Pollypaprika

I cook Lecsó and am addicted to Tejföl which I put in anything and everything. I try to cook Hungarian as I really love veggies (being a veggie - don't worry - I know I am on a 'meat' thread ). However not many traditional Hungarian recipes are veggie. At the moment everything is tomato based as we have a glut of them...along with the zucchini. Great for pizzas though

bronty

This must be a man thing. If you asked my other half he would say exactly the same. And of course curry.
There is one thing that comes to mind....fresh cream...double, single, anything but not the artificial stuff. Has anyone come across any anywhere? Even the long life cream would be some substitute. I was trying to explain to some Hungarian friends but they don't know what I mean. There is the cooking cream, but I haven't tried that. Has anyone tried it?

bronty

Hungary is not exactly a place for vegetarians/vegans. Though when in season the fresh fruit and veg taste good. Lets keep this thread open as an 'every question about food', not just a meat thread. I certainly have a lot of questions and it is good that Rural H and everyone can offer so much help.

Pollypaprika

One of the reasons why we try and 'grow our own', although this year we were a little unprepared.... But next year....we have high hopes I wonder if it would be a good idea to have another thread re gardening/veggies/fruit trees etc and bundle all these type of questions together.

fidobsa

I also like Lecsó, although mine comes out of a jar from the supermarket. I mostly cook similar meals to what I would do in UK but the ingredients are a bit different. Lecsó I use as part of a sauce for pasta, noodles or rice. I add meat in the form of diced meatloaf or salami or chopped up sausages that I've already grilled. If I happen to be near the CBA supermarket I get a pack of chicken portions which I cook and have one hot that day and the others cold on subsequent days. The freezer usually contains those cordon bleu things, beefburgers, fish fingers, turkey or chicken burgers, and some things called "baromfi fasírt". I like Magyaros vajkrém and sometimes put some in the mashed potatoes.

judybaby

We have a friend in the next village who used to have a pig farm, he is going to teach us ( Brian!) about butchering etc.

You can get what I think is double cream in a sachet at Tesco & Spar it's called
Habtejszin 30% and it's by Oke. I have used it in sauces and to make ice cream and it is fine. I have also whipped it and that works too.

Our veggies were a bit of a disaster this year due to the lack of rain ( although I did water nearly every night) and our being so busy on the house. We hope to do better next year.

No, we got a couple of spots of rain the other night. Not enough to even water the garden. We have not had any rain for about 10 weeks now!

Rural Hungary

Habtejszin which isn't what we would call double cream but does whip, is the closest you will get. It can be a pain to work with though as it separated very easily, adding habifix can help but gives it a slightly different taste. Apparently, many Hungarians use a cream charger and this prevents separating, I have yet to find one for sale here though Tesco do sell the cartridges.

Rural Hungary

I think there are a couple of threads on veg and fruit trees - will see if I can find them.

Rural Hungary

Didn't realise how much I used cornflour until I moved here! Normal flour does as a substitute in some dishes but is too "floury" for some. Also use cornflour as a tempura type batter as it is lighter than normal flour and mustn't forget - making Turkish delight and custard.

Rural Hungary

All a distant memory

bronty

What is the 'fozo' habtejszin. The cooking cream? Has anyone used this and whats it for. I understand the 'plastic' cream (my description by the way)and the sour cream, tejfol, but I saw this in the shop.

PaulinEger

Bronty, sorry I didn't get back sooner. We asked our friend if he'd ask his contact but he's rather reluctant to as it's a friend of a friend thing, doing "us" a good turn but not wanting to turn it into a bigger deal. If that makes any sense. It was a bit awkward and he doesn't want to push his luck. Sorry.

bronty

Thanks Paul, no probelms at all. I appreciate that you went out of your way to enquire. However, the search goes on, if you don't ask you don't get.
I'll make enquiries when I am there too, though any info from anyone would be of help, regarding anything.
If we can help each other, why not.

Rural Hungary

Do you want me to get the phone number of the farmer in our village? By rights he should donate one for free considering the amount of EU grants he receives I found a very interesting site that shows individual grants given out and suffice to say there are a couple of farmers in our village who must be very well off!

bronty

Better I speak to them personally, you can get more of a feel of who and what you are dealing with then. No problems, I will be there soon.
As for money.... don't get me started, probably should be written on another thread....
You will find that most Hungarians will plead poverty and whine all the time, wanting what they think you have. The UK has one of the lowest pensions in europe. Not unlike Greece, where the OAP pension was 1750 euros a month, though now reduced to 1250 euros - because they cooked the books. In the UK it will be (not yet...£520) 650 euros a month, the highest in the UK so far. In Italy, they have sibling pensions: when someone in the family dies, their pension goes to the rest of the family. Thats nice, and worth a pretty penny.
Their pensions are higher and they still retain some of the benefits from the cold war years. They also have grants from the EU, which believe me are very high. They have too many benefits to mention, and I don't know the translation in English because we have no such things in the UK. Hungarians have a lot more than they make out, but they will not tell you. Please don't be fooled.
Now's a good time to stop I think, and go back to lamb.