It’s a Tie for “Best Dish” at this Month's Hungarian Night!

I simply couldn’t decide… both were superb! I have to give it to the home chefs who pulled off the recipes for homemade Hungarian sausage and Stefánia Szelet (Hungarian meatloaf). Both meat dishes were really delicious, perfectly cooked, savory and delightful! 

Hungarian meatloaf - two ways

Our host house for the evening (as is always the case) was in charge of the main entrée and although meatloaf sounds mundane, trust me; this was anything but! He made two separate loaves; one with a sausage link in the middle and one with a whole hard-boiled egg in the center. When sliced it presented really well on the plate and the flavor was juicy and delicately tasty. I’d like to give this a try sometime for my family. I know they’d love it! 

The homemade sausage starter was also juicy, tender and perfectly seasoned and it looked as good as (better than) anything you could buy at the store. This process was pretty involved, and therefore, probably not something just anyone would want to give a try, however, the gentleman that prepared it was interested in the process and I can’t image it could turn out more superior.  

Sausage during the drying process

He’s provided me with the web link he used to obtain his information on how to make the sausage if you’re daring enough to give it a try. (I think I’ll just invite myself over to their house whenever I need to have it again!) He also took a picture for me to include of the drying process. He had to rinse and then lay out the filled sausage link and dry it with a fan in his kitchen! Do your own research and see what you can come up with...

Here’s that link: http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/how-to-make-sausage.html  

Two best dishes this month! Can we out-do ourselves for our last Dinner Club of the season in May? Stay tuned to the blog to see… I’ll let you know soon what we’re planning for our final affair before summer arrives!

Finished sausage after smoking and grilling

On a Dark and Stormy Night….

Once upon a time (OK – last Saturday night), on a dark and stormy evening, twelve good friends packed their precious items and braved the fierce Midwestern forecast to gather for a top secret, yet supremely important meeting we like to call the Gretna Dinner Club… 

Alright, it wasn’t that dramatic and it’s soooo not a secret; although we have overcome some similarly adverse weather conditions in the past to keep our regular Dinner Club functioning. And let me say, it was well worth it! “Jó a kaja és jó barát” means “good food and good friends” in Hungarian; and we have some really good friends!!

For example, they are fantastic cooks. They are risk takers. No, I don’t mean because they showed up in inclement weather! I mean in their cooking! However, it was amazing and appreciated that every single couple showed up with their part of our fantastic Hungarian meal on Saturday. We didn’t have to miss the delicate and crunchy chocolate-walnut torte for dessert… We didn’t go without the squash with dill side dish that half of us loved and applauded and half of us could do without (I’m in the “loved it” column). But, love-the-dish or hate-the-dish, we do love getting together and we LOVE trying new foods and new recipes! 

This was a cuisine most of us haven’t really delved into. Sure, I’ve made chicken paprikash and we’ve all turned out a meatloaf or two in our time, but this was special. We didn’t all adore every single element, and there are things we’d do differently next time (I cooked my dish the way the recipe stated, but it was too dry), but overall this is why we do Dinner Club at all: trying new things and BEING TOGETHER.

Our group gathers around six-thirty and we typically begin dinner at eight. The weather, despite the threat of tornado and thunderstorm warnings all day, cooperated with us at the very last. The clouds cleared a bit and the rain slowed to just a drizzle in time for us to gather; in fact, the gentlemen who prepared the most amazing (and homemade!) Hungarian sausage was even able to step outside and grill it for us before serving. Thanks mother nature!

Sour Cherry Soup!

The recipe for my side dish, Sonkás kocka, is below. I’m including it because, although it turned out too dry, the flavor was really amazing. You could tell the potential for the dish even if the first effort simply didn’t work out as well as I had liked. Cut the cooking time down a bit and/or stick a knife in when you bake it (which I did not) and make sure that the egg and sour cream mixture is remaining gooey. I’ll try it again at home for sure and keep a closer eye on it. My kids will love it! 

I’ll blog next week more specifically on the process followed to make that sausage and report on our “best dish” for the night, but for now it’s enough to say it again:

Jó a kaja és jó barát!!

Dessert!

Sonkás kocka

From the cookbook, “Hungarian Cuisine” – Media Nova, 2001

By György Hargitai

1 cup of flat, square pasta

Salt
2 tablespoons oil
4 eggs
1 ½ cups sour cream
7 oz. grated ham or cooked, smoked meat
½ teaspoon ground black pepper

To bake:

1 oz. butter
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

In a large pot bring 3 quarts of water to a boil, add 1 level teaspoon of salt and the pasta. Cook over medium heat for 6-7 minutes. Remove one piece with a wooden spoon: if it is smooth and almost transparent, it is done. Taste it to be sure. If it is done, strain and cool with cold water. Drain well and mix with the oil. In a bowl mix the egg yolks with the sour cream until smooth, add the grated ham as well. Mix in the pasta. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and very carefully fold into the ham mixture. Coat the inside of a medium size (8”x10”) casserole with butter and breadcrumbs. Pour the pasta mixture into the casserole. Bake in a preheated oven over medium heat (355 degrees F, 330 degrees F in air-convector ovens) for about 50 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting it into large square portions.

Savor New Flavors Before Summer Arrives… Try a Hungarian Dish or Two!

Paprika

In researching for this blog, I’ve been finding it difficult to locate many websites with recipes for authentic Hungarian dishes. For example, the side dish I’m preparing for this weekend’s Dinner Club, Sonkás Kocka, when “Googled” only brings up websites actually written in Hungarian. The recipe I am using is one directly from a cookbook our friends purchased while on their trip to Hungary – glad they did or we’d be finding it much more difficult to prepare a meal this Saturday! I’ll reprint this recipe for you next week.

