Hungarian cuisine is quite similar to Czech cuisine, it is heavier, more caloric, meat, sauce. And because it is not far from us to Hungary, we have similar dishes and we buy some typical Hungarian food here. Hungarian cuisine is also nicely coloured, as the ubiquitous paprika enhances the plates in all sorts of shades of orange and red. Gastrominimalism hasn’t made its way into mainstream Hungarian restaurants, and often an appetizer will suffice as a full main course. However, the preparation of home-cooked meals from quality fresh ingredients is more or less standard.
You have to taste it:
- lángos – fried pancake, in the basic version with sour cream and cheese,
- pörkölt a paprikás – paprika dishes,
- Tokaj red wine,
- Be sure to bring home a supply of paprika (as a spice or as a paste, sweet or hot) from Hungary.
Typical Hungarian ingredients
Traditional Hungarian cuisine is probably best characterised by paprika and quantity. Paprika, both sweet and hot, is added to almost everything. Despite the great popularity of hot peppers, Hungarian dishes are more mildly spicy than hot, in fact they cannot even be compared to one-pepper Indian dishes. The Szeged and Kalocsa regions in southern Hungary are particularly famous for their peppers.
Onions are widely used, mainly as a base for sauces, as well as garlic. Tomatoes are added to sauces and soups. Sour cream is often added to pepper sauces and other dishes. Sauerkraut is also popular in Hungarian cuisine, both fermented and fresh, and is used as a side dish, in sauces and for wrapping meat.
Pork from mangalica pigs, which are bred in Hungary, is very often on menus.
Hungarian products and specialities
Hungarian cuisine offers a variety of specific gastronomic products that are known all over the world.
Hungarian sausages and cold cuts
Hungarian sausages (kolbász) are typically made from pork and seasoned with paprika, garlic and other spices. Sausages have many regional variations.
- Csabai kolbász – a spicy sausage from the Békéscsaba region, dried and strongly flavoured with paprika.
- Debrecini kolbász (Debrecen sausage) – a half-smoked sausage from the Debrecen area, spiced with paprika and garlic, softer and suitable for grilling or baking.
- Hurka – a traditional Hungarian dish, which can be stuffed with rice (rizses hurka) or liver (májashurka), is usually baked and is also part of festive meals.
- Téliszalámi – the famous Hungarian salami comes from the city of Szeged. It is a dry salami made from high-quality pork, has a delicate flavour and is covered with a noble mould that gives it its characteristic smell and taste.
- Gyulai kolbász – smoked sausage from the Gyula region with a mild taste and peppery aroma.
Paprika and paprika paste
Paprika and paprika paste play a key role in many traditional recipes, adding rich flavour and colour to dishes. They are made from fresh peppers that are ground and mixed with salt and oil. The peppers are either sweet (édes paprika) or hot (csípős paprika).
What to taste in Hungary
Hungarian cuisine is full of flavours worth discovering. From hearty soups to sweet desserts.
Goulash (gulyás)
Traditional Hungarian goulash is a soup with beef, potatoes, root vegetables and gnocchi is considered the national dish of Hungary. It should be a little hot, but everyone can add hot pepper paste to their own portion, at least when preparing it at home. In restaurants, goulash is often served directly in small cauldrons and with white bread. Be careful when ordering, Hungarians have a lot of goulash, but only Hungarian goulash will be found among the soups, the others will be main courses.
Pörkölt
Pörkölt, on the other hand, is what we call Hungarian goulash, a stew with a paprika base, slightly spicy and more paprika-like than ours. It is usually served with tarhoña or speck.
Paprikás csírke
Chicken paprikash is almost like our chicken on paprikash. The chicken is simmered in a thick paprika sauce. The small difference is the sour cream, which is added only on the plate (it doesn’t mix with the sauce anymore).
Hortobágyi Palacsinta
Excellent stuff. Pancake stuffed with minced meat topped with creamy paprika sauce (quite similar to chicken paprika sauce) with a little sour cream.
Halászlé
Halászlé is a spicy fish soup made from various types of fish, most often carp and catfish, with a lot of paprika. This dish is popular among fishermen and is often cooked in the countryside.
Lángos
Fried puffed pancake made of yeast dough. Traditional Hungarian lángos are brushed with garlic oil, topped with sour cream and grated cheese. It has a number of other variations (bacon, sausage, onion), but ketchup is not usually one of them in Hungary.
Töltött Káposzta
Cabbage roll – cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice, cooked in sauerkraut and served with sour cream.
Rakott krumpli
Baked potatoes where potatoes, eggs, sausages and sour cream are layered in a baking dish. Eaten with pickles or other pickled vegetables.
Hideg meggyleves
Cold cherry soup. Unlike many other cold soups, this one is prepared by boiling. The cherries are first boiled in sweet water with lemon zest, cinnamon and cloves. When the mixture has cooled, sour cream is added. It is sweet, so it is eaten as a dessert or on its own, in addition to an appetizer.
Hungarian pastries and sweets
Túrógombóc
Traditional Hungarian cottage cheese dumplings made of cottage cheese, eggs, semolina and flour. The mixture is formed into balls which are cooked in boiling water. After cooking, the dumplings are coated in breadcrumbs fried in butter. They are then sugared and covered with sour cream or fruit sauces.
Dobos Cake
Dobos Torta is a famous Hungarian cake made of thin layers of sponge cake and chocolate cream (many thin layers, like 8+8), topped with a layer of caramel. It is named after its creator, pastry chef József Dobos.
Pogácsa
Small savoury cakes, usually flavoured with cheese or crackling. They are popular as a snack.
Rákóczi Túrós
Traditional Hungarian cake made of cheesecake dough, sweet cheesecake filling and apricot jam. On top is a baked lattice of egg whites in the traditional form.
Hungarian drinks
Tokaj wine
The famous Hungarian dessert wine comes from the Tokaj region. This sweet wine is known for its rich taste and is often referred to as the “wine of kings and king of wines”.
Regional Hungarian cuisine
In almost all regions you can find lecsó, but everyone makes it differently – some add eggs, others sausage or rice. Each region has its own specialities:
- Northeastern Hungary (Tokaj, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén) – Tokaj wine, túrós csusza (pasta with cottage cheese, sour cream and crackling), gömöri haluska (similar to Slovak halusky, often with bryndza or cabbage),
- Great Danube Plain (Alföld – Debrecen, Szeged, Kecskemét) – hortobágyi palacsinta, Debrecen sausage, székelygulyás (Szeged goulash – stewed pork with sauerkraut and cream), halászlé (fish soup),
- Northern Hungary (Eger, Mátra, Bükk) – juhtúrós galuska (gnocchi with sheep’s cheese), Egri bikavér (red wine – “bull’s blood from Eger”), tarhonya (tarhoňa – small dried pasta balls),
- Transdanubia, western Hungary (Dunántúl – Pécs, Sopron, Balaton) – bakonyi sertésszelet (pork slice in mushroom cream sauce), Sopron venison (with blueberry or rosehip sauce), pörkölt with nokedli (stew with homemade gnocchi), Balaton zander or catfish (grilled, roasted or in cream sauce),
- South-west Hungary (Villány, Mohács) – Villányi wines (red), bárány paprikás (lamb in paprika), mohácsi busa (river fish dish),
- Budapest and Central Hungary – rakott krumpli (layered baked potatoes), dobos torta (cake with caramel icing, buttercream and multiple layers of sponge cake), somlói galuska (sponge cake with nuts, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.