Hungarian Cuisine

Hungarians are passionate about food, but especially passionate about soups and desserts. Among the most famous Hungarian soups are Goulash (many have been misled into thinking that Gulyásleves is a stew), the spicy Fisherman’s Soup (Halászlé), and cold fruit soup (Hideg Meggyleves, typically with cherries) which is very refreshing on a hot day.

Pancakes with fillings are popular from the entrée, Hortobagy Pankake (Hortobágyi Palacsinta is a light pancake filled with veal) to desert pancakes with ice cream or Nutella/chocolate as well as the ‘King of Pancakes’, the Gundel Pancake (Gundel Palacsinta has a filling enriched with rum, raisins and walnuts and is named after the famous restaurateur Károly Gundel).

Coffee and Cakes

Mentioning all the wonderful cakes that are worth trying out will be too extensive, but two of them cannot go without mention; the Dobos Torta (this layered sponge chocolate cake with a caramel crust on top was first introduced at the National General Exhibition in Budapest in 1885 to Franz Joseph I and his Empress Elisabeth by confectioner JózsefDobos).

The other one, the Esterházy Torta (this cake of unknown origin has pastry layers and layers of almond, whipped egg white and sugar and it is named by or as a tribute to the Esterházy family, a popular noble family of Hungary). When you come to Budapest you should not miss going to one of the many Cukrászda (confectionery coffee shop), but beware the addictive nature of Hungarian cakes.

Wine of Kings, King of Wines

The most famous Hungarian wine is probably the Tokaj Aszú, which is a sweet dessert wine. According to legend, Count Rákoczi sent a bottle of Tokaj Aszú Eszencia to the French King, Louis XIV, who named it "Vinum Regum, Rex Vinorum" or "Wine of Kings, King of Wines."

The term Aszú refers to the botryitised grapes the wine is made from and the sweetness of the wine is categorized by the puttony, from 3-6 puttony and then the Eszencia. Today the puttony system is based on measured sugar contents, but in the old days the individually picked berries would be left in a standard size vat for 24 hours and one puttony was the amount of the sweet syrup that would be pressed out by the weight of the berries.