The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-22
INTERESTING TO WELL-KEP1 HOUSEHOLDS
HUNGARIAN FARE
is very TOOTHSONE

A teacher of English who had en-
| trance into the most exclusive circle of
New Yorks Hungarian colony last
winter, and spring. being employed
| to coach a little boy in the language
of his adopted country. is busily sing
| ing the praises of the cooking she en-
| countered.
There may be better living in New
| York" she says, but 1 have never
| found it,
| When the various Hungarian restau-
| rants in New York We're suggested the
teacher of English smiled. The fare in
such places, she explained, bears about
| the same resemblance to that in the
| good Hungarian home as does the
| ready made garment, procurable at $25,
| to the custom made creation from
Paris
| The cooking of the ordinary evening
| meal in a Hungarian household takes
| fully three hours the teacher ex-
| plains. mo ready prepared article
| finds favor there. Though the family
| in which I taught was only moderate
| ly well off, according to American
standards, they had fresh vegetables
on their table all winter.
ION the other hand. while the dol
| lar was never stinted, the penny was
never wasted. The careful shopping
of the wealthy foreign housewife is a
revelation to one accustomed to our
ways. Then, too, in the Hungarian
menu, we find many homely vegeta bles
and meats. despised OF American
housewives, cooked and favored and
dressed into things of beauty and joys
to the palate.
Take the plebeian hamburger steak.
for instance. The American cook mixes
it with q little onion, puts bit of
butter in the center, and fries it for
twenty minutes.
''The Hungarian woman chooses ii
good cut of steak and has it chopped to
her order. Then she breaks an egg into
a bowl adds the soft inside of Vienna
roll, small onion, grated, paprika and
salt, and into this stirs the meat, and
after mixing all together forms it into
ball.
Into a saucepan or kettle which has
a tightly fitting cover she puts an
onion which she has fried brown in
butter, then the meat ball. cuts one or
two tomatoes into quarters and puts
them around it, covers and lets simmer
gently for half an hour. Then the
meat is turned, gently so as not to
break the ball. and SINNERS another
thirty minutes.
when served, garnished with its
dressing Of tomatoes and sliced onions,
it is as pretty to behold as it is tooth
some and tender. The tomatoes are
left unsweetened and give pleasant
snap to the dish.
Another way of cooking it is to add
a tablespoonful of rice 10 the mixture,
then hollow out green peppers and stuff
them with the meat. Brown a little
flour in butter in the bottom of a sauce
pan, stir in tomatoes gradually until
the saucepan is half full. and when
boiling drop the stuffed peppers into
it and let simmer for half an hour.
"Still another favorite way of serv-
ing this meat mixture is to wrap it in
leaves of fresh sauerkraut, boil, and
bring it upon the table in this covering.
Not from religious principles but
from those of health my Hungarian
friends patronized the kosher butch
ers. Thus they had the assurance that
none of their meat had been killed more
than twenty-four hours. A chicken
was always bought alive, and killed
plucked and drawn only few hours
before being cooked.
INV former firm conviction that meat
cooked within day or so of the kill
ing must necessarily be tough was en-
tfrely dispelled by my course of Hun
garian dinners. Never before had 1
tasted any more tender The cooking,
however. had much, in fact everything,
to do with this. Quick broiled steaks
and chops, or even meats roasted IN
the oven, are cutie unknown.
''Porterhouse steaks are cut two or
three inches thick. placed in a kettle
with seasoning, and just enough butter
to keep them from sticking, the pot
covered tightly and the meat allowed
to cook very gently in it's own juice
for three hours. 1t comes on the table
so tender that one can almost cut it
with a fork. and yet with all it's juicy
nourishment intact, except the little
which. drawn forth by the heat, mingles
with the butter and seasoning to form
a delicious gravy
t.In this same manner fricassees or |
chicken and veal are prepared in the /
Hungarian household. They come to
the table steaming and savory, and
red with the paprika used as a season
ing. Gravies of pure blood juice are I
the only ones the Hungarians acknowl- t
edge as eatable.
Cream soups In the GOOD hungarian
menu are made by gradually stirring
real sour cream into vegetable soup /
while it is boiling. and then allowing 1t
tn boil ND once more until it thiekens.
The tart taste thus given is much re-
Iished by these foreigners, and I grew
to like it Immensely myself. Even IN
midwinter fresh vegetables We're used
as the foundation of all such soups,
string beans, peas and potatoes being
the most popular.
"Tn making a clear chicken soup they
will sometimes mix an egg with a tea
spoonful of -four, and then add it.
drop or two at time. to the boiling
LIQUID, where it Immediately cooks IN
a. myriad of tiny particles. far more
delicious in a soup. to my way of think
ing. than either rice or barley.
..Then they form various desserts by
stirring noodles in a pan of hot butter
fta, thew have been boiled, Sweeten-