(The cover photo is a vegetable stand in Budapest in 1987.)
Your faithful correspondent enjoys an affectionate relationship with fish soup of all varieties, a genre he cherishes expansively, embracing New England clam chowder, French bouillabaisse, gumbo from Louisiana, Thai Tom Yum Goong, and a great many more tasty, waterborne edible concoctions.
One time at an eatery in Hungary I opted for Balatoni halaszle, soup from the Lake Balaton region that uses freshwater fish (carp, catfish and fogas, a pike-perch variant) with onions, garlic, tomatoes and hot peppers.
I can’t remember when or where this meal materialized, although probably in 1997 in Budapest, and my reason for mentioning it is that however long it has been since I consumed this soup, the flavor remains vivid in my mind.
Balatoni halaszle is a treat not to be missed. Just don’t forget to be vigilant; stray bones are a fact of life when devouring bottom-feeders.
In 1987 during my first visit to Hungary, I stopped at a butcher shop in Sopron, state-owned but well-stocked, and caught my first glimpse of Pick salami.
I bought a few slices and a roll, and was immediately and forever radicalized. A few days later in Budapest, there was a place selling the small (circa 400 grams) “stick” of Pick, which I carved away at for at least two weeks with a Swiss Army knife, sufficing as an all-purpose meal paired with peppers, tomatoes and bread.
That was the thing about Hungary; for an East Bloc nation, the food was relatively plentiful, whether at eateries or street stands. “Goulash communism” allowed for a measure of private business activity, and the Hungarians seem to be artful side hustlers. These various reforms weren’t enough to forestall communism’s collapse in 1989, but in relative terms, they made it easier to find salami, carp soup and other Hungarian culinary achievements.
Of course, the situation is vastly different almost 40 years later.
The Jewish History of Pick Salami, Hungary’s Most Iconic Pork Product, by Daniella Cheslow (Tablet)
I went to the three-story Central Market Hall, the largest and oldest covered market in the city. On the ground floor, vegetable stalls were packed with staples like dried red pepper, strings of garlic, piles of hot green pepper,...Read more
