14-Day Hungary
Itinerary

Gulyás (Goulash)

Hungary's national dish and the world's most misappropriated recipe — a paprika-orange beef and onion soup (not a stew) cooked with caraway, green pepper and potato; the base is a sofrito of lard and two full tablespoons of sweet Hungarian paprika (the variety matters enormously); the Hungarian original is nothing like the thick Central European stews that carry its name.

Chicken Paprikash

Hungary's most comforting dish — chicken pieces braised in a sauce of lard-fried onion, sweet and hot paprika and sour cream until the sauce is brick-red, silky and slightly tangy; served with nokedli, small egg dumplings pressed through a sieve directly into boiling water; the paprika must be fresh-ground Hungarian; nothing else has the right fragrance.

Lángos

Hungary's essential street food — a deep-fried flat dough of potato and yeast, pulled thin and submerged in oil until it puffs and blisters; topped tableside with sour cream and grated cheese (the canonical version), garlic butter, or a combination; sold at every Hungarian market and Balaton beach resort; consumed hot, oily and unashamedly.

Halászlé (Fisherman's Soup)

Hungary's great Christmas Eve dish and the pride of the Danube-Tisza region — a searingly red, paprika-intense fish soup made from several varieties of freshwater fish (carp, catfish, perch) simmered with copious amounts of Szeged sweet and hot paprika; the Bajai version (noodles inside) versus the Baja-Szeged debate is Hungary's great culinary schism.

Dobos Torte

Hungary's most famous pastry — seven paper-thin sponge layers sandwiched with a chocolate buttercream, the top caramelised into a shattering amber toffee that is scored before it sets so each slice cracks perfectly; invented by confectioner József Dobos in 1884 and served to Emperor Franz Joseph; the recipe was a closely guarded secret until Dobos donated it on his retirement.