[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":408},["ShallowReactive",2],{"recipe:hortobagyi-palacsinta":3,"recipe:country:hungary":208},{"slug":4,"title":5,"nativeName":6,"pronunciation":7,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"emoji":10,"summary":11,"intro":12,"story":13,"whyThis":14,"tips":19,"substitutions":26,"variations":39,"serveWith":49,"storage":51,"faq":52,"equipment":68,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":75,"restMinutes":74,"difficulty":76,"course":77,"diet":80,"mainIngredients":81,"ingredients":86,"instructions":151,"nutrition":183,"images":190,"keywords":200,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"hortobagyi-palacsinta","Hortobágyi Palacsinta (Meat-Filled Pancakes)","Hortobágyi húsos palacsinta","HOR-toh-bah-dyee pah-lah-CHEEN-taw","hungary","Nationwide","🥞","Thin Hungarian crepes rolled around shredded paprika veal stew, then napped with the strained cooking sauce enriched with sour cream and browned briefly under the grill before serving.","Hortobágyi palacsinta takes a paprika stew apart and rebuilds it as a starter. Veal or chicken is braised in the standard onion-and-paprika base until it shreds, the meat is pulled out and chopped fine, and the remaining sauce is blitzed smooth and enriched with sour cream. The meat goes inside thin crepes, the crepes are rolled and laid in a dish, and the sauce is poured over the top before a few minutes under the grill. The contrast is the point: soft, almost custardy pancake, dense savoury filling, and a smooth tangy red sauce that pools around them. It eats like a first course rather than a main, which is exactly how it appears on Hungarian restaurant menus.","Despite the name, this is not old peasant food from the Hortobágy plain. It is a twentieth-century restaurant invention, generally credited to the Hungarian catering trade of the mid-1900s and popularised at international showcases where Hungary needed a dish that looked refined, plated neatly and travelled well. Naming it after the Hortobágy — the vast grassland national park associated with herdsmen and cattle — gave a modern creation an old, thoroughly Hungarian pedigree. It worked: the dish is now so established that most Hungarians assume it is ancient.\n\nWhat it genuinely draws on is much older. Palacsinta, the thin Hungarian crepe, belongs to the Central European pancake family that runs from French crêpes through Austrian Palatschinken to Slavic blini variants, and the word itself traces back through Romanian and Latin. In Hungary palacsinta are overwhelmingly sweet — filled with apricot jam, ground walnuts or sweetened curd — so the savoury version is the exception that needs its own name. The filling, meanwhile, is straightforward pörkölt, which is as traditional as Hungarian cooking gets.\n\nThe technique that makes it work is the sauce. You braise the meat with more liquid than a normal pörkölt needs, then separate the two: the meat gets chopped and bound with a little of the sauce so the filling holds together, and the rest of the sauce is blended smooth and finished with sour cream. That gives you two textures from one pot. It is also a very good way to use leftover stew — a fair number of Hungarian households make hortobágyi palacsinta on Monday from whatever was left on Sunday, which is arguably the most authentic way to approach it.",[15,16,17,18],"One braise produces both the filling and the sauce, so nothing is made twice or thrown away.","The batter rests, which is the difference between crepes that tear and crepes that roll.","The sour cream is tempered before it meets the hot sauce, so the finish stays smooth.","Explicit about being an excellent way to use up yesterday's pörkölt, which is how Hungarians actually make it.",[20,21,22,23,24,25],"Rest the crepe batter at least 30 minutes. Unrested batter gives rubbery pancakes that split when you roll them.","Add a splash of sparkling water to the batter just before cooking — it makes the crepes lighter and more flexible.","The first crepe always fails. Consider it the pan calibrating itself and do not adjust anything on its account.","Chop the braised meat rather than shredding it into threads, so the filling has some texture against the soft pancake.","Bind the filling with only enough sauce to hold it. A wet filling soaks through the crepe and makes the roll collapse.","Grill the assembled dish briefly, just until the sauce bubbles at the edges. Longer and the crepes go tough.",[27,31,35],{"original":28,"swap":29,"note":30},"Veal shoulder","Chicken thighs, pork shoulder, or leftover pörkölt of any kind","Chicken is