How is the dish prepared according to the Gundel recipe?
We make it from one of the best quality "Kendermagos" hungarian chicken that is originated in the Kurca river area of the hungarian Great Plains and is rich in flavour and tender. The bones and cartilages are braised for hours to make a stew base with onions, peppers and tomatoes. The rich and thick sauce is strained, the chicken is cooked in it, so that the meat absorbs all the flavours of the thick, creamy gravy, and then the sauce is lightened with sour cream. The dumplings are torn by hand from a board, as is our tradition. Place multi-coloured crispy strips of paprika on the plate as a refreshing garnish. The inevitable accompaniment to the dish is the cucumber salad with sour cream and garlic.
How did the recipe become part of the tradition, part of the Gundel heritage?
Most people think of chicken paprikash as an old Hungarian dish that has been around for centuries. Many people mix up the chicken paprikash with chicken paprikash with sour cream or chicken stew, which can also be cooked in a cauldron (bogrács). These last two are based on a traditional stew with a stewing sauce. The recipe for chicken paprikash sauce, however, originated just a few decades ago at Gundel. Nowadays, it is a dish that everyone knows from the Gundel heritage.
Why was it selected for the National 11, considered the essence of Hungarian flavours?
Chicken with ‘paprika’ is a dish that is probably loved by everyone in Hungary, families make it the same way, there is no difference. There is also complete agreement on the side dish: it can only be "galuska" or "nokedli". What is the difference between galuska and nokedli? They both have the same basic ingredients: a soft, runny dough made from eggs, flour, salt and water. It is dredged in boiling water, typically by hand from a board for nokedli and by hand through a perforated plate for ‘galuska’. Therefore, the "galuska" are slightly smaller in size but taste the same. This classic dish is traditionally accompanied by Hungarian cucumber salad with sour cream, which is also part of our tradition.
