William Penn Life, 2010 (45. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2010-06-01 / 6. szám

Tibor's Take

all the great Magyar dishes. Too bad we didn't watch her doing her magic in the kitchen. When Aunt Jenny passed away, my sister Lizzy inherited her dozen or so Magyar cookbooks. My mom and sister went through the various editions and worked together in making some great meals. My sister has expanded her cookbook collection to nearly 24 books. (The new WPA Cookbook will be her next Christmas gift from me.)

Although I love ALL Magyar baked goods, I really don't like to make them. I love to cook with paprika, meat, onions and garlic. As for my brother Endre II, he can cook just as well as I, but prefers to eat what others make. He says: "You create in the kitchen; I create by playing on my cimbalom!"

We have slowly graduated to more sophisticated recipes. To date, our most extensive Magyar cooking project has been making hurka. I will not elaborate any further on hurka making, because I am going to talk about it in detail in a future issue of Tibor's Take.

After attending Easter Mass this year at St. Elizabeth

Did you know

they're Hungarian?

Did you know that Tommy Ramone of the Punk Rock group, The Ramones, is of Hungarian ancestry? He was born Tamás Erdélyi in Budapest on Jan. 29, 1952. His family moved to America when he was only 3 years old. Tamás’ parents changed his name to Thomas when he entered public school. He grew up in the Forest Hills Area of Queens, N.Y.

Young Erdélyi first played professionally in the mid 1960’s with a garage band named The Tangerine Puppets. But his first love for music was on the studio production end. He was a minor contributor in the creation of the last album recorded by the late Jimmy Hendrix.

His group’s name, The Ramones, is actually a pseudonym. Each member of the original group contributed the first letter of their respective last names to comprise the name Ramone. Tommy played drums from the group’s inception in 1974 through 1977. Tommy was the session drummer for the group’s first three albums. In 1978, he was replaced, but he continued to work in the production room and produced the group’s reunion album in 1984. Erdélyi left the group the following year.

Over the last 20 years, Tommy Ramone has made token appearances with the remaining members of the group not only live and on stage, but during recording sessions as well. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Ramones in 2002. He is now semi-retired and is the only surviving member of the original group. □

of Hungary Church in Cleveland, we went home to enjoy a prepared brunch of blessed food and drink. As we ate, we talked about what we would like to learn to make Hungarian Style. My brother and I want to learn to smoke kolbász and meat. (We already make fresh kolbász.) My sister wants to learn how to make mézeskalács and real rétes. My Mom chimed in that she would like to learn to make it as well.

Then my dad said: "How about kürtőskalács?" We all looked at him and said: "What is that?" He informed us that we had it a few times at the North East Ohio Magyar Club picnics. A baker that sells cakes, breads and other items there (the Transylvania Bakery based in Cleveland) cooks kürtőskalács using propane instead of a wood fire. My dad then went out to our barn and brought back a 5-foot steel rod and a 1-foot in diameter by 2-foot long solid maple drum attached to the end of the rod. It had a few burn marks on it, but because of the density of the wood, no charring marks showed.

He said Elizabeth (Leffler) Szabó gave it him in 1979, when she was operating the International Institute in Youngstown. (Mrs. Szabó later founded Magyar Marketing.) My dad then retrieved one of my sisters' cookbooks and showed us a recipe for the "Chimney Kolach." After some discussion, we unanimously chose kürtőskalács as our next family cooking/learning project, Hungarian Style. There will be a twist to this project. This time our entire family will be learning, because my mom and dad have never made Chimney Kolach either.

SPECIAL NOTE: In my articles, I use the term "Hungarian Style." I am not the originator of this loving expression. That distinction belongs to Hungarian bandleader Joe Jeromos. While broadcasting our radio show one day, I picked up one of his records used on our show and read the liner notes. One recording was titled, "Happy Music Hungarian Style!" From that song I got the idea of writing in "Hungarian Style!"

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Éljen a Magyar,

Tibor

Tibor Check Jr. is a member of Branch 28 Youngstown, Ohio, and a student at Cleveland State University. He serves as host of the ‘‘Souvenirs of Hungary” weekly radio show broadcast on WK.TL-90.7 FM in Struthers, Ohio.

Let's hear your take

Let me know how you enjoy my thoughts and views on growing up Hungarian Style. If you have any questions or comments about me or my column, please email me at: SilverKingl937@yahoo.com, or drop me a letter in care of the William Penn Association, 709 Brighton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15233.

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