Friday, March 26, 2010

Happy Easter!




Celebrating with the beautiful paintings of two great Italian Renaissance artists:




Tintoretto (Jacopo Comin, 1518-1594)




Sanzio Raffaello (1483-1520)


Saturday, March 13, 2010

Ede Ujhazi and the Chicken Soup


There is no tastier chicken soup than the Hungarian Ujhazi Tyukleves, which was named after the famous Hungarian, Ede Ujhazi (1844 - 1915). He was an excellent dramatic and comic character actor, a pioneer of the realistic acting. He also enjoyed cooking for himself and for his fellow artist buddies.

Many legends surrounding his career, but the most memorable is the creation of his chicken soup while visiting a small restaurant in the city of Budapest. Obviously, the soup he was served with had not measured up to his expectation, because Ede gave instruction to the cook to prepare the dish again from a mature hen and add various vegetables, garnishes, and noodles into it. As the result was still not quite satisfactory, the actor told the chef to use a slice of round beef also to enhance the strength of the soup. The next day Ede tasted the newly prepared soup and finally expressed his total satisfaction.

And from that time this is the soup that the Hungarians serve on weddings and holidays, and most certainly, at the Gundel Restaurant in the last 100 years. But even without special occasions, serving Ujhazi Tyukleves to your family or guests is making you a winner.
(Recipe can be found in my Hungarian Recipe website, under the name of Ujhazi Tyukleves.)