the most common home version and cooks in about 40 minutes rather than 90. Leftover stew works perfectly and cuts the recipe down to twenty minutes of work.",{"original":32,"swap":33,"note":34},"Sour cream","Crème fraîche, or half sour cream and half single cream","Crème fraîche is more stable under the grill and less likely to split. A cream blend gives a milder, more restaurant-style sauce.",{"original":36,"swap":37,"note":38},"Sparkling water in the batter","Still water or milk","The bubbles help, but only slightly. Plain water works if the batter has rested properly, which matters considerably more.",[40,43,46],{"name":41,"description":42},"Chicken hortobágyi","Made with chicken thigh instead of veal. Faster, cheaper and the standard home version, though restaurants generally stay with veal.",{"name":44,"description":45},"Mushroom hortobágyi","A meat-free take built on finely chopped mushrooms cooked down in the same paprika base until dark and dense enough to hold as a filling.",{"name":47,"description":48},"Made from leftovers","Yesterday's pörkölt chopped, bound and rolled, with the leftover sauce thinned and enriched. Arguably the truest home version of the dish.",[50],"A green salad with a sharp vinegar dressing, served after rather than alongside, as a Hungarian table would.","Assembled and sauced, it keeps 2 days refrigerated but the crepes soften considerably. Reheat covered at 170°C for about 15 minutes. Better to store the components separately: crepes stack well between sheets of baking paper for 3 days in the fridge or 2 months frozen, and the meat and sauce keep 3 days refrigerated. Assemble and grill just before serving for the best texture.",[53,56,59,62,65],{"question":54,"answer":55},"Is Hortobágyi palacsinta a traditional peasant dish?","No, and Hungarians are generally relaxed about admitting it. It is a twentieth-century restaurant creation named after the Hortobágy grassland to give it a traditional-sounding identity. The components are authentic — palacsinta crepes and paprika pörkölt are both genuinely old — but the combination is modern, dating from the mid-1900s catering trade rather than from herdsmen on the plain.",{"question":57,"answer":58},"Why do my crepes tear when I roll them?","Usually the batter was too thick, was not rested, or the crepes were cooked too long. Rest the batter for at least 30 minutes so the flour hydrates and the gluten relaxes, thin it to the consistency of single cream, and cook each crepe only until the surface loses its shine and the edges lift — about 45 seconds on the first side.",{"question":60,"answer":61},"Can I make this with leftover stew?","Yes, and it is one of the best uses for leftover pörkölt or paprikás. Chop the meat finely, bind it with a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce, and thin the remaining sauce with a little stock before blending it smooth and finishing with sour cream. Doing it this way turns the whole recipe into about twenty minutes of work.",{"question":63,"answer":64},"Should the sauce be smooth or chunky?","Smooth. After the meat is removed, the braising liquid is blended until it is silky and then enriched with tempered sour cream, so it naps the pancakes evenly rather than sitting in lumps. A blender or stick blender does it in seconds; if the sauce still seems thin, reduce it briefly before adding the cream.",{"question":66,"answer":67},"Can I prepare Hortobágyi palacsinta in advance?","Partly. Make the crepes and the meat filling up to two days ahead and keep them separately in the fridge, and make the sauce ahead too but hold back the sour cream. On the day, roll the pancakes, finish the sauce, pour it over and grill. Fully assembling in advance leaves the crepes soggy where the sauce has sat on them.",[69,70,71,72],"22 cm non-stick or crepe pan","Heavy lidded pot for braising","Stick blender or jug blender","Shallow ovenproof dish",4,30,100,"medium",[78,79],"appetizer","main",[],[82,83,84,85],"veal","paprika","sour-cream","flour",[87,93,98,102,106,108,113,116,121,125,129,132,135,137,140,143,147],{"ref":82,"qty":88,"unit":89,"name":90,"note":91,"group":92},600,"g","veal shoulder, in 3 cm cubes","or boneless chicken thighs","For the filling",{"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":96,"note":97,"group":92},2,"tbsp","lard","or sunflower oil",{"ref":99,"qty":100,"unit":89,"name":101,"group":92},"onion",300,"onions, finely chopped",{"ref":103,"qty":94,"unit":104,"name":105,"group":92},"garlic","clove","garlic, finely chopped",{"ref":83,"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":107,"group":92},"Hungarian sweet