Hungarian Mushroom Soup?

[Jenise]

I had never heard of Hungarian Mushroom Soup until I moved to the Pacific Northwest. But here it's popular, enough that multiple restaurants I've been to in Bellingham have it on their menus. I've never tasted it though until today, when I heated up some brought over by a friend for our dinner.

I have no idea how typical it was since I have no basis for comparison, but it had no dairy element,and the only other one I've laid eyes on--in the grab n' go case at a local deli who have it available every day of the week--is creamy with what I suspect is sour cream. It's essentially a meatless goulash.

Today I mentioned to my brother that it was what we were having for dinner and he said, "What's that? Never heard of it." Made me laugh out loud as I was kind of thinking maybe I was the only person who had not heard of it. And it's notable that neither of us had since our stepmother Betty was bonafide Hungarian, the daughter of a mail order bride immigrant so famous in Los Angeles for her authentic cooking that Bela Lugosi, also Hungarian, was a frequent guest at Betty's childhood home. And for a period of 6 or 7 years Bob and I had Hungarian best friends, both of whom were also heavily accented immigrants. I've eaten a LOT of Hungarian food!

So what about the rest of you--know of it? Or is it just a thing in my neck of the woods just because someone put a bunch of paprika into a cream of mushroom soup?

I googled it and found several recipes, including one from the 1974 Moosewood Cookbook. They all involve sliced mushrooms, Hungarian sweet paprika, and sour cream.

-Paul W.

I have no idea where to buy Hungarian mushrooms.

[Jenise]

Paul, thanks for that. Makes sense that it would come from the Moosewood book. Lot of ex-hippies up here and it seems to be a vegetarian staple. Like I said, kind of a meatless goulash.

Jeff, that's funny. Btw, if you're Hungarian you don't call something Hungarian. The shorthand is "Hunky".

Jeff, that's funny. Btw, if you're Hungarian you don't call something Hungarian. The shorthand is "Hunky".

I work with a Hungarian woman. I shall have to ask her if that's still common parlance. (And maybe she knows where to buy Hunky Mushrooms?)
Last time she and I talked about food, she was making potato muffins because, she said, whenever Hungarians are upset, they make potato muffins to feel better.

"Hunky" is an ethnic slur, like "wop" for Italians. My uncle married a "Hunky," whom my grandmother hated and used that disparaging term regarding her.

Looks like good hearty winter fare: (sorry you missed the Harira soup I made for last month's lunch - similar good winter dish)

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... hroom-soup

[Jenise]

"Hunky" is an ethnic slur, like "wop" for Italians. My uncle married a "Hunky," whom my grandmother hated and used that disparaging term regarding her.

I learned it from Betty! She used it all the time as a matter of pride, not disparaging at all so of course nothing like that was intended by my comment.

I work with a Hungarian woman. I shall have to ask her if that's still common parlance.

I realize now that I never reported back on this one.

I failed to ask her about the term "hunky".

But I did get a lesson in Hungarian Mushroom Soup! (Though her translation and Google Translate don't match very well.)

The rest of this post was written by Ildika:
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Subject: gombaleves

Good Morning Jeff (well it will be when you read this tomorrow) thought I would send it to you tonight since I'll be off rest of the week.

image004.jpg

In this picture, top left, is what the soup should look like, I point this out because there are a lot of recipes out there but the real one should look like this. Upper middle by the way is "floating islands" my favorite dessert. OK back to Hungarian mushroom soup, I realize this just gives the ingredients in this picture which might not be so helpful, many Hungarian cookbooks are terrible about not giving amounts and it seems this book of mine is the same way but never the less...

This recipe is the closest with amounts: https://cookpad.com/hu/receptek/15925517-magyaros-gomba-leves This version adds other vegetables and that's ok, you can choose to add them or not but so I'll translate:

Magyaros Gomba Leves
Mennyei Magyaros Gomba Leves recept!

2 tbsp butter
2 carrots
2 parsnips
1 red onion
2 (honestly bella mushrooms are great in this soup)
2 tbsp marjoram
1 bouillon cube
1 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp podravka if you have if not Knorr chicken bouillon is also really good
2 liters water

For the soup:
1. Saute onion in butter, add paprika and stir (don't let paprika cook long in oil it gets bitter)
2. add carrots and mushrooms; saute a bit
3. add marjoram, salt, pepper add the water
4. cover and cook until vegetables are tender

For the little dumplings:
1. Mix 1 egg, 5 tbsp flour a bit of salt and butter, mix and drop in soup one half teaspoon size at a time (it will make the tiny dumplings)

To serve:
Then when vegetables are tender in soup, mix 325 gram sour cream with one tablespoon flour and a spoonful of the soup, mix it it will make a slurry, put that into the soup, bring up to a gentle boil just once then turn off heat, sprinkle parsley on top and that's it
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oh the mushrooms - 2 containers of them should work and you don't have to add the carrots or parsnips only if you want to, both ways is good

Happy cooking

Ildi