Bograch: the recipe and more besides…

The ingredients you will need to cook bograch:
• veal ribs
• pork flesh
• salt
• paprika
• onion
• carrot
• tomatoes
• parsley root
• potatoes
• hot pepper!!! - the secret ingredient))

But before the cooking instructions, you need to sense all the energy of this historic dish. So let us begin!))

It was all as though in a fairy tale: “Once upon a time there lived a Bograch …

That is surely how all fairy tales begin, and so we too ought to begin our tale of Hungarian, and therefore partly Transcarpathian, cuisine. It ought to be a tale about an ordinary cauldron that has always accompanied every Hungarian, ever since those ancient times when they set out on their historic journey.

This story began three thousand years ago, when the bograch set out on its way together with the first proto-Hungarian tribe, which travelled from the Urals across the Ural steppes, the kingdom of the Khazars, the Caucasus, along the northern shores of the Black Sea and on across half of Europe to the Danube. No one knows for certain what the nomadic tribes cooked in their travelling cauldron. But it is clear that it was food prepared from provisions made in advance - beef or horsemeat dried in the sun and pounded into powder, as well as gathered herbs, roots and mushrooms.

Among the various herbs and roots - the base was dandelion, young nettle leaves, mint, juniper and thyme. Onion and garlic the Magyars had known back in their historic homeland.

Hot, or rather fiery, pepper, which is one of the most important ingredients of today’s bograch - appeared in the cauldron as far back as the 17th century. History tells that a famous one-eyed Turkish janissary by the name of Yukhymdzhak ordered two Hungarian captives to cook a meal for the Turkish soldiers. While one of them was setting a large cauldron of water over the fire, the other - was skinning a lamb, after which he chopped its carcass into pieces. Next they put the meat into the cauldron, adding roots and onion, and after that poured in a large amount of the red seasoning that the Turkish soldiers constantly hauled about with them. One of the Turks tasted the dish and screamed frantically:
⁃ May the tenth circle of hell swallow them up!!! How much hot pepper did you put in the meat?!

The cooked bograch was given to the Hungarian captives, because the Turkish army refused to eat it. Ever since then the Magyars have always added a large amount of hot pepper to bograch, so that the Turks could not eat it. The tradition of cooking bograch very piquant and spicy has remained to this day.

And now you are ready to cook the dish!)

You need to lay a fire (in case the wood is wet and will not burn, you can scatter a handful of salt over it), heat the cauldron well and place inside the meat cut into large pieces (veal ribs and pork flesh).

None of these ingredients may be salted, peppered or marinated beforehand. The ribs should have as much cartilage as possible. Stir all of this constantly without stepping away from the cauldron, letting it simmer over a low fire until its own “juice” has evaporated.

Next we add a little sweet paprika. Once all the “juice” has evaporated, we pour in some homemade oil, drop into the cauldron the onion cut into rings and carry on frying until the onion turns golden. Without wasting any time, we again sprinkle it all with ground sweet paprika. After this we add the carrot, which we cut into rings in advance, and the parsley root, and carry on stewing until soft. When everything is almost ready, we sprinkle in some more ground sweet paprika and black pepper. Here it is very important not to over-fry the paprika! So be careful. We keep this whole process under control, topping up with water so that it covers the meat completely, and add a few more tomatoes and a couple of pods of hot pepper.

Everything is now almost ready. But you still need to add the potatoes and top up with water again. After ten minutes, add dumplings (or the “torhonya” bought in a shop or at the market - small pasta of Hungarian make). We add salt and pepper to taste, not forgetting the finely chopped parsley and dill.

It is important that all of this stays over the fire until the potatoes are done, and then, following the old tradition, we add to the cauldron one or two glasses of dry wine and a dram of palinka - Hungarian fruit brandy.

After this, let the bograch finish cooking for another 10 minutes, take it off the fire and leave it to infuse a little!) Bon appétit!!!

We wish you easy cooking and a tasty feast on real Transcarpathian bograch!)