Expat Explainer: Szaloncukor – Hungarian Xmas Candy
22 Dec 2020 12:01 PM At the end of November and the beginning of December the Hungarian postal services sends innumerable packages abroad, as Hungarian families all over the world love to receive and decorate the Christmas tree with szaloncukor - a traditional Hungarian candy.
Practically every Hungarian family puts up a Christmas tree these days. This custom was adopted from Hungarians of German descent at the beginning of the 19th century.
In the early days it was only the aristocrats who could afford a Christmas tree – one of the oldest records describes the richly decorated fir tree belonging to the Duchess Therese Brunswick (1775 1861), allegedly Beethoven’s “immortal beloved.”
Translated by Fanni Kaszás
As the base of the dish is cabbage, Hungary’s oldest crop dating back almost 8,000 years, we might think stuffed cabbage may have really been born locally, or at least it is a product of Slavic culture. However, in reality it actually has a much more southeastern history – at least in part.
Although Hungarians have prepared a similar dish long before the first written mention of it, it was first called “cabbage meat” in the country. The dish was not much different from today’s stuffed cabbage, only in that it was not “stuffed.”
The first written mention of cabbage meat can be found in the 17th century manuscript cookbook of the Zrínyi court in Csáktornya, written before 1662. At that time, this dish was so popular that many people referred to it as the “Coat of Arms of Hungary.” In the 18th century, stuffed cabbage, more similar to today’s dish, was spread around the Balkans as well as in Hungary. However, paprika had not yet been
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Those who take the Holiday self-guided tours of the Daly Mansion before Christmas will see some seasonal extras in the three floors of the classic building on the northeast edge of Hamilton.
The main entrance and porch have wreaths and swags to welcome visitors. Inside, a number of rooms are decorated to highlight different aspects of the holiday season. For instance, in the kitchen, it looks like someone left in the middle of creating gingerbread men, with the dough cut out on a baking pan and flour scattered around - even on the floor (photo below).
Also on the first floor, the master dining room is celebrating the preparation for a 1800 s-style feast with immaculate table setting, a Christmas tree and a nice-looking mantel over over the hearth (photo above).
Fish soup is arguably the most controversial dish in Hungarian gastronomy, but it is also an important element of the Hungarian Christmas table. Basically, we define three main types of fish soup in Hungary: the Tisza, the Danube, and the Balaton-type fish soup. Among these, the fish soup of Szeged is the most famous within the Tisza sub-group.
Translated by Fanni Kaszás
The main difference between the different types of fish soups is that the Danube fish soups are not puréed and offered with pasta, while on the other side of the country, the base of the fish soup is a much more dense, puréed mix. Believers of the two different methods have been fighting each other for centuries to see who lays claim to the real, traditional method.