paprika",{"ref":109,"qty":110,"unit":111,"name":112,"group":92},"bell-pepper",1,"piece","sweet green pepper, chopped",{"ref":114,"qty":110,"unit":111,"name":115,"group":92},"tomato","ripe tomato, chopped",{"ref":117,"qty":118,"unit":119,"name":120,"group":92},"stock",500,"ml","chicken or veal stock",{"qty":122,"unit":123,"name":124,"group":92},null,"to taste","salt and black pepper",{"ref":85,"qty":126,"unit":89,"name":127,"group":128},200,"plain flour","For the crepes",{"ref":130,"qty":131,"unit":111,"name":130,"group":128},"eggs",3,{"ref":133,"qty":134,"unit":119,"name":133,"group":128},"milk",400,{"qty":75,"unit":119,"name":136,"group":128},"sparkling water",{"ref":138,"qty":74,"unit":89,"name":139,"group":128},"butter","butter, melted, plus more for the pan",{"qty":110,"unit":141,"name":142,"group":128},"pinch","salt",{"ref":84,"qty":144,"unit":119,"name":145,"group":146},250,"full-fat sour cream, at room temperature","For the sauce",{"ref":148,"qty":94,"unit":95,"name":149,"group":150},"parsley","flat-leaf parsley, chopped","To serve",[152,156,161,165,169,172,176,179],{"title":153,"text":154,"timerSeconds":155},"Build the paprika base","Melt the lard in a heavy pot and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 12 minutes, until soft and pale gold. Add the garlic for 30 seconds, take the pot off the heat, stir in the paprika until the fat runs red, then immediately pour in the stock.",720,{"title":157,"text":158,"timerSeconds":159,"tip":160},"Braise the meat until it shreds","Add the veal, green pepper, tomato and a good pinch of salt. Simmer covered over low heat for about 90 minutes, until a cube falls apart under gentle pressure from a fork. Chicken thighs will need only 40 minutes.",5400,"Keep it loose — you want more liquid than a normal pörkölt because half of it becomes the sauce.",{"title":162,"text":163,"timerSeconds":164},"Make and rest the crepe batter","While the meat braises, whisk the flour, eggs, milk, melted butter and salt into a smooth batter with no lumps. Cover and rest for at least 30 minutes; it should end up the consistency of single cream, so thin with a little extra milk if needed.",1800,{"title":166,"text":167,"tip":168},"Cook the crepes","Stir the sparkling water into the rested batter. Wipe a 22 cm pan with butter over medium heat, pour in a small ladleful and swirl to coat thinly. Cook for about 45 seconds, until the surface turns matt and the edges lift, then flip for 20 seconds more. You want 8 crepes; stack them as they come off.","Discard the first one without comment. It is the price of entry.",{"title":170,"text":171},"Separate the meat from the sauce","Lift the meat out with a slotted spoon and chop it finely on a board — not into threads, but into small pieces you can still see. Bind it with two or three tablespoons of the cooking liquid so it just holds together when pressed.",{"title":173,"text":174,"tip":175},"Blend and enrich the sauce","Blend the remaining cooking liquid until completely smooth, then reduce it if it seems thin — it should coat a spoon. Whisk the sour cream in a bowl, ladle in some of the hot sauce a little at a time to warm it, then stir the mixture back into the pan off the heat.","Tempering first is essential. Cold sour cream tipped into a hot pan will split into grainy flecks.",{"title":177,"text":178},"Fill and roll","Heat the grill. Spoon a line of filling across the lower third of each crepe, fold the sides in and roll into a neat cylinder. Lay the rolls seam side down in a buttered shallow dish, packed snugly in a single layer.",{"title":180,"text":181,"timerSeconds":182},"Nap with sauce and grill","Pour the sauce over the rolls so they are generously coated but not submerged. Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling around the edges and lightly blistered on top, then scatter with parsley and serve straight away.",270,{"calories":184,"protein":185,"carbs":186,"fat":187,"fiber":73,"sodium":188,"estimated":189},690,42,52,34,880,true,[191,194,196,198],{"src":192,"alt":193},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhortobagyi-palacsinta\u002Fhero.jpg","Hungarian Hortobagyi palacsinta, rolled crepes filled with paprika meat under a smooth red sour cream sauce",{"src":195,"alt":193},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhortobagyi-palacsinta\u002Fhero-16x9.jpg",{"src":197,"alt":193},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhortobagyi-palacsinta\u002Fhero-4x3.jpg",{"src":199,"alt":193},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhortobagyi-palacsinta\u002Fhero-1x1.jpg",[201,202,203,83,82,204,205],"hortobagyi palacsinta","hungarian","savoury