Hongrie

Gulyás

A paprika beef soup, not a stew, cooked over fire in a kettle with potato.

Pörkölt

The thick meat stew foreigners call goulash, onion-heavy and deep red.

Halászlé

Fisherman's soup of Danube carp glowing with paprika, served scalding at Christmas.

Töltött káposzta

Sour cabbage rolls of pork and rice, layered with sauerkraut and smoked ribs.

Lángos

Deep-fried dough disc rubbed with garlic and heaped with sour cream and cheese.

Paprikás csirke

Chicken in a paprika and sour cream sauce, served over pinched egg noodles.

Hortobágyi palacsinta

Savoury pancakes rolled around meat and covered in paprika cream sauce.

Lecsó

Peppers and tomato stewed with onion and lard, with sausage or egg added.

Libamáj

Goose liver fried in its own fat or made into a terrine, a Hungarian mainstay.

Túrós csusza

Wide noodles with curd cheese, sour cream and crisped bacon fat.

Rántott hús

Breaded fried pork, the Sunday and roadside-inn default with potatoes.

Kolbász

Paprika-cured sausage from Gyula or Csaba, smoked hard and sliced thin.

Kürtőskalács

Sweet dough wound on a spit, caramelised in sugar and unwound in a spiral.

Dobos torta

Five thin sponge layers with chocolate buttercream under a sheet of hard caramel.

Somlói galuska

Sponge, walnuts, chocolate sauce and rum, assembled loose and covered in cream.

Rétes

Hand-stretched strudel filled with sour cherry, curd or poppy seed.

Pálinka

Fruit brandy distilled from apricot or plum, drunk before the meal, not after.

Tokaji aszú

Botrytised sweet wine measured in puttonyos, once reserved for kings.

Egri bikavér

Dark red blend from Eger known as bull's blood, named to unnerve besiegers.

Unicum

Black herbal bitter in a round bottle, medicinal and aggressively acquired.