tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post59145189747673827..comments2024-02-23T04:39:49.329-05:00Comments on Conversations in Klal: On Hungarian CooksProfKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17954446826821665314noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-16167032392895489372008-04-07T21:25:00.000-04:002008-04-07T21:25:00.000-04:00Your disclaimer should have topped this post. I k...Your disclaimer should have topped this post. I kept thinking, wait a second, the further East we go the more interesting the food gets. :) <BR/><BR/>When it comes to Sephardi cooks, I have to hand it to the Moroccan ladies. Some of us don't hold a candle to that.Orthonomicshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07892074485262548496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-68414723656064582082008-04-07T13:58:00.000-04:002008-04-07T13:58:00.000-04:00I do not particularly like Hungarian cooking, with...I do not particularly like Hungarian cooking, with a few exceptions. I do not like Russian cooking either, and I'm Russian. I prefer Ukrainian cooking.<BR/><BR/>Also, most of my Ukrainian cooking became Americanized (ie I put less fat into everything) For example when I make mash potatoes I mash them with water instead of butter/margarine. I do not add oil into my chulent, and when I fry fish or cutlets, I make sure that there is no drowning in oil going on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-49466083552826313872008-04-07T09:12:00.000-04:002008-04-07T09:12:00.000-04:00Rachel is right that it sounds very silly if we wo...Rachel is right that it sounds very silly if we would ask are Brooklyn cooks better then Los Angeles cooks. So maybe we don't compare cooking any more, but we do ask who is frummer, Brooklyn or Los Angeles and whose hashkofah is better Brooklyn or Los Angeles. Maybe we would have been better off just comparing who cooks better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-3507530127177847072008-04-07T08:39:00.000-04:002008-04-07T08:39:00.000-04:00I think the commenters who mentioned they were Ame...I think the commenters who mentioned they were Americans so the Hungarian question doesn't really apply to them are right. My grandmother was always talking about "in der heim" meaning Europe. We pointed out to her that for us "in der heim" was New York. The question would really be silly if we asked instead who are the best cooks--those from Brooklyn or those from Teaneck? Or maybe New York or California? Comparing cooking was a real European thing not an American thing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-38729236641634489182008-04-07T01:24:00.000-04:002008-04-07T01:24:00.000-04:00Well, I don't have a speck of hungarian in me but ...Well, I don't have a speck of hungarian in me but there's some pretty mean cooking in my family.Bas~Melechhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01511197551248863790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-40416940935273637952008-04-06T23:26:00.000-04:002008-04-06T23:26:00.000-04:00It doesn't surprise me that you would feel that Hu...It doesn't surprise me that you would feel that Hungarians are the best cooks since you were brought up appreciating the foods and flavors in that style of cooking. I've eaten in enough Hungarian homes to know when any particular cook is better or worse at her craft but I can't say that I've ever really liked Hungarian style foods. But then that's my taste, I was brought up with French cooking and that's what I generally prefer...my point being that one generally likes what they were brought up eating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-55137226958190441422008-04-06T22:15:00.000-04:002008-04-06T22:15:00.000-04:00Mark makes an interesting point about Temani cooki...Mark makes an interesting point about Temani cooking. I know you left out sefardi cooking in the posting but I wonder if so many of the sefardi women in the US are good cooks because their traditional dishes and style of cooking is not available in the take out food stores and grocery stores? Far more ashkenazi foods available. It would be interesting to see if this also holds true in Israel where the sefardi population is much larger and so much more ready food is available.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-82660126624256104022008-04-06T22:04:00.000-04:002008-04-06T22:04:00.000-04:00The answer is none of the above. I am half Yekke,...The answer is none of the above. I am half Yekke, and half Austrian/Hungarian. My sister-in-law is married to a Temani (Yemenite), and we have family members of every type. I can report that good cooking has nothing to do with origin, some Yekkes are good cooks and some are horrid. Some Hungarians are good cooks and some are horrid. Most Yemenite cooks are excellent, but some modern ones aren't, or don't cook hardly at all. So, in sort, it depends.