• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 large egg

• 1 chicken bouillon cube

• 6 cups water

• 3 tablespoons cooking oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Maggi seasoning to taste*

Place 1 cup of flour in a mixing bowl.  Add 1 egg and mix briskly with a fork until crumbly.  Add small amounts of flour, if necessary, so that the mixture has no sticky particles. 

Add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil to a medium-sized pot; heat oil on medium-high.  When oil is hot, add flour and egg mixture to pot. 

Brown on medium-high heat until golden, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to break up the mixture into small particles. 

Remove from heat and stir in 6 cups of water.  Chop chicken bouillon cube and add to soup. 

Return pot to medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of Maggi seasoning and salt and pepper to taste; boil gently for a few minutes and serve.

Additional Maggi seasoning may be added to taste. 

*Maggi is the company name of a line of food products which has been bought by Nestle in Canada and can be found in the US as well.  The liquid seasoning is quite salty, so one must be careful about adding additional salt.  The seasoning is dark in color and is quite similar to soy or soya sauce, which probably could be substituted.  Interestingly, the bottle that we currently have also has Chinese writing on it (we have a very large Chinese population in Toronto). 

• 3 or 4 potatoes or more

• 1 onion

• 3 or four tablespoons lard or oil

• ½ tablespoon paprika

• salt

• sour cream  or sweet cream (optional)

• vinegar

• water

• Optional: eggs or Oktoberfest sausages (or real brotwerscht)

Chop the onion finely and fry it in a heavy pot. When the onion pieces are light golden,
take them off the heat and let cool a bit.  Stir in the paprika and add the water, potatoes and salt. Figure about one or one and a half cups of liquid per person. If you're using sausages, add them at this point.

Boil till the potatoes are soft. If you don't have sausages, (we didn't from 1944 to 1955) you can just add a little vinegar, or cream (sour) if you like.  If you want to add eggs, add them one at a time and simmer till the yolk is set. Use one or two eggs per person.

Lissi prepared polenta, which I had never ate before.  It looked like cornmeal mush and we put a scoop in out stew.

Combining everything in the stew pot, it let it simmer for a long time. Click images to enlarge

Put a smile on your face!	brown meat	add peppers/tomatoes
Add water	Stir & simmer	Add lard
Simmer, simmer	Last stir	Serve!

• 1-1/2 cups small white beans
  [beans should be pre-soaked according to package directions]

• 4 cups water

• Tbs. butter

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 2 carrots, peeled and diced

• salt & pepper

• 1 sweet green pepper, finely chopped

Cook the beans in about 4 c. water with butter till almost tender.  Add the onion, carrot, salt and pepper.  When tender, add the green pepper & cook till tender.

To thicken the soup, make a roux:
    melt 1 Tbs. Crisco in a small frying pan
    add flour (1 Tbs.+) to make a thick paste
and cook, stirring, until lightly brown then add and brown lightly:
    l clove garlic, minced
stir in:
    1 Tbs. paprika

Now, stir spoonfuls of soup broth into the roux blending well to avoid lumps...when thinned some, stir roux into the soup.
Serve this over homemade egg noodles.
(leftover noodles were fried in Crisco till crispy then topped with leftover soup)

Grandma's Egg Noodles in the frozen food section of the supermarket are a good substitute for homemade.

Of course, it was always lard rather than Crisco in these recipes.

Here is a sampling of how we made our soup.

• 10 Potatoes

• 4 large onions

• Shortening, butter or olive oil

• Noodles

• Paprika

• Sour cream

• Vinegar

Peel, dice and cook potatoes until almost soft in salted water
Dice onions and fry in butter or oil until so brown they are almost burnt
To make noodles - mix well the following ingredients:

• about 6 cups of flour

• 6 eggs

• 6 1/2 eggshells of water

• a little vegetable oil (about 1 Tablespoon per 2 eggs)

• Roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness and cut into small squares and cook in the potato water with the potatoes that are almost cooked to a soft stage.  The noodles cook fast as they haven't been dried.

Add the onions to this, stir in lots of paprika and work in some sour cream. 

We then put some vinegar in our soup plates, add the soup and we are happy. Sometimes we take about 1/3 of the potatoes out of the pot, put it in a greased frying pan, add some very browned onions to this as well as some of the cooked noodles, sprinkle with paprika and fry until dry and eat this with a tossed vinegar and oil salad.

When serving this to company, I add diced kielbasa to the fried dish, which makes it a meat with a meal.

• 18 oz. dry white beans [Great Northern]

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon dill

• 1 tablespoon flour

• ½ teaspoon paprika

• 1 Paar (few) smoked sausage

• 1 piece smoken ham

• 9 oz. sour cream

• Water or meat stock

• oil

• lemon juice

• pepper and salt to taste

Prepare the garlic and finely chop the dill. Add some oil in a pot, heat it; let the dill and garlic slowly steam. Add flour and paprika and stir it with the oil to a mash. Then add some water (about 150 ml/5.25 oz.) and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.

Add beans and ham; add 1 liter (little more than a quart) water or broth.  Let the mixture gently cook over low heat for approximately 30 minutes.

Add the sausage into the soup and let it slowly cook again for about 15 minutes. Add the pepper and salt to taste* and serve it with sour cream.

Note:  This soup can be served with freshly baked langos and sour pickles..

*Only add salt at the end of the cooking process as you will have to take the salt content of the ham and sausage into account.

