October 3, 2010
Adventure #34
Fine, I'll admit that I did cheat a bit in the culinary department last weekend. When making a time-tested Hungarian meal of homemade dumplings and paprikás csirkét (paprika chicken), I left out a Magyar staple ingredient: lard.
My Gundel recipe book, developed and named after one of Hungary's most famous chefs, assured me that for deeply flavorful dishes, one must use lard in local concoctions. But, boy did I prove him wrong. Just like many kitchens across the country that night, I sliced up chicken, diced spicy green peppers and onions, and added them to a sizzling butter base - all resulting in an amazingly tasty dish (after I added the paprika and sour cream of course) - no lard needed. I also made homemade dumpling dough sans lard, sliced it into peanut-sized balls (it feels like Play-Doh) and dropped it into boiling water to make the satiating hard dumplings of which I am so fond. It could be dangerous knowledge that I know how to make them now, because it will be yet another way to feed my carb-obsessed body.
Michael said it was the best Hungarian food he had eaten in Hungary. Granted, he's not Mr. Objectivity when it comes to my creations, but it was a high compliment. Better yet, the meal did not hurt my stomach, which typically heavy Hungarian food does. In fact, it is such a common occurrence that I get a stomach ache after ingesting any native restaurant food or worse yet, festival food, that instead of saying I feel sick, I just say my stomach is "Hungarian." Yet, after this achievement in the kitchen, I will just have to say my ailing tummy is "lardy."
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