real barbecue grill.

So overall high marks. Great atmosphere, understandable English menu, friendly waiters and good food. A nice start to June.

Blues Kert
Szeged
Főfasor 14
06 62 432 183

 

 

 

Kertvárosi Vendéglő

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On Wednesday Györgyi and I went to Kertvárosi Vendéglő for lunch. It’s a little restaurant across from Hotel Forrás, which is Szeged’s first 4-star hotel. It’s also opposite of the new and expensive swimming pool complex, the Napfényfürdő Aquapolis. Györgyi and I had actually been there twice before in the winter for soup, which was quite good. Then they closed down for about four months or so, only to just reopen with an outdoor sitting area.

We kind of had high hopes for Kertvárosi Vendéglő because we liked their soups, but unfortunately our lunch was pretty lackluster. And I’m being kind.

The first problem was that they didn’t have an English menu. Now let me clarify my position on this before my inbox is flooded with hate mail. I think it’s perfectly suitable for a restaurant in a village or small town to not have an English menu. And it’s every business owner’s right not to have one. But when you’re located across the street from the only four-star hotel, spa and swimming complex in a University town, it’s a little odd. And we are particularly interested in this issue because it’s what we do in our business– translation, marketing, etc. And even though I can read a Hungarian menu, I was imaging the English gent or German woman who tried to figure out the word for “chicken” or even “beer”.  This is not a language of cognates.

Györgyi had the daily menu. It was 750 forints (less than $5) and came with a soup and entree. This is 100 forints less than the really great daily menu that we had at Szeged Etterem two weeks ago, though it lacked the complimentary water and dessert. Her soup was garlic soup, which she said was actually pretty good. She said it was rich and creamy but not too heavy. And I noticed that the crutons were homemade, which is a plus.

  

Our main dishes were unfortunately not as good. I really don’t enjoy writing bad reviews, but I feel like I have been writing about so many restaurants in the area recently that it wouldn’t be fair if I just ignored bad meals. And the main dishes were honestly bad and definitely not worth the money.

Györgyi’s main dish, which was the daily menu, was pork knuckle and fried potatoes. Pork knuckle is served everywhere here. It’s a staple dish. And when you’ve had a few drinks at a festival and the vendors are serving freshly fried pk, it’s nearly irresistible. But she said that her knuckle was almost all fat. In addition to that, the potatoes were not sufficiently drained after frying, which was apparent from the oil on the plate. This is something that goes on a lot in Hungary, but considering the prices of the food as compared to other little restaurants, Kertvárosi Vendéglő should know better. In addition, Gy said the food wasn’t even hot.

I ordered chicken breast with vegetables. The chicken breast had been pounded so thin that you could almost see through it, and it must have been cooked on the griddle for like 20 minutes because it was literally as tough as jerky. The vegetables were pretty good.  They were well-seasoned and had a good crunch. But even worse than my chicken jerky were the croquettes. You can’t tell from the picture that they were on the plate because they were put under the hot food. Bad restaurants do this often here as well, in addition to not draining the fried food. But it’s absolutely a no-brainer.  If you put an item like a croquette or french fry under hot food it will create a steam cabin, making whatever is under the hot food instantly soggy. Sigh.

With two waters and a tip our order came to 3,000 forints. Even though this is only $15, it’s a lot more than most people in Szeged pay for a weekday lunch. The cook at Kertvárosi Vendéglő may have had an off day, so I won’t make sweeping judgements. The outdoor area of the restaurant is very nice.  Good atmosphere and music. And our waiter was really friendly and even asked me how things were in English. But the friendly staff and nice decor couldn’t save the food this week. And even though Gy and I go out to eat several times a week, we probably won’t go back.

Kertvárosi Vendéglő
Szent-Györgyi Albert u.
6726 Szeged
06 62 480 088

Szeged Étterem Borozó és Pub

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We went to the Szeged Étterem Borozó és Pub today for the daily menu. I’ve been there before and really like the food and the service. I’ve never been downstairs, however, to the Wine Bar és Pub part of the restaurant. And that is where they serve the daily menu.

Daily menus are pretty popular throughout Europe. Many restaurants have them during the week and they’re really well suited for business lunchers or those looking to have a little less expensive meal at a nice restaurant. And most of the time they come in three courses.

Today our first course was vegetable soup:

Second course–roasted pork with bacon and mushroom sauce and a side of oven potatoes.They even left some of the crispy potato skins on the plate. Yum. The pork was so tender and the potatoes were really sinful when dipped in the decadent sauce. Something about eating out at lunch makes me think it’s okay to consume bacon lardons. Need to address that at some point.

And the third course was a sponge cake roll with apricot jam. A sweet little finish to a great lunch:

The inside of the Pub was pretty nice. Gyorgyi said it was too light and sterile, but I liked the brick on the wall and the cellar feel. I imagine that for dinner and late service they turn the lights down, otherwise it might be a little bit startling for the evening hours.

We drank the complimentary pitcher of lemon water. That meant that the total for one ended up be just 850 HUF. When you add a tip, that comes to about $5.50 USD. Considering the amount of food, the service that only took 45 minutes, and the fact that this is one of the nicer restaurants in Szeged, that price was a total steal. I will definitely go again for the daily menu.

And now that the weather is nice, their huge terrace that overlooks a promenade park in the city center is open. And though the main courses are more expensive, it’s worth sitting outside just for the great wine and good atmosphere.