<BR/><BR/>MarkAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-18652640934830970882008-04-06T21:11:00.000-04:002008-04-06T21:11:00.000-04:00I'd heard all the jokes made about Hungarian house...I'd heard all the jokes made about Hungarian houses and the way they are house proud. I'd heard the women are supposed to be great cooks. But I'd never actually been inside a hungarian home until my son got engaged. Our daughter in laws parents invited us over for a meal to meet. My wife is a decent cook and I have no complaints after all these years. But you really have to taste what my son's shviger cooks to know what unbelievably good cooking is. Our daughter in law is a wonderful girl and has many fine midos but the best thing she has is that she learned how to cook from her mother. My son is a really lucky man that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-43265133727283454252008-04-06T20:47:00.000-04:002008-04-06T20:47:00.000-04:00I hate to admit it, but I can hear the German rela...I hate to admit it, but I can hear the German relatives talk about the "Hungies."Jack Steinerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16625864271071630940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-74733504638245246472008-04-06T19:00:00.000-04:002008-04-06T19:00:00.000-04:00I think this is more about cooking versus not cook...I think this is more about cooking versus not cooking then where the cooks family once came from. I asked a shadchan once if the girl she was redding me could cook. She looked at me all funny and asked why I would ask. I said I like to eat. I'd like my wife to be able to cook well. The shadchan knew all about her schools and where she went to seminary and what chesed projects she did. She thought I was being petty with the question. She told me that it is no big deal and all girls learn to cook when they get married.<BR/><BR/>I guess for most people the who is the best cook question doesn't matter any more. I'm just unlucky that I guess it matters to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-15570506992757619662008-04-06T18:14:00.000-04:002008-04-06T18:14:00.000-04:00I'm Hungarian on both sides. My mom is a CPA and h...I'm Hungarian on both sides. My mom is a CPA and has also a master's degree in corporate finance. She works outside of the home. And yet cooking was and is still really important in our house. She and both my grandmothers passed on recipes and taught all of us girls how to cook. My married sisters are all teaching their little daughters about cooking. I don't necessarily see the emphasis in some of my friend's houses. I won't say every one of us is the best cook in the world but most are really terrific. It might be something that hungarian grandmothers cared enough about to make an issue of.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-84167749385013654792008-04-06T18:02:00.000-04:002008-04-06T18:02:00.000-04:00I'm thinking this is more a generational thing. M...I'm thinking this is more a generational thing. My mothers generation and certainly my grandmothers generation competed for balabusta of the year. Women were judged mostly on their housewifely talents. For my generation that isn't so much the case. The competition for us is more in who was the best in school, or who is the thinnest and stuff like that. In high school it was who did the most chesed and who was the most tsnua and who was the most aidel. At least in my group how well you can cook doesn't seem to matter. And I have no idea where anybody's parents came from generations ago. That doesn't seem to be important either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-44065816768510095622008-04-06T17:36:00.000-04:002008-04-06T17:36:00.000-04:00Where was my mom when it came time to picking up t...Where was my mom when it came time to picking up the Good Hungarian Cook gene? <BR/>My grandmother was a good cook (If I remember correctly) but I guess my mom liven in America for too long and though I love her she is lousy in the kitchen.Judithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08050726600713409716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-28078593790569299942008-04-06T17:22:00.000-04:002008-04-06T17:22:00.000-04:00A good question Rae. I also consider myself and m...A good question Rae. I also consider myself and my parents as Americans. Where my grandparents were born has no particular importance to me in the way I live. Besides I think of the few traditional foods that my mom cooks that she got from her mom as being Jewish cooking not hungarian or anything like that. My grandmother was not born in Hungary so I guess if I had to answer the question I would say that Hungarian women are not the best cooks. But then my grandmother is not as good a cook as my mom is anyway. Who cares?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-70312408920963164062008-04-06T17:03:00.000-04:002008-04-06T17:03:00.000-04:00Does anyone today really qualify as a Hungarian co...Does anyone today really qualify as a Hungarian cook, outside of the older women in the community? I'm second generation American and except for a few dishes I think I cook American, not Hungarian or any other culture. My grandmother may have been from Poland but that doesn't make me Polish or a Polish cook. Are you saying that the children and grandchildren of those who are Hungarian have some kind of genetic tendency towards better cooking? Are they taught differently? Is it even relevant to argue Hungarian cooking when it comes to the younger generations?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-10704172171565171832008-04-06T16:34:00.000-04:002008-04-06T16:34:00.000-04:00Yikes, almost in trouble here. And my wife is the...Yikes, almost in trouble here. And my wife is the best cook in the world.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2096776708897685863.post-6251566214869442102008-04-06T16:33:00.000-04:002008-04-06T16:33:00.000-04:00Profk--as long as you have already started WW III,...Profk--as long as you have already started WW III, let me add in my vote. I have a non Hungarian mother and a Hungarian mother in law and wife. Even my mother agrees, and certainly my father does, that the Hungarians win the contest hands down. I love my mother with all my heart, and I love my mother in law's cooking with all of the rest of me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com