Comments on: NY Times does Hungarian Food

By: DeisCane

DeisCane — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 02:11:40 +0000

Lecso does NOT require pork, though it’s often made with lard as the grease, if for no other reason than it has been the most common fat in Hungary forever. Many Hungarians put hot dogs or sausage in there for the smokey flavor, but they are far from required and they’re not the heart of the dish. The cubanelles are.

As for Disznotor (the pig killing festival day), actually, the most common time is in mid-January, leaving approximately 3 months until Easter, at which they eat many of the pork dishes that were prepared and by then, properly cured.

By: J. Eppel

J. Eppel — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 01:00:17 +0000

Last time I checked Letcho is pork. Many hungarian dishes are pork. November and December in hungary are considered to be “Pig Slaughter” celebration. Kiss or Csokis are made with “real” coco powder and egg whites, vanilla, hazelnuts can be added. I cook many hungarian dishes, my parents taught us all to cook hungarian.

By: DeisCane

DeisCane — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:47:26 +0000

FWIW, it would be spelled csokis. :-)

By: deeni

deeni — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 03:27:03 +0000

Choc. is definitely chocolate. cocish cake is like a very rich babka.

By: DeisCane

DeisCane — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:40:50 +0000

Also, if you’re referring to EDIE’s post about “choc,” it seems fairly clear to me that she was abbreviating the word, “chocolate.”

By: DeisCane

DeisCane — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:38:24 +0000

I don’t really see people in this thread claiming this Hungarian food as specifically Jewish.

Your history lesson seems extraneous.

“They are every Christian Hungarian’s bread and butter”

Most Christian Hungarians’ bread and butter involves pork in some way, shape or form.

By: Togi

Togi — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 16:17:02 +0000

Give me a break. This type of chutzpah is just too much. I have really had it with some you trying to claim Hungarian food as Jewish–judging by this blog and by some of the articles an d
cookbooks being written. How dare to simply assume that various Hungarian food is Jewish. Szatmarnemeti [translated means German of Satmar, hence the Yiddish dialect] ] which was ceded to Rumania with the horrible treaty of Versailles/ Trianon after WWI. Jews assimilated, modified but kept the names of the traditional Hungarian dishes for their table, like poppy seed pastries, various yeast breads, dumplings,cabbage dishes, etc. They are every Christian Hungarian’s bread and butter. I make them regularly, as do my Hungarian friends.

Btw: Choc as one of you asks about is actually “csok” which means kiss, so it could be any number of things. It is probably a sweet. My mother made them with finely ground nuts and egg whites baked in a very cool oven for a long time. It could be a chocolate as well. They are shaped like the Hershey kiss, because when you plop them on the baking sheet you pull up to make a cone type form.
I wish people would ask those in the know and do just a bit of research before claiming things as theirs that are not true.

By: EDIE

EDIE — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:22:19 +0000

does anyone knows the recepe for the Hungarian Choc. Babka. My family used to refer to it as “cocoish”

thanks,

Edie

By: velorutionary

velorutionary — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:35:42 +0000

Deiscane,

What she is saying is that in America people aren’t making it the traditional way anymore, as a general rule. I doubt she visited Hungary and looked into local traditions there, so she may be wrong rather than negative.

By: DeisCane

DeisCane — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:13:50 +0000

“Some are still made in Hungary, and I’ve come across Americans who make noodles and cabbage with poppy seeds or who remember shlishkes. But with assimilation, shortcuts, the passage of time and the passing of old cooks, many of these recipes may soon be lost.”

That’s what she wrote, velo. Pretty damn negative if you asked me.