crepes","sour 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soup","csipetke","bogracs",{"slug":263,"title":264,"nativeName":265,"countrySlug":8,"region":266,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":267,"difficulty":76,"course":268,"diet":269,"mainIngredients":272,"images":274,"keywords":278,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"halaszle","Halászlé (Hungarian Fisherman's Paprika Fish Soup)","Halászlé","The Tisza and Danube river towns",70,[245],[270,271,247],"pescatarian","gluten-free",[273,83,99],"carp",[275],{"src":276,"alt":277},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhalaszle\u002Fhero.jpg","Deep bowl of Hungarian halaszle fish soup, bright red paprika broth with a thick piece of poached carp",[263,279,273,83,280,281,282],"hungarian fish soup","szeged","river fish","christmas eve",{"slug":4,"title":5,"nativeName":6,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":73,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":75,"restMinutes":74,"difficulty":76,"course":284,"diet":285,"mainIngredients":286,"images":287,"keywords":289,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},[78,79],[],[82,83,84,85],[288],{"src":192,"alt":193},[201,202,203,83,82,204,205],{"slug":291,"title":292,"nativeName":293,"countrySlug":8,"region":294,"baseServings":242,"prepMinutes":295,"cookMinutes":296,"restMinutes":297,"difficulty":298,"course":299,"diet":301,"mainIngredients":303,"images":305,"keywords":309,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"korozott","Körözött (Hungarian Paprika Sheep Cheese Spread)","Körözött","Great Plain and Lake Balaton",15,0,240,"easy",[78,300],"snack",[223,271,302],"nut-free",[304,138,83,251],"quark",[306],{"src":307,"alt":308},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fkorozott\u002Fhero.jpg","Bowl of pink Hungarian korozott paprika cheese spread dusted with paprika, with rye bread and raw onion rings",[291,310,311,312,313,78,314],"hungarian cheese spread","paprika spread","sheep cheese","juhturo","csarda",{"slug":316,"title":317,"nativeName":318,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":242,"prepMinutes":74,"cookMinutes":319,"restMinutes":320,"difficulty":298,"course":321,"diet":323,"mainIngredients":324,"images":325,"keywords":329,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"langos","Lángos (Hungarian Deep-Fried Garlic Flatbread)","Lángos",20,90,[322,300],"street-food",[223],[85,250,103,84],[326],{"src":327,"alt":328},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Flangos\u002Fhero.jpg","Golden blistered Hungarian langos flatbread topped with thick sour cream and a heap of grated cheese",[316,202,330,103,204,331,332],"fried bread","street food","market 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csirke",50,[79],[],[357,83,99,84],"chicken",[359],{"src":360,"alt":361},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fchicken-paprikash\u002Fhero.jpg","Pan of Hungarian chicken paprikash in glossy red sour cream sauce with soft nokedli dumplings alongside",[363,364,202,83,204,365,366],"paprikas csirke","chicken paprikash","nokedli","braised chicken",{"slug":368,"title":369,"nativeName":370,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":242,"prepMinutes":371,"cookMinutes":216,"restMinutes":372,"difficulty":298,"course":373,"diet":374,"mainIngredients":375,"images":376,"keywords":380,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"rakott-krumpli","Rakott Krumpli (Layered Potato and Egg Bake)","Rakott krumpli",25,10,[79],[],[250,130,84],[377],{"src":378,"alt":379},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Frakott-krumpli\u002Fhero.jpg","Baked Hungarian rakott krumpli with layers of potato, sliced egg and paprika sausage under a browned sour cream top",[381,202,382,383,204,130,384],"rakott krumpli","potato bake","casserole","kolbasz",{"slug":386,"title":387,"nativeName":388,"countrySlug":8,"region":9,"baseServings":242,"prepMinutes":217,"cookMinutes":389,"restMinutes":319,"difficulty":76,"course":390,"diet":391,"mainIngredients":392,"images":397,"keywords":401,"publishedAt":206,"updatedAt":206,"authorSlug":207},"hungarian-toltott-kaposzta","Töltött Káposzta (Hungarian Sour Cabbage Rolls)","Töltött káposzta",150,[79],[],[393,394,83,395,396],"ground-pork","sauerkraut","rice","smoked-pork",[398],{"src":399,"alt":400},"\u002Fimages\u002Frecipes\u002Fhungarian-toltott-kaposzta\u002Fhero.jpg","Hungarian stuffed sour cabbage rolls in a pot with sauerkraut, smoked ribs and a spoonful of sour cream",[402,403,202,394,404,405,83],"toltott kaposzta","stuffed cabbage","sour cabbage","pork",24,false,1787360068772]