Local specialties along the Little Danube
2022.10.20.
The Danube connects cultures, people and various gastronomic customs, having organised the life of the locals for centuries. No exceptions from this are Uncle Lajos, a fisherman living in Dömsöd on the left bank of the Danube and Aunt Cili from Szigetújfalu, with Swabian roots. The Dömsöd fishermen’s soup and the special cinnamon cake are two musts you cannot miss! Here are the recipes to help you prepare them at home, in your own kitchen.
Dömsöd fishermen’s soup
Prepare a base with onions, and add the small Danube fish and fish trimmings that are meant for preparing the broth. The more types of fish it is prepared from – chuffs, catfish crucian carp, asp, perch are all welcome except pike – the better the fishermen’s soup will be. Add fresh green peppers and tomatoes, one or two cloves of garlic and a little black pepper. Fill up with enough water to cover the fish. Keep boiling for one and a half or two hours, on dry black locust wood fire, as the flavour black locust smoke adds is also a key ingredient of the soup. Once the soup is ready, remove the backbone and larger bones of the fish and press to a fine mash. The broth is then put back to the kettle and boiled, then the salted slices of fish are added and the soup is cooked ready.
Zimmet Kropf’n
Zimmet Kropf’n is a typical feast-day cake of Szigetújfalu’s Swabian population, fried in a unique fashion with the help of a special utensil used for this.
Ingredients:
30 dkg minced fat
3 egg yolks
50 dkg flour
2.5 dl milk
pinch of salt
oil for frying
cinnamon powdered sugar for decoration
Preparation: With the exception of the fat, knead the ingredients into a dough, then roll out to a thickness of 2-3 cm, placing the stripe of fat in the middle. Fold the dough over from the top and bottom and then from left and right, then roll out and fold again in the same fashion. Repeat this every thirty minutes, 4-5 times. After the last folding and rolling, roll to a thickness of 2-3 mm, and shape it into rectangles about your palm’s size.
Place these rectangles onto the special frying utensil and fry them in hot oil. Serve rolled into cinnamon powdered sugar.
If your kitchen is not equipped with the utensil in the picture, then simply fry it like angel wing doughnuts (csörögefánk).