The Eighth Tribe, 1980 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1980-05-01 / 5. szám
May, 1980 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 7 DR. VICTOR MOLNÁR: HUNGARIAN VARIETIES With this issue we are happy to introduce a new contributor to the pages of our publication. With the all-encompassing title of “HUNGARIAN VARIETIES” this bi-monthly column will have reports—some short, some long— on a multitude of subjects that deal with Hungary, its people, culture, history and any other material which in one way or another, directly or remotely, will be relevant to it. HUNGARIAN GULYAS .... the other day one of the local newspapers gave a recipe for Hungarian goulash. My heart skipped happily as it always does when it sees the word “Hungarian”. But after reading the ingredients to this gulyás, I knew it was far from authentic. You see, the flaw in the recipe was the use of sour cream. Yes! a flaw—because real, authentic gulyás does not have the above-mentioned ingredient in it! The use of sour cream is a Viennese variation. When I first visited Hungary in 1964, I had real gulyás, which is a SOUP, and not a braised stew concoction that so called “Hungarian” or “Hungarianstyle” restaurants pass off as real gulyás. The “Inyesmester Szakácskönyve” (The Gourmet’s Cookbook) by Elek Magyar, was first published in Budapest in 1932 and has been reprinted several times since. It does not mention sour cream. Nor do the majority of the Hungarian cookbooks that I possess. The Gallup Poll in 1969 found “goulash” to be one of the five most popular meat dishes on the American cooking scene. But since the Poll mentions it as a meat dish, it is already evident that they have put gulyás into the wrong category. They listed it as a meat dish, when it really is a hearty soup! Elek Magyar in his book states: a gulyás igen becsületes magyar étel... a gulyásnak hosszú a leve, ellentétben testvérével, a pörkölttel, amelynek a leve viszont rövid és sűrű. A pörköltet húsostálon adjuk az asztalra, ellenben a gulyást levesféléhez illik.” Gulyás is a very respectable Hungarian dish ... the gulyás liquid is thin as compared with its sister dish, pörkölt, whose liquid is thick. Pörkölt is served on a meat platter and gulyás in a soup bowl. And it’s eaten with a spoon as befits a soup course. 1 personally think that there is no such thing as the real or authentic goulash recipe. I feel that cookbooks printed in Hungary can be put into the authentic category, but even these have explained how basic Hungarian dishes have been changed I for better or worse) by various additions. For instance, Elek Magyar wrote that caraway seeds are not used in gulyás, it ruins its style and is added to Viennese “gollasch”. Tomatoes, aren’t necessary either, he writes; this has seeped into Hungarian cuisine from the Serbian kitchens in the south. However, if you really want to eat something good, add a glass of white wine. George Land in his monumental book, published by Atheneum in Oct. 1971, writes: never use any flour. Never use any spice besides caraway. Never frenchify it with wine, never germanize it with brown sauce. Never put in any other garniture besides diced potatoes or galushka. The top chefs of Hungary such as Károly Gundel in his gulyás recipe omits caraway seeds but uses a tomatoe. And József Venész not only uses all the ingredients mentioned but adds a clove of garlic as well. About the best recipe I’ve discovered is the kettle goulash found in George Lang’s book: The Cuisine of Hungary. It is found in the stew section of his book; yet he mentions soup consistency in the recipe. STATISTICS .... The Central Office for Statistics in Budapest recently released its annual report, As of January 1, 1980 the population of Hungary is 10,710,000 indicating a population increase of 23,000 and an increase of 388,000 for past decade. In 1979 there were 160,000 births and 137,000 deaths. For every 1000 people this breaks down to 15.0 births and 12.8 deaths. The number of births and deaths were smaller in each case than the preceding year. The birth rate in Hungary dropped from 2.6 in 1978 for every thousand people to 2.2 in 1979. RADIO BUDAPEST AND RADIO NOVI SAD (Újvidék) in Yugoslavia have signed a literary agreement whereby annually each radio station will jointly produce two literary evenings in Hungary and Vojvodina, the autonomous province within the Federal Republic of Serbia. Vojvodina lies adjacent to Hungary ad the Magyars are by far the most important ethnic minority. Furthermore, bi-lingual “Author Evenings” will be presented. This year the Radio Novi Sad Cabaret Theater will perform in Budapest; next year the Radio Budapest Cabaret Theater will perform in Novi Sad. SUMMER TIME .... because of the energy crisis in Hungary (and in other European countries as well) “summer” time, or as we know it daylight savings time, was brought into effect on Easter Sunday, April 6. Hungary has not used “summer time” for nearly two decades if not longer. They expect a 2.5 - 3% increase in their energy needs for 1980. One half of all Hungary’s energy needs must be imported, mostly from the Soviet Union.
