Hungary has always been famous for its gastronomy and hospitality all around the world.
It is not a coincidence that tens of thousands of people visit Hungary every year to experience and get an insight into the way of life, the culture and the unique gastronomy.
Hungarian gastronomy has a long and rich history and nowadays people working in the catering industry try to renew the traditional tastes and dishes following the latest trends in the world. The result of their persistent work is significant and visible.
Recently Hungary has maintained a solid and prestigious place on the world map of gastronomy: the number of restaurants with Michelin star(s) is growing, more and more tourists choose Hungary as a destination for culinary tours.
Several prestigious international events contribute to the growth of the country’s popularity all around the word, for instance, the Bocuse d’Or competition that was named after Paul Bocuse, the founding president of the competition.
It is important to know that in 2013 the Hungarian team won the 10th place and in 2016 Budapest, the capital city got the right to organise the European finals of Bocuse d’Or and in that year, the Hungarian team won 1st place of the European finals.
All these results show that Hungary is a very significant “player” in the world of gastronomy. But Hungary would not be so successful and Hungarian gastronomy would not be so popular without the high-quality ingredients that are grown and produced in Hungary and in Hungarian soil.
Hungary is in a lucky position when we talk about climate. It climate is a continental climate that is characterised by warm summers and relatively cold winters. The constant change of the four seasons creates an environment that is suitable for several kinds of fruit and vegetables.
This is when palinka comes into the picture since high quality palinka is made of high quality fruit and this also applies to dishes, especially soups. Hungary is considered to be a ‘soup-consumer’ country and it is true.
Soups are typical dishes of Hungarian cuisine, served hot and cold usually as a first course. Regular soup consumption is a guarantee of adequate fluid retention, while it reduces calorie absorption by attenuating hunger and is therefore beneficial for body weight maintenance.
Just like soup consumption, palinka consumption is also part of the Hungarian culture and palinka is one of the main values of Hungarian gastronomy.
Palinka can be used to make delicious soups; it provides delicious flavour and fragrance. Palinka is used especially for fruit soups and not only in winter around Christmas but all around the year. The most popular soups made with palinka are raspberry soup, sour cherry soup and quince soup.
It is adviseable to use matching flavour palinka, for instance: raspberry palinka for the raspberry soup, sour cherry palinka for the sour cherry soup etc.
Here is a popular recipe for Cold sour cherry soup with palinka
Ingredients: sour cherry, butter, flour, milk, cooking cream, pinch of salt, sugar, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, cloves, honey sour cherry palinka
Preparation: all the ingredients should be mixed together, the spices should be added after the mixture is ready and then it needs to be cooked for 5 minutes, while pouring the milk into it. When it is completely chilled, the cooled palinka should be added and then it can be served.
