It is here. It is exactly one year since we had the crazy idea to eliminate our free time and start this blog. Yes, I remember very fondly the time when we were playing with templates and arguing over what are we going to publish on our blog. Our mission was and still is to introduce Central European food to the rest of the world. We try to recreate Hungarian, Slovak, and Czech recipes in an American environment (more so now that we live in California). Our mission was very successful last year, because we reached hearts, minds, and stomachs of expats, a few second-generation immigrants and people who spent some time in Central Europe and miss the awesome food. Our mission for the next year will be to introduce this food to the uninitiated: people who have never experienced Central European food. We have some strategies in mind. No, kidnapping people and force feeding them is NOT one of them. But cooking for school picnics might be.

Since we started this blog I had the chance to meet amazing people with amazing stories and recipes of their own. They should start a blog! It is not that hard to do. And in the next year, I am going to show you how. I am planning to put together a few posts on how to start a blog and how to do basic photography and maybe video. I hope I can motivate you to start your own empire.

There is one more thing I need to get off my chest. The general economical downturn has affected everyone. Therefore I am considering to put a few ads on the page. My plan was to find a sponsor and to not bother you with “random” ads, but unfortunately Central European food is a very niche market in the US and I do not think I can find an individual sponsor. I would be really happy if you would give me your input about this issue. Would ads bother you? Would it change your opinion about the blog?

So happy birthday Emperors Crumbs! How better to celebrate then with Katy’s favorite “Méteres Kalács/Meter Cake”. Celebrate with us!

Slice the cake

Spread the pudding, then add the banana

Glue the cake parts back together - Frankencake!

Spread the pudding on top

Top it with chocolate glaze and slice diagonally

Enjoyed with good espresso, it could take you to heaven.

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Meter Cake

This is no fancy confection you get in Hungarian sweet shops. This is home-made goodness made with lots of heart and love (and a package of pudding mix). The chocolate disks (callets) from Trader Joe’s worked perfectly for the chocolate coating.

Ingredients

Feeds 8 people.

• 2 cups flour
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ½ cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbs cocoa powder
• 8 oz melting chocolate
• 1 package vanilla pudding
• 3 cups milk (to prepare pudding)
• 2 bananas

Method

• Make the pudding according to the directions and set it aside to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F/190° C. Grease two 9×5″ (large) loaf pans.
• Combine the flour and baking powder
• Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Add sugar, oil and the lukewarm water to the egg yolks and mix well.
• Beat the egg whites and incorporate into the egg yolk mixture
• Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Divide the mixture into 2 equal parts.
• Add cocoa powder to the first half and vanilla extract to the second one.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pans and bake them for 30 minutes.
• Allow the cakes to cool completely, then slice them about ½-inch thick. Spread a layer of pudding generously on each slice, reserving about 1/3 of the pudding. Place a few slices of bananas on top of the pudding, then line up the cake slices, alternating chocolate and vanilla pieces so you have sort of reconstructed the cake so it’s twice as long, with banana between each slice and plenty of pudding to “glue” it all together. Don’t worry if it looks a little uneven, the next steps take care of that!
• Cover the cake with the remaining pudding. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, then coat the pudding on the cake with a layer of chocolate.
• Allow the cake to cool and set for a couple of hours.
• In order to get the two-color effect, slice the cake along the diagonal.

Street food is the soul of the nation. It is true all over the world, except the USA. In Fort Mason, overlooking the San Francisco Bay, national identification merges with the scenery.

Let me back up a little bit. It is 2006 and I am visiting California. My in-laws respect my obsession with food and they love to show me fancy eateries. And I reciprocate, since I love to try them. It may have been a bit shocking for them when they asked me  about my favorite restaurant during my 2006 stay and I told them it was a taco truck.  Yes. The taco truck, which feeds workers in Napa. I remember very fondly visiting John, his vineyard, talking to the ripening grapes, uncovering the “sun blocking leaves”, and hoping to learn something about viticulture that could make my grapes in Slovakia the same as John’s in California. While the last will never happen, I do have happy memories of a taco truck, where I had my first encounter with pulled pork, as Anthony Bourdain would say a “noble beast”. And that memory stayed with me until last Friday.

Learning about a food-pornographic, decadent and morally filthy activity known as a “meeting of taco/food/catering trucks” was a revalation for me and I canceled all my job interviews. Jump in the car, let’s go! I have to admit, part of me was scared. I have such a fond memory of that first taco truck. What if these guys will ruin it? Well, see the result for yourself.

So what’s next? Why would I blog about it on a “Central European” blog? Simply because I want to do it! I don’t think I have the energy and the drive of those fanatics in Fort Mason but why not try it at home? Not the same I know, but I set my sights on making a totally crazy fusion cuisine something. Oh yes, lecsó/pork/bao/buns. It is time for Hungary to meet China, and this time it is not about the cheap Chinese “büfe” known from the streets of Budapest. This time Hungarian lecsó meets Chinese-American baked bao! Let’s introduce them to each other.

For buns I used a recipe and technique from About.com.

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Hungarian Lecso Pork

We made a similar recipe very recently. This time I felt the need to replace the chicken with pork. This is a rustic dish and it can be altered as you wish. If you are crazy, you can skip the bacon and go for vegetable oil. This time, try to boil away as much moisture as you can.