Other parts of our menu were located on the internet, and I’ve shown recipe links for you below, but I’ve also included some delicious-looking recipes we’re not preparing (they simply sounded worth trying) if you’re inspired to give some Hungarian cooking a go before summer arrives! Here in Nebraska, we’ve enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures all through our winter and spring, but we’ve gotten a chilly blast again the last few days that actually jives perfectly with our Dinner Club theme for the month. 

Caraway Seed

Most of the Hungarian recipes I’ve come across say “warm and comforting” more than they scream “refreshing” or “outdoorsy”. So, before we move on with our final Dinner Club in May and then into a summer full of activities and grilling-out, let’s celebrate the food of Hungary with savory, rich, somewhat heavier fare! 

One of our adventurous and dedicated cooks is preparing, for the first time, his own homemade sausage. He’s a grilling connoisseur, like many of the men in our group, but he’s actually grinding and filling his own Hungarian-style sausage and smoking it for us! He’s a great cook and I can’t wait to see how it turns out! 

Squeeze in a few last warm and filling meals, like we are, before the fun of summer arrives. And, if you’ve never cooked with ingredients like paprika or caraway (one of my FAVORITE flavors) try out one or two of these recipes. You’ll be glad you did! 

Next week, I’ll let you know how our Hungarian night turns out and fill you in on “best dish”! Thanks for reading!

(On our menu) Cold Sour Cherry Soup:

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungariansoups/r/tartcherry.htm

(On our menu) Hungarian Style Squash with Dill:

http://www.mygourmetconnection.com/recipes/side-dishes/vegetables/hungarian-style-summer-squash-dill.php

(On our menu) Hungarian Chocolate Walnut Torte:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Hungarian-Chocolate-Walnut-Torte-351691

(On our menu) Homemade Hungarian Sausage:

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungariansausages/r/hazi-kolbasz.htm

(Sounds amazing) Hungarian Style Beef with Bell Peppers and Caraway:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Hungarian-Style-Beef-with-Bell-Peppers-and-Caraway-233145  

(Sounds amazing) Chicken Paprikas with Noodles:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Paprikas-with-Noodles-108880

What the Sonkás Kocka?

What the heck is Sonkás Kocka, anyway? Start your own Dinner Club, like we did, and maybe you’ll find out! I’m kidding. Of course I’m going to share with you! 

Sonkás Kocka happens to be the dish I’m preparing for our next Dinner Club (see our full menu posted below). We’re also dining on Stefánia Szelet – wait for it – and cold sour cherry soup. Sounds like a whole lot of weird to you? Well, it may be weird, but we’ve found over the years that weird sure can be delicious! 

We’ll be enjoying Hungarian food for our Dinner Club gathering this month! A couple in our group was inspired to host this ethnic exploration while on a trip overseas with family. They visited Budapest while on their trip and truly enjoyed the food they experienced there. They wanted to share a small sampling with those of us who haven’t been to Hungary (namely, everyone else in our group!).

My dish, Sonkás Kocka, is a side dish that is basically a baked pasta dish with smoked ham. It is held together with a rich combination of egg yolk and sour cream and includes the beaten egg whites that are folded in just before baking to make it lighter and airier. 

My portion of the meal accompanies our entrée, the Stefánia Szelet, which sounds strange and mysterious until you discover that it is Hungarian meatloaf. Not so weird after all, huh? Meatloaf, pasta, ham, sour cream…. Certainly not “out there” ingredients, yet new to our taste buds when paired together. 

Here’s a little tidbit of the information quoted directly from www.wikipedia.org  on Hungarian cooking preferences: 

“Hungarians are especially passionate about their soups, desserts and pastries and stuffed pancakes (palacsinta), with fierce rivalries between regional variations of the same dish, (like the Hungarian hot fish soup called Fisherman's Soup or halászlé, cooked differently on the banks of Hungary's two main rivers: the Danube and the Tisza). 

Other famous Hungarian dishes would be Paprikás (paprika stew, meat simmered in thick creamy paprika gravy) served with nokedli (small dumplings), gulyás (goulash), palacsinta (pancakes served flambéed in dark chocolate sauce filled with ground walnuts) and Dobos Cake (layered sponge cake, with chocolate buttercream filling and topped with a thin caramel slice).

Two remarkable elements of Hungarian cuisine that are hardly noticed by locals, but usually conjure up much enthusiasm amongst foreigners, are different forms of vegetable stews called főzelék[1] as well as cold fruit soups, like cold sour cherry soup (Hungarian: hideg meggyleves). 

Meat stews, casseroles, steaks, roasted pork, beef, poultry, lamb or game and the Hungarian sausages (kolbász[1]) and winter salami are a major part of Hungarian cuisine. Various kinds of noodles and dumplings, potatoes and rice are commonly served as a side dish. 

Hungarian food is often spicy, due to the common use of hot paprika. Sweet (mild) paprika is also common. Additionally, the combination of paprika, lard and yellow onions is typical of Hungarian cuisine,[3] and the use of the thick sour cream called tejföl.” 

Possibly the most unusual dish in our menu is the cold sour cherry soup, but according to my research on the internet, including the passage quoted above, this is, in fact, a very traditional dish in Hungary. I am perfectly fine with cold soups. Last year we had a cold champagne strawberry soup for one of our Dinner Clubs that was divine, and even those who typically don’t prefer cold soup (my husband, for example) enjoyed it very much. We’ll see this time. I can’t wait to give it a try! New taste combinations and new ways of pairing foods are part of the Dinner Club experience! 

Again, our full menu is below. You’ll find we’ve tried to be quite true to the traditional dishes and flavor combinations that we discovered in our research and what I quoted above. Many of the aforementioned food preferences are represented. It’s sure to whisk us away to a new (and weird?) land!