Hungarian Heritage Review, 1988 (17. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1988-12-01 / 12. szám
W 4 (Eulmaru Art nf .Hungary by - LOUIS SZATHMARY A SLIP’ OF THE CABBAGE PANCAKE This year. I think the minds of all Hungarians, whenever they live, are turning more towards Transylvania than ever. 1 am thinking back to the Christmas of 1943 when 1 arrived. after ten days in a hospital, in the small town in Transylvania where I lived at that time. The military hospital let those who could travel go home for Christmas. My parents lived too far. so 1 just went back to the place where I rented a nice little room. I arrived unexpectedly mid-morning on the day before Christmas. The landlady was surprised. She wanted to please me, and asked me to invite a couple of friends for lunch. She would prepare something quickly for us from ingredients she had on hand. And she did. She made "slipped cabbage” pancakes. They were the best I’d ever had. I watched her in the kitchen while she was making them. The next year, on December 24,1 prepared the same dish for my parents in a small village near the Austrian border, where I caught up with them as they were fleeing from the onslaught of the Soviet army. In 1945, I lived in a tiny, sublet room in crowded Salzburg, which, at that time, had a regular population of 55,000 plus 125,000 refugees. I made the pancakes on a small electric hotplate in my room, and I invited some Transylvanian guests for lunch. Slipped cabbage pancakes are not really a traditional Christmas dish, but are prepared often as a filling lunch on the 24th. and on the 31st, that we call Szilveszter Day. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. SLIPPED CABBAGE PANCAKES 1 quart cabbage, chopped or shredded into pieces about 1/4 by 1/4 inch 3 to 4 tablespoons lard or bacon drippings 1-1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 1 cup milk 1-2/3 cups sifted flour more or less to make a batter similar to regular pancake batter 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 to 1/2 cup shortening for frying 4 to 6 ounces smoked Polish or Hungarian sausage or smoky links, slices very thin 1-1/2 cups sour cream mixed with 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk Rinse cabbage under running cold water in a colander. Shake out water, empty cabbage into a clean kitchen towel, gather cornerts and edges, and shake until water is absorbed. Put cabbage into a heavy pot. Add lard, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and sugar. Cook uncovered over medium heat for about 15 minutes, then cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Remove cover, increase heat to high and stir until cabbage turns limp and yellow and Startes to broum on the edges and all liquid evaporates. Remove from heat and keep warm. While cabbage is cooking beat eggs together with milk. Sift flour with baking powder and 1 2 teaspoon salt and slowly stir into egg mixture until smooth. Let batter stand until cabbage is cooked. Place 6- or 7-inch skillet over medium heat. Add shortening for fryingand heat it through forabout 5 minutes. Pour shortening into a container and return skillet to heat. Preheat oven to 250. Stir cooked cabbage into batter. Put about a teaspoon of hot shortening into skillet and spread it around. Then pour about 1 4 of cabbage batter into skillet and cook over medium heat. With a spatula, ease edges away from sides of skillet. Put a little more fat between pan and edge of pancake, moving spoon with fat in it along inner edge of skillet. Evenly spread 1/4 of sausage on top of pancake. When surface is no longer runny and looks like a regular pancake, "slip” it without turning into a round ovenproof dish (a glass pie dish is good for this purpose). Place dish with first pancake into warm oven. Add some shortening to skillet and second 1 4 of batter. While it cooks, lace first pancake's surface with some of sour cream and milk mixture. When second pancake is done, “slip” it on top of first, again without turning. Lace with sour cream mixture. Repeat twice more until all batter, sausage and most of sour cream mixture are used. Increase oven temperature to 300 and heat 4 pancakes for about 15 minutes. Remove, cover with remaining sour cream mixture, slice into 8 wedges, and serve with thick tomato slices in vinaigrette. Serves 8. DECEMBER 1988 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 27 l