Note:  If dry beans are used, they should soak 12 hours in water. Dependent on the water’s hardness, most beans can be safely soaked overnight.  Follow the package directions.

Comment:  Grandma Sophie Schweitzer and my mom used to make this soup a lot. Sometimes they put in too much dill for me, but it is to one's taste like the salt and pepper.  Sometimes I use chicken broth instead of the water for a richer flavor.  You almost have to do that if you remove the skin from the chicken.  I always preferred this over chicken noodle soup.

• 1 large chicken

• 1 large onion

• 4 large carrots

• 1 sprig parsley

• 1 pinch saffron

• 1 sprig dill, dried

• 1/2 cup rice

• 1/4 cup sour cream

• 4 cups water

Cut up the chicken and cook in enough water to cover.  About 4 cups should do it.  Add the onion that is diced, sliced carrots; the parsley and dill and salt and pepper to taste; then add saffron.  When meat is almost done, add the rice.  Just before serving stir in the sour cream.

If you don't want to cut up a whole chicken, put the favorite parts that your family prefers in to cook.  Yield:  Serves 6.

Comment:  I remember going to the poultry store with my grandma to buy live chickens. The man in the store would kill it for you by twisting its neck quickly, then dunking it in a vat full of boiling water, and someone would pull off the feathers.  Grandma would take it home to cut out the guts and cut off the head and feet.  Oh My!  How that poultry store smelled.  And noisy, with all the crates with chickens squawking and live ducks and geese quacking.  We children were always very curious to see if there were any unlaid eggs in the chicken.  How we teased one another with the cut-off chicken feet.  By pressing a spot on the foot you could make the claws open and close. We all watched as our grandma singed off any remaining feathers by holding the chicken over the open gas flame.  Those were the good old days?  That was a lot of work!  But those chickens then tasted much better than the chickens of today.

• 1 fat hen or chicken parts disjointed (about 5 lbs.)

• 4 or 5 carrots, whole

• 1 whole parsley root with greens on top

• 1 or 2 onions each stuck with a whole clove

• 2 or 3 ribs of celery

• 1 small whole tomato (to give a rosy glow to the soup)

• 4 quarts water

• 1½ tablespoons salt

• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• ⅛ teaspoon ground or a few slices of mace

Cook chicken in pot with water, skimming the scum off when the soup starts to boil.  Place all the vegetables and spices in the pot.

Cook over a low flame until the chicken is tender.  Remove as much fat as possible.  Strain soup and serve with broad noodles or liver dumplings.  Eat chicken on the side with Dill Sauce.

Dill Sauce for Chicken or Beef

Comment:  Dill grows wild in most Hungarian gardens. Year after year it keeps reseeding itself. It grows to great heights.  Cool green lacey fronds, pungent with the familiar aroma, waiting to be stripped for sauces and salads.  Mature plants, top-heavy with seed heads will be hung upside down in the canning kitchen to dry for squash and pickles.  This dill sauce has a creamed base, is sweet-sour and served hot over boiled beef and vegetables after the soup has been consumed as well as over boiled chicken after the chicken soup has been consumed.

• 1½ tablespoons soft butter

• 1½ tablespoons flour

• 1 cup of milk or water or stock

• 1½ teaspoons good vinegar

• ½ teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped

• ⅛ teaspoon salt

This is a basic cream sauce.  Start by melting the butter in a saucepan.  Sprinkle the flour over the butter, stirring and cooking until the mixture foams up.  Do not let it brown.

Stir in the milk, water or stock and continue stirring to avoid the forming of lumps.  When thickened, stir in vinegar, sugar, fresh dill and salt.  Taste and, if needed, adjust seasoning.  Yield:  Over 1 cup.  This recipe can be doubled or tripled if more is needed.

Comment:  This is a traditional winter soup. It is served in three courses. First the broth is served with fine or broad egg noodles.  Then the meat and vegetables are served along with a cold sour cream and horseradish sauce.  This is a wonderful-tasting and slow-cooking soup.  It is worth the time it takes.  It makes a cold winter day cozy.  Yield:  4-6 servings.

• 2 lbs. of an uncut chunk of beef chuck

• 5 quarts cold water

• 3 teaspoons salt

• ½ teaspoon black pepper corns

• 6 whole carrots, cleaned

• 3 ribs of celery, cut in half

• 3 parsley roots, peeled, cut in half and parsley greens

• 2 parsnips, peeled, cut in half

• 3 medium onions, washed but unpeeled, each studded with 2 cloves

• 6 whole cloves

• 3 potatoes, peeled and halved

To give greater flavor and color to the meat, first sear it in the pot. Cover with water; when it comes to a boil, skim the foam off.  Add salt and pepper corns; let simmer for 1 hour.

Add the onions along with the carrots, celery, parsley root and greens, and parsnips.  Cover and simmer slowly for about 2 hours.  Add potatoes the last hour of cooking.

Serve strained soup broth with drained, cooked egg noodles. Arrange vegetables and meat on a serving platter.  Serve meat and vegetables with Sour Cream Sauce.

Sour Cream Sauce
Comment:  This simple sauce is a mainstay whenever we have Hungarian sausage or boiled beef.

• 2 cups of sour cream

• 4 tablespoons prepared grated horseradish

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• ½ teaspoon salt

Mix the ingredients together in a small sauce bowl.  Add more horseradish if you like it stronger; more sour cream and sugar if you like it milder.  Yield:  2 cups of sauce.