TOP7HUNGARY | CUISINE GUIDE
The Cuisine of Paprika

• Regardless of what is on the menu, if it is a traditional Hungarian menu, you are guaranteed that the food will be plentiful and heavy…

Hungarian cooking uses a great deal of pork or goose fat, which adds incredible flavors to dishes that would not be possible without them. Sour cream, potatoes, or a form of pasta are also added to enrich a dish, adding to that gluttony feeling after you finish.

Lunch, an important meal of the day, begins with soup. Gulyás, often mispronounced as "goulash", is a meat soup usually made with beef or pork, carrots, and potatoes in a rich broth. Travelers often have the misconception that gulyás is a stew. Babgulyás is a hearty and delicious bean soup similar to gulyás. Hungary is famous for its gyümölcsleves, a cold fruit soup, which can be made from sour cherry, peaches, or apricots. Usually it is only served in summertime, making it an excellent refreshing way to start a meal. Sárgaborsóleves, a split pea soup that is a good winter seasonal choice, and halászlé, a fish soup, constitute meals in themselves.

Main courses are generally some type of meat dish. Try the paprikás csirke, chicken cooked in a savory paprika sauce. It's especially good with galuska, a pasta dumpling. Pulykamell, turkey breast roasted with various fruits and/or sauces, is also delicious. Another great choice is pörkölt, a stewed meat dish that comes in many varieties. Töltött káposzta, whole cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, meat, and spices, is another favourite. Cabbage is a winter staple food and appears in pastry also. Remember the word káposzta (cabbage) if you don't want it as your savory little pastry filling.

Vegetarianism is slowly recognized in Hungarian restaurants; many establishments now offer a vegetable, usually consisting of seasonal steamed and grilled vegetables, or cheese plates. Otherwise, vegetarians would do well to order lecsó tojással (eggs scrambled in a thick tomato-onion-paprika sauce), rántott sajt (batter-fried cheese with tartar sauce), or túrós csusza tepertÅ‘ nélkül (a type of noodle with cottage cheese dish). The kitchen should be able to prepare any of these dishes to order, even if they don't appear on the menu.

Snack foods include lángos, a piece of dough pulled into a small pizza shape and served with your choice of toppings: Cheese, sour cream and garlic sauce are the most popular. Palacsinta, a paper-thin crepe stuffed with a multitude of offerings for either a sweet or savory light bite, is another excellent choice. KürtÅ‘s kalács, a hollow, tubular honey cake, is an old-fashioned pastry cooked on a wooden bolt; it is sometimes available in metro stations and at outdoor markets and fairs, but is best when freshly baked. Fagylalt (ice cream) is the national street food, especially in warm months. Fresh fruit flavors are seasonal: Summer flavors include eper (strawberry) and meggy (sour cherry) and in the fall flavors include szilva (plum) and körte (pear). Summer regulars are delicious fahéj (cinnamon), mák (poppy seed), and rizs (rice).

Hungarian pastries are delicious, but many travelers are surprised that the cakes are not as sweet or moist as other countries' offerings. If you like your pastry with some moisture, choose one of the creamy types. The light, flaky rétes are filled with fruit (apple, plum, cherry), poppy seeds, or cheese. Csoki torta is a decadent chocolate layer cake, and Dobos torta is a layered cake topped with a shiny hard caramel crust. (Hint: Take the crust off first and eat it separately). Mákos pastry, made with poppy seeds, is a Hungarian specialty. Gesztenye (chestnuts) are another popular ingredient in desserts; some are chestnut cream with whipped cream on top or chestnut cream in a pastry. Bejgli, a traditional Christmas holiday pastry, appears everywhere during the season. A log-shaped pastry with crushed walnuts or poppy seeds baked in it like a jelly roll, it is sliced into bite-sized portions.

Picnickers should pick up a loaf of Hungarian bread and sample any of Hungary's world-famous salamis. Before you decide to pack some to take home, check the Customs regulations. A number of tasty cheeses are produced in Hungary as well: Karaván füstölt (a smoked cheese), edami (Dutch cheese), márvány (similar to bleu cheese), and juhtúró (a soft, spreadable sheep's cheese similar in flavor to feta). In season, fresh produce is cheap and high quality. In the winter, fresh fruits and vegetables are slim pickings with apples, pears, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots being the most common choices. In summer, you'll be amazed at the abundance of fresh produce and the low cost at the wonderful markets. Strawberries (eper) in May, raspberries (málna), blueberries (fekete áfonya), blackberries (szeder), and sour cherries (meggy) start hitting the market with most one type of berry or another continuing throughout the summer. | frommers.com