Ingredients

Feeds 4 people.

• ½ pound pork (a fattier cut, like shoulder)
• 2 wax peppers (Anaheim, Pablano)
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 strip smoked bacon
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tsp paprika
• pepper to taste

Method

• Cut the pork into ½ inch strips or cubes. Dice the bacon and the onions. Slice the pepper and the tomatoes into circles.
• Start frying the bacon on medium high heat to render some fat, then add the onions.
• When onions are translucent or even caramelized (burned) on the edges add the pork cook on all sides (5-6 min) and then add the peppers and the pepper and paprika.
• When peppers start to shrivel (7-15 min), add the tomatoes. Toss together and cook for 7 more minutes.
• Add half a cup of water or wine and lower the heat. Simmer until the liquid evaporates and the mixture thickens.

With our respective families 6000 miles apart, one thing Valerian and I have done together a lot is travel. And with two kids added to the mix now, we arm ourselves seriously when we head out to the airport: books, toys, changes of clothes, and of course, snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. When your kids start to get squirrely, sometimes a treat that would normally be off-limits is just what you need to get through the last hours of a 14-hour flight.

Some of the other things we’ve stashed in our carry-ons to amuse the small fry have included a small notebook and the cheapest set of coloring pens I could find; a set of trading cards; a box of band-aids for peeling and sticking at will, as well as other stickers; sets of little animals, preferably packaged in a plastic tube (often putting things in the tube is the best part of these toys); finger puppets; a magnadoodle.

As far as snacks go, I do nod towards healthy stuff like mini carrots, crackers, string cheese, etc. But really, when you’re looking for distraction as much as nutrition, this might be the time to bust out the Dora the Explorer shaped fruit snax, or whatever. The following recipe is a bit of both – I put in plenty of dried fruit and even chocolate chips, but by making it yourself you can avoid the high-fructose corn syrup and artificial colors.

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On the go Bars

This recipe is pretty flexible – you could swap in ingredients like whole wheat flour, or add some soy flour for protein, use different fruit, nuts, other seeds, use maple syrup instead of honey, add a little cinnamon or ginger powder, and so on. The mixture needs to hold together when you press it into the pan, so chop larger pieces of fruit or nuts, and add a little more liquid if mixture seems very crumbly. Even pretty small kids can help make it, too – mixing with fingers and patting it into the pan can be a fun activity between rushing around getting your bags packed.

Ingredients

Makes about 36 bars

• 1¾ C/200 g rolled oats
• 1 C/150 g flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2/3 C/155 g brown sugar
• 1/3 c/50 g pumpkin seeds
• 1 C/135 g dried fuit (I use apricots, prunes, dried cherries)
• ½ C/100 g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
• ½ C/118 ml vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs honey
• 2 Tbs water or juice

Method

• Line the bottom of a 9×13″ pan with baking paper or foil to make it easier to remove the bars. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (170 C).
• In a large bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients (the dry ones) with your fingers until everything is evenly distributed. Stir in the oil, honey, and water.
• Dump the mixture into the prepared pan and press it together firmly to form a layer about ½” (1 cm) thick. Bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly browned, then allow to cool in the pan before slicing into bars.

One of the most famous famous air foods all over the area is coiled cake. You can find it under different names. In Slovakia it runs under the name trdelnik, in Hungary it is kürtös kalacs. This tube-shaped cake originates in Transylvania (the Hungarian part of Romania). A strip of dough is coiled over a wooden pin, sugar sprinkled over it and then grilled over a heat source. Once the sugar has caramelized, the kürtös kalacs is dipped into ground walnuts. Modern versions might be dipped into cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, etc. If you have a chance, try to get one which is grilled over charcoals – it makes a difference.

Other traditional food item is medovník/mézeskalács, spice cookies. Buy a Huszár (soldier) for your son, a dolly for your daughter and heart for your wife or girlfriend. Nowadays you can get all shapes and forms, although I could not find a huszár (my son did pick out a large tank-shaped balloon, though). Mostly they have only sentimental value. You can eat them and we did, but you will not experience any gourmet revelation. We’ve posted a recipe, so you can experiment with making a more delicious version yourself.

A new fair item is zsanna-manna products. These sweets are made of dried fruits, nuts and seeds. They are handmade, taste and look great.

Sugar candies and lollipops are a very old tradition at the fair. The funny thing is that regardless of the color, they all taste the same. They are part of my caramel-sweet childhood.

This is the modern version of candy stands. Rows of candy and gummy sweets, providing good income and happy times for local dentists.

And finally my favorite. Lacikonyha. Lacikonyha means “Lászlo’s kitchen”. I dont know why is it called this way, and I don’t know Laci, but since the fifteenth century, fair tents where they cook different types of meals are called lacikonyha. These latest ones replace the former cheap-looking and disgusting caravans offering the same stuff with a grain of dirt and arrogant service. I don’t know why that is, but the chefs at lacikonyha are almost always happy, full of enthusiasm and always ready to joke with you.

A good surprise was the famous smoked Parenica cheese from northern Slovakia.