Szeged Étterem
6720 Szeged,
Széchenyi tér 9
06 62 649 448
szegedetterem.hu 

Pick Szalálami and Paprika Museum

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A few Sundays ago Györgyi and I went to the Pick Szalálami and Paprika Museum in Szeged. It’s not a big place, but it’s full of delightful kitsch. Plus for the entrance fee, which is around $5, you get a free salami sandwich and a postcard with complimentary postage. Woot!

The old black and whites were great, especially of the workers, former shops and factories. Even though the factory was taken over by the state and nearly run into the ground, it was still nice to see the ingenuity and devotion that went into making something that survived the Communist era and is, today, pretty iconic.

 

The museum has two floors. The first is dedicated to Pick Salami and the second floor to paprika.

Paprika was first used in Hungary as a decorative plant in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the 18th century, the Turks reintroduced it a spice and was first cultivated in the Szeged region. The paprika plant thrives in the Great Plain because of all of the dry, sunny weather. Hungarian paprika is especially noted for its balanced spices and aroma, which is probably why no matter where you live in the United States, a grocery store near you is selling Szegedian paprika.

By the end of the 18th century, paprika it was so popular that it was even offered as church tithes. The following decades further cemented the region’s claim to the plant, with demand growing for a substitute for black pepper during WWI. Albert Szent-Györgyi discovered Vitamin C using a lovely little paprika, and ended up winning the Nobel Prize.

Mihály Borssy from Kecskemét is said to be the first to make paprika pálinka. Tasting paprika pálinka is sort of a rite of passage here, but I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with a weak constitution. Györgyi’s dad gave me a sample two Christmases ago. My stomach has never been the same.

McDonald’s Hungary

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I never really thought about McDonald’s all that much. I figured that the menu was always pretty much the same, except for the elusive Shamrock Shake and a few Lenten specials. That was until I lived in Athens, Georgia and realized that there was a southern-style chicken sandwich with PICKLES! and sweet tea. And even if you think that McDonald’s symbolizes everything that is wrong with the modern world, it’s worth at least looking at McDonald’s menus in different countries, because you will find totally wacky and sometimes outright cool menu items. For example, in Japan, there’s a shrimp burger. In Israel there’s a McKebab served on a pita. And in Hungary, there’s the pretty good McSertes, which a good pork burger.

But once a year something even more dazzling happens. Okay dazzling is a little too strong of a word, but it’s still fun. The different McCountries come up with regional menu specialities for a limited time. Hence last month’s Hazai ízek in Hungary, which means domestic flavors.  So for STRICTLY scientific reasons, Gyorgyi, Andi and I got together to sample the domestic flavors.

 

The first thing we tried was the Vasalt Csirkeszendvics, which is an ironed chicken sandwich. The things that are supposed to make this sandwich Hungarian are some cucumbers and other veggie mix, paprika-like sauce, and a Hungarian spices bun. But in reality there was nothing reminiscent of Hungarian flavors in this thing. Actually it was kind of gross.

 

The next item was the Retroburger. If you have ever been to Hungary and tried to find a good burger, you were most likely left wanting. I know that those are fighting words, but it’s the truth. Other than the zillion dollar burger at the Four Seasons, there really is no respect for burgers in Hungary. And the stands that sell them are some of the biggest burger sinners. These burgers, which are often called American burgers, are GIANT, smushed, flavorless burgers with unmanageable buns and off-flavored seasoning. The worst is when you see the lady behind the counter take your burger out of a vat of water and microwave it.  Oops. It happened once.  I never had another burger here again.  Anyway, there is a silver lining to this rant. The Retroburger at McDonald’s was a damn fine burger (if you like onions). Though a paltry patty, it was very deliciously flavored. And the paszka bun was sweet and soft. A little wink to the old times with the modern, soul-crushing commerce giant that is an American fast-food empire.

 

The Házias hasábburgonya potatoes were probably the menu highlight. They come with a dipping sauce, but now I can’t remember what it was. Even though these were the highlight, McDonalds Hungary regularly serves spiced curly fries, so I would say it wasn’t a supreme star. Still, they were good. And unlike in America where you would get 5 pounds of potatoes, it is a decent portion, so when you finish eating them you don’t feel like you’re heart is going to explode.

The next side item is the Kislángos, which is a mini mini version of the cherished and quite delicious “snack” that is found all over the country, but especially in markets, beaches and fairs. Okay look, this kislángos, little langos, is no where near the quality of a central market lángos. And I’ve lived here for almost 3 years, so when I think it over, this is bordering on offensive. One of my favorite Hungarian food blogs, Chew, called it downright terrible. Like italicized terrible. And to add insult to injury, we didn’t even get the sour cream topping that we should have gotten. Anyway I didn’t think it was quite italicized terrible, but you can get so many truly great lángoses here that I would be doing every potential visitor a disservice by even considering fair marks.

The dessert on offer was Somlói galuska. In the wild, it’s sort of a triffle made up of leftover cakes, cream and chocolate sauce. I’m not really a fan of this desert so I let Gyorgyi be the taste tester on record. She’s not the best person to recommend desserts, though, because she’s someone who might seriously consider eating a donut she found in a trash can if it didn’t look older than a few hours.  But she said it was pretty good. Milk shake good? I don’t know, I didn’t ask her.

So, in all, Hazai ízek was just so-so. We thought that the only thing truly Hungarian tasting was sadly, the langos. Maybe next time they should do a kolbasz or a chicken soup. Remember when McDonald’s had soups?

If you’re dying to try something, I’d go with the Retroburger. But get the curly fries. Until Hungary gets an Arby’s, these are as good as it gets.