Text 6801, 94 rader
Skriven 2006-10-21 14:04:14 av Ian Hoare (1:275/311)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: Re: BRIT FOOD  61020
============================
Hi Glen, 

 on Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:37:40 -0400, you said:-

>Great to see you back.  I thought of you a lot recently while touring
>Hungary and other neighbouring countries, haunted by lead-filled
>dumplings.

Thanks. I noticed your heartfelt cries of agony on your return as I tried to
read through the backlog. Without wanting to claim that they have much
gustatory merit, I would defend dumplings as being very good at what they're
designed to do. To fill you up and give you calories as cheaply and
efficiently as possible. 

I'm surprised, however, if you had many of these in Hungary. I'd not claim
there are NO dumplings, but I would say that in my various trips there, I've
never had the slightest problem in avoiding them. As it happens I like
galushka very much, classing them more as a fresh pasta than a dumpling, as
are csipteke. The big heavy dumplings characterise Slavic culture for me,
far more than Magyar. We also have them in this area (some may remember the
redoubtable  "farcidures" that I expected them to try) and in the UK.

> I very much enjoyed the wines of the region, though.

I'm glad. I love Hungarian wines, though they are - like in so many other
places - going through some kind of identity crisis. Traditionally they
mostly had names that described the town/area and the cepage - in Hungarian
of course, hence "Debroi Harslevelu" or "Soproni kekfrankos"! Well not many
stupid foreigners understand this perfectly simple concept, so splendid
wines with these names have difficulty being pronounced, let alone sold as
well as they merit. To cut a long story short, these wines which accompany
rich typically Hungarian food admirably well, are now being replaced by
"internationalised" wines. "Berts Sauvignon Blanc" or "Sainsbury's Hungarian
Chardonnay". The winemaking styles are also internationalised and so the
wines become yet another competitor in a market place awash with
internationalised wines. I don't think that's viable in the long term. 

Mind you, with Hungarian food _also_ being internationalised (EU oblige)
perhaps one won't need a stonking "manly" Badacsonyi Szurkebarat to cut
through a foie gras stew any more. Sniff.

MMMMM----- Now You're Cooking! v5.74 [Meal-Master Export Format]

      Title: Goose Liver Hungarian Style (Magyaros Libamaj)
 Categories: hungarian, main dish, offal
      Yield: 6 servings

  1 1/2 lb foie gras
    1/4 c  flour (50 ml) or as needed
      2 ea strips bacon, diced
      1 ea onion, diced
     11 oz green peppers, sliced (30
      1    dkg)
      5 oz tomatoes (15 dkg)
      1 ea salt & pepper to taste
      1 ts paprika (5 ml)
      1 ea clove garlic, minced or
      1    crushed
      1 ds marjoram, to taste

I made rough conversions from metric (retaining the metrics where
specified, and estimated several quantities based on my own

own judgement as based on the actual text of the recipe card: "Chop
coarsely 60 dkg goose liver. Dip the pieces in flour and brown them.
Make a stew with a little smoked bacon, 1 diced onion, 30 dkg of
sliced green peppers and 15 dkg of tomatoes. Season with salt,
pepper, red paprika, a little garlic and marjoram. Add the browned
liver to the stew and simmer until cooked. Serve with noodles or
boiled potatoes with butter and parsley."

By Mihaly Schmaus Typed by Joan MacDiarmid


MMMMM

>A lot of our efforts while travelling were to de-Americanise him and
>educate him to accept new and strange-looking foods.  He had a slight
>tendency to panic when confronted by completely unfamiliar foods and a
>menu of which he understood not a word.

I say nozzing. 

>Do pass on my greetings to Jacquie, and hope she is still managing you
>and the business with her own inimitable skill.

She exclaimed with glee when she saw I was replying to you... "Give the old
bugger my best". (Sorry Dale, but when faced with the choice of disobeying
SWMBO or facing your wrath, it was a no-brainer).

Bon appetit
Ian in Forges
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