Budapest – Day Three

Still not quite having got over our wine tour yesterday, we were off this morning for a culinary trip. Our guide Andrea from Taste Hungary had a four-hour eating session planned for us, and there was no time to lose. It was going to be action-packed.

We started at the Central Market, one of five markets in Budapest, but the most popular with locals and tourists. Agriculture is the number one industry in Hungary and markets remain the place to purchase fresh produce, although we had noticed that Tesco has some superstores around the capital.

For the Hungarians seasonality is key, and nothing is wasted. Any excess is preserved, and this is evidenced by the wide range of bottled pickled vegetables on display, which are eaten particularly during the winter. Excess fruits are used in alcoholic drinks, and nothing goes to waste in the meat section either. Slabs of smoked lard, and goose fat could be seen at every butcher’s stall in the market, alongside pigs’ trotters, tripe, and chicken heads, legs and feet. Meat had very little fat because, we were told, the cattle were hardy and tough. Consequently, their meat needed to be slow cooked for tenderness.

The market was also popular for eating. Stalls displayed made-up dishes for inquisitive tourists, as shown below.

Our first taster was larded bread with raw sweet red onion topping – a rather comforting snack which brought back some childhood memories. Lard, and tripe, have rather gone out of fashion in the UK today. Then came Langosh – a circular dough rather like a light unsweetened doughnut, topped with a thin layer of sour cream and mild grated cheese. A whole one (costing around a dollar) could last the consumer all day.

I was looking forward to our move onwards to the strudel stall. There were so many varieties on offer – not just the usual apple and cinnamon, but savoury options containing cabbage (tastier than expected), curd cheese, or potato. My favourite was sour cherry.

Heading to the delicatessen stalls we were introduced to six varieties of dried sausage, ranging from the mild smoked pork, through to hot and spicy horse (didn’t see that one coming), and pork with paprika with its heat slowly hitting the throat upon chewing. Smoked beef tongue, surprisingly, felt like we were actually eating a tongue (fatty and tender). Also a surprise was seeing photos of woolley pigs (mangalica). They look like pigs but have a coat similar to a sheep.

Some stallholders had taken great care with their displays as shown below.

All that sampling and chatting called for a hearty lunch, of course, and this was taken at a small restaurant away from the market and popular with the workers. The tradition here at Bel Varosi Disznotoros was to eat standing up. No seats are provided. We tried goulash and pheasant soups (a thin stock with meat and vegetables), followed by grilled cheese, black sausage, duck confit, deep fried courgette, and a wide variety of salads.

But we were not done. We then moved on to coffee shops which were very popular in the 1800s but were banned in the more recent Communist era. Since 2000 they have made a comeback and several are ornate with their Art Deco interiors. Our visit was to Central where we indulged in eszterhazy, a vanilla and walnut thinly layered sponge cake. A cake visit must, of course, include chocolate and we all managed to squeeze in another slice, namely dobos.

We were never far away from alcohol, however, and to complete our tour we headed to a wine sampling at Tasting Table where we enjoyed three wines from different parts of the country, including a rather nice sweet white named Szamorodni from Tokaj, produced in the north east of the country.

The culinary tour proved enlightening, giving an insight not only about the food, but life in Hungary in general. Our trip was made even more pleasing by our knowledgeable guide Andrea, and our fellow travellers for the day – a family of grandparents, parents and children from the United States. Thanks guys!

Copyright text and photos 2019: Sue Barnard