Jókenyér

nospam@example.com (SF) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:42:00 -0700

At Kaiser Szupermarkets I always buy what I think is the best bread in town. They are these little 250g rounds from a company called JóKenyér ("Good Bread") from Ludwig & Mentesi Kft.

They come in a number of different flavors. There is Paradicsom (sun-dried tomato), Hagyma (onion), Foghagyma (garlic), Olajbogyó (olive) and Paprika (do I have to spell it out?). JóKenyér also have larger loaves that are good, but I like these little ones.

These little guys barely break $1.25 each, so they're a great value. And they make the best toast ever - especially the Paradicsom variety. Great with Hungarian Tihany camembert too - another brand worth checking out. At $2 an oval, it's quite a nice taste.

Trendy Hungarian Pigs

nospam@example.com (SF) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:33:00 -0700

Scanning the American press yesterday, looking to find out what journalists on the other side of the pond are saying about my beloved Hungary. Opened up the New York Times to find this little article:

An Old Breed of Hungarian Pig Is Back in Favor

No it's not a piece on the Magyar Garda's nostalgia for Admiral Horthy... It's about the new fad in gourmet cooking, the animal that every celebrity chef in America is sharpening their knives to slaughter. It's the Hungarian Mangalitsa (or Mangalica) Pig.

An American food writer went all the way out to Emod Istvánmajor and met these crazy-looking curly haired pigs up-close and personal. According to him, eating a BLT made with bacon from this pig will kill you from sheer bliss, and you are a big nobody if you don't demand an entreee made with this kind of pork next time you're out at Chez Panisse or Picholine.

The Mangalitsa was on the brink of extinction in the 90s until a Hungarian animal geneticist named Péter Tóth rescued a few hundred of them and started breeding them again. His efforts have been lauded by gourmands and food bloggers for their meat which possesses a high fat content and refinement of flavor that big old Iowa hogs can't match.

And of course, the fact that the pig was almost extinct makes it so much more flavorful to the palate. Being able to expound upon the superior virtues of this rare and incredibly expensive pork to those less educated about fine cuisine gives the meat of the Mangalitsa the magical quality of tasting good when you aren't even eating it.

I say that anything good for the Hungarian economy is OK by me. I hope Hungarian farmers can get on the pig train and make a tidy bundle fattening these guys up and selling them to Americans with waaaaaaaay too much money to burn.

Gyurcsany, come back! We've got the solution to the economic crisis! Mangalica sertés!

SF in Budapest - Food and Cuisine

Jókenyér

Trendy Hungarian Pigs