William Penn Life, 2010 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-06-01 / 6. szám
Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr. Learning to cook, Hungarian Style A FEW ISSUES BACK, I talked about the use of paprika in the Magyar kitchen. After writing the article, I continued to think along the lines of creating in the kitchen with Hungarian recipes. I also thought about my family and how we celebrate the joys of living by cooking. After further thought, I made these observations. For as long as I can remember, my parents have been teaching my siblings and me new cooking projects, "Hungarian Style." The cooking tutorials involve several individual lessons. The first lesson has our parents in command. We watch, listen and ask questions. As the tutorials progress, lesson by lesson, we slowly take control of creating the culinary delight. Finally, we are on our own, making the recipe without any parental supervision. The series of cooking lessons takes several months to accomplish. My inaugural cooking project was creating a successful szalonna sütés. You may say this is a simple enough cooking project. But, you need to factor in that I was responsible for making a fire, cleaning vegetables, practicing safety with sharp, pointy cooking tools, cutting meat, selecting the correct bacon from Dohar's at the West Side Market and cleaning up properly...and that I was 5 years old at the time. From a first grader's perspective, cooking bacon was a rather extensive educational experience. It took an entire summer and fall to get the preparation process correct. Because my father is a teacher, he makes sure we know the history and cultural aspects of each cooking lesson. Looking at cooking as lessons, the thing that is most remarkable is that our culinary education is paced so that we are not overwhelmed by too much task or information at any given time. My mom and dad also make food preparation fun and exciting. One thing we always hear during our Consider & Discuss This month, I offer the following points to ponder.... As we enter the season of summer, many persons barbeque and grill. Real Hungarians do szalonna sütés. In Toledo, Ohio, Magyars call it “Hunky Turkey”; others call it “Dirty Bread” or "Bacon about the Fire.” My first question is where do you go to get authentic szalonna bacon? Secondly, do you have another name for the ritual of szalonna sütés? Tibor gets a feel for the Kürtőskalács stick as he prepares for his family's next Hungarian Style project. cooking lessons is the sound of Magyar music. Sometimes we hear Feri Borisz, Joe Jeromos or Frank Mikisits. Other times it may be Liszt or Lehar. The music matches the mood of the food: for csirke paprikás, it's the csárdás or verbunkos; for baking cakes and pastry, we air the Hungarian classical masters. Of course, during Holy Week, there is silence. My mom says "listening to Magyar music while cooking makes the food taste better." We average about one cooking project a year. After 15 years or so, that adds up to a lot of great eating. My sister, Lizzy, has been part of more learning projects because they appeal to her love of cooking. Her additional projects usually involve the creation of pastry and baked goods. My mom and sister usually work alone on their baking projects. Lizzy has learned to successfully produce kalács, csöröge, and lángos. She has a real affinity for producing moon cakes (from a recipe given to my mom by the late Kay Novak of Youngstown). My sister got the urge to cook Hungarian Style, from our dearly departed Aunt Jenny. Aunt Jenny made 8 0 June 2010 0 William Penn Life
