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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Hungary
Yeast dough hand-opened and fried until golden, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. The classic topping is sour cream, grated cheese and, if you like, garlic. A street food found at fairs, markets and beaches across the country.
Traditional dish from Hungary
Also known as: langos
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Lángos — Hungary
Lángos originated connected to bread. In rural homes, scraps of dough scraped from the kneading trough, or pieces pinched from the bread dough, were baked in the oven and eaten hot. Over time, the dough came to be fried—first in animal fat and later in oil—and took its current form: a large disk of medium thickness, crunchy outside and soft inside.
The traditional topping is sour cream (tejföl), grated cheese and, for those who want it, garlic. Today there are sweet and savory versions with many other toppings, and some recipes include cooked potatoes in the dough.
Lángos is street food throughout the country. It appears at fairs, municipal markets, popular festivals and on the banks of rivers and lakes, including beside Lake Balaton, where lángos stalls are part of the summer scene. It’s eaten standing up, while still hot, holding the dough with your hands or wrapped in paper.
In 2023, lángos was added to the Collection of Hungarikumok, the official list of national values of Hungary. The official entry describes the ideal lángos as medium thickness, not too oily, soft inside and crunchy outside.
Hungary
Street food linked to the bread-baking tradition, found at fairs, markets and beaches across the country, with no documented single place of origin.
Wheat flour dough with yeast, water or milk and salt, sometimes with cooked potato; oil for frying; sour cream, grated cheese and garlic for the classic topping.
Right after frying, while still hot, with sour cream, grated cheese and garlic to taste. Eaten with the hands, standing at a stall or on the beach.
Everyday street food, more common in summer, at beaches, and at fairs and popular festivals.
Your questions
A fried yeast dough, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, traditionally topped with sour cream, grated cheese and garlic. It is one of the most common street foods in Hungary.
Sour cream (tejföl), grated cheese and garlic to taste. Today there are also versions with other sweet and savory toppings.
At fairs, markets, popular festivals and on the banks of rivers and lakes across the country, including beside Lake Balaton.
Flavors of Hungary
Wine mixed with sparkling water (szóda), in proportions that have their own names, such as kisfröccs, hosszúlépés and házmester. White, rosé or red, it is the summer drink of Hungary’s bars, cellars and terraces.
Beef soup with plenty of broth, onion, paprika, diced potato and csipetke, a pinched noodle that cooks in the pot. It is made without thickening with flour. The name comes from the gulyás, the herdsmen of the Great Plain.
Sweet yeast dough rolled into a strip on a wooden spindle, baked while turned over embers and coated with caramelized sugar. It comes off the spindle in the shape of a hollow cylinder. It originated in the Land of the Székely in Transylvania and is sold at fairs and Christmas markets throughout Hungary.
Fruit brandy distilled in Hungary from plum, apricot, pear, apple, cherry and many others. By law the fruit must be grown in Hungary, and all stages from fermentation to bottling must take place in the country. It is a protected geographical indication of the European Union.
Christmas bonbon, usually a fondant candy covered in chocolate, wrapped in shiny colored foil and hung on the branches of the Christmas tree. The most common fillings are fruit jelly, marzipan, coconut and caramel.
Baja fish soup from the banks of the Danube, made with carp, onion and ground paprika cooked together in a cauldron, without straining the broth. It’s served over a thin noodle, gyufatészta, with the fish on the side and hot pepper.
Layered sponge cake with thin layers of sponge alternated with chocolate buttercream and topped with a sheet of caramel. It was created by pastry chef József C. Dobos, owner of a delicatessen in Budapest, and presented at the 1885 National General Exhibition.
Crepe folded and filled with walnuts, raisins and candied orange peel, flavored with rum and topped with chocolate sauce. It is named after the Gundel restaurant in Budapest’s City Park, which put it on the menu; the recipe is attributed to Ilona Matzner, wife of the writer Sándor Márai.
Bitter herbal liqueur, dark, produced by the Zwack family in Budapest with a secret recipe of more than 40 herbs and spices, aged in oak casks. The round bottle with a cross on the label is recognised throughout the country.
Szeged river fish soup, red from paprika, made with a thick broth of several fish, carp heads and bones, and onion, passed through a sieve. Carp pieces cook in that broth, and the soup is served with bread and hot pepper on the side.
Sweet wine from the Tokaj wine region in northeastern Hungary, made from grapes affected by noble rot and harvested berry by berry. The aszú berries are crushed and macerated in must or wine, and the wine ages in oak barrels in underground cellars.
White wine from the kéknyelű grape, grown almost exclusively in the Badacsony wine region on the northern shore of Lake Balaton. The grape’s name means “blue stem.” The wines are usually dry with marked acidity, and there are also sparkling and sweet versions.
