The Hungarian Cookbook - Softcover

Derecskey, Susan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060914378 ISBN 13: 9780060914370

Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks, 1987

Synopsis

The Hungarians, a fierce and proud people, take particular pride in their unique cuisine, which is on a par with the world's finest. It is basically straightforward and simple, its ingredients, for the most part, easily available and its techniques not hard to master. In its imaginative use of meats, vegetables, and grains, and in its special seasonings, it offers the American cook--whether novice or accomplished--a welcome and exhilarating change. A whole new range of flavors and combinations becomes available to the adventurous cook in Susan Derecskey's fine collection of recipes. They include, of course, such classics as goulash and chicken paprikash, but far more unusual and exotic ways to prepare beef and pork and poultry and lamb are detailed. Dumplings and noodles for wonderful soups are easier to make than you might expect, and the many ways of preparing all kinds of vegetables will astonish you. Desserts are superlative and addicting. Suggestions for complete menus and the wines to accompany them add to the book's usefulness.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

'The recipes... are almost delectable enough to eat right off the page.... The interested but inexperience cook will find Mrs. Derecskey's attention to clarity helpful. Even a novice can understand how to execute the recipes from her thorough instructions.'- Los Angeles Times

"Our appetite for this interesting cuisine, a melding of Germanic, Slavic, Tartar, and Turkish influences, has been whetted by [this] excellent new work."--New York Times

About the Author:

Susan Derecskey was born in New York City and educated at Brooklyn College and the University of Strasbourg. She worked in publishing and journalism until she met a transplanted European journalist named Charles Derecskey, by origin a Hungarian from Transylvania, and embarked on the globe-trotting uncertainties of life with a foreign correspondent. Already an accomplished cook in the French mode, she began to cook Hungarian, first as a treat for her husband, then as a parlor trick, finally as an obsession.

When the Derecskeys returned to the United States, Susan already had an extensive collection of notes and recipes she had accumulated and tested wherever they were: the Congo, Paris, Germany andas culmination -- Hungary. Here, in the fine restaurants of Budapest and the more modest establishments and homes of Transylvania, she learned how the classic dishes should be made and developed that instinct for the cuisine that separates the gifted cook from the merely skillful one.

Her husband and two young sons cheered her on through the writing of The Hungarian Cookbook. They still gather every summer in the big kitchen at Ledgewood in the Adirondack Mountains, where many of the recipes in the book were put to the test. This annual ceremony of renewal is bound to feature such enshrined favorites as kohlrabi soup and chicken paprikash and one or more of those fabulous Hungarian desserts.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0060914378
• ISBN 13: 9780060914370
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288