Hungarian Kitchen: Halászlé (Fisherman's soup)

Along with goulash and paprikash, halászlé ("fisherman's soup") is one of the quintessential dishes of Hungary. There are probably as many recipes for this as there are villages, but they all start with the same basics: Onions, paprika, and freshwater fish. Carp is probably the most commonly used fish for this, but I'm not a huge fan of carp and substitute catfish (another fish indigenous to Hungary) when making fish soup. My recipe is loosely based on fish soups you can find along the Tisza River in Hungary. These soups generally start by making a stock from a variety of small fish, onions, and paprika, straining the stock, and finishing with the main fish. Tisza-style fish soup is usually served without any additions. The fish soups you find along the Danube are usually spiked with pasta pellets, noodles, and the like.

Regardless, the important points to remember about this soup is to use freshwater fish for the correct flavor, and to use a generous amount of hot paprika or pepper flakes at the table, as this soup is usually served fairly spicy.



Ingredients: Paprika, mixed freshwater fish (in this case, 1/2 lb smelt and 1/2 lb perch), hot pepper flakes, banana peppers, onion, catfish (2 lb), tomatoes (not pictured)

Begin by filleting the catfish, reserving backbone, fins, tail, etc... With a freshly caught fish, one would also preserve any roe or milt for adding to the soup later. Salt your catfish filets and put them aside (in the fridge). We'll be using it later.

Combine the small fish with the catfish scraps in a pot, add one very large chopped onion, and cover with water. In this case, I used smelt and perch. Typical Hungarian fish would include zander, bream, catfish, carp, etc. Just use a variety of freshwater fish for the stock step. The general wisdom is the more kinds of fish, the more interesting the soup.



Add 1 heaping tablespoon of paprika (a mix of sweet and hot paprika is recommended here.) Halászlé is generally served on the spicier side. Cover and bring to boil:



After it reaches the boil, bring the heat down to low, uncovered, and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours (notice the glossy red sheen that's formed on top of the soup from the paprika dissolving into the fish fat):



Pass the stock through a sieve or strainer, pushing firmly against the fish and onions to extract all the juices:



Take the strained stock, add one chopped tomato (or, in my case, three small canned plum tomatoes), and one diced banana pepper:



Bring back to boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, or until banana peppers are soft. Add your fileted catfish, cut into pieces (I cut mine about 2 inches by four inches or so. To prevent curling when cooking, you can also score the filets every inch or so. I don't bother):



Cook for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Cook five minutes more.

Serve very hot with a thick slice of fresh bread, hot pepper pods or flakes (dried cherry peppers would be traditional), and garnish with banana pepper (if desired):



This pairs nicely with a riesling, or a fröccs, i.e. wine spritzer made with wine and seltzer. (As an aside, Hungarians seem to be very particular about their spritzers, having at least four different names depending on the ratios of wine and soda water. A kisfröccs ["small spritzer"] is one part of each. A nagyfröccs ["large spritzer"] is two parts wine to one water. Hosszúlépés ["long step"] is one part wine and two parts soda and, my favorite for its exacting ratio, the házmester ["janitor"] is three parts wine to two parts seltzer. There's a few more, but those are the common ones.)

Binko, I just have to say -- what a lovely post! This seems the ideal thing to make on a cold day. Great photographs. Thanks! --Joy

Binko,

I'm a big fan of fish soups, and don't have or make them nearly enough. Freshwater fish, however, is not usually my choice, though the next I make a fish soup, it's going to be this one with the catfish you suggest.

Those sliced peppers on top are an interesting touch.

If you were to select a Hungarian wine to have with this, would you have any suggestions?

Hammond

I liked that your pointed out the importance of using freshwater fish in the recipe. For a traditional Halaszle it's really necessary to get the proper taste.

Erzsi wrote:I liked that your pointed out the importance of using freshwater fish in the recipe. For a traditional Halaszle it's really necessary to get the proper taste.

I've always been tempted to try it with seafish or even shrimp/prawns/etc., but I've never gotten around to it. I suspect it would be really good as like a shrimp boil type dish.

David--the soup definitely has a very freshwater fish taste to it, so it does help if you like the sort of soup served up at something like a Door County fish boil. I like to use a lot of hot pepper flakes and hot paprika in this soup because it does help cut through some of that flavor. Feel free to make this dish as fiery hot as you can handle.

As for what wine, a nice crisp riesling (Gere Olaszrizling, if you want a specific one) would go well, but there's also a traditional rather light Hungarian red called Kadarka which I would normally drink with this soup.
The problem is, I don't know what Hungarian wines are typically available in the US. The only ones I've found are a couple of the Tokaji Aszús, and Egri Bikavér (Bull's Blood), neither of which I would normally drink with this soup.

Binko wrote:
I've always been tempted to try it with seafish or even shrimp/prawns/etc., but I've never gotten around to it. I suspect it would be really good as like a shrimp boil type dish.

I've used the recipe as a base for a shrimp boil, it's really very good, I've had some very dodgey preps for this dish with seafish and I think that I prefer the traditional taste. Try it out sometime as a base for a shrimp boil I think you'll be pretty happy with it.

Great stuff! I was lucky recently to have someone come back from Hungary with home-made paprika and a bunch of commercial dry goods. A nice toothpaste-tube of "paprika creme" for example, which worked well on a ski trip as a base for various dishes.

David, mach of the fish soup at Mexican restaurants here features catfish. True too of Viet places, I think.

For a less fishy/muddy fish (not a problem for me), I wonder if Walleye is an option. I understand from my seafood importer pal that much of the Walleye imported for consumption in WI, MN and MI is actually a very similar fish common in Central and Eastern Europe. It seems plausible that the fish shows up in Hungary. Walleye is a delicious fish, for those who have not tried it. I believe Hugo's has it, as well as other local fish, which I admire.

(As with perch and whitefish (the other terrific Great Lakes fish) it pays to pay attention to the details if you want the real, local thing.)

JeffB wrote:I understand from my seafood importer pal that much of the Walleye imported for consumption in WI, MN and MI is actually a very similar fish common in Central and Eastern Europe. It seems plausible that the fish shows up in Hungary.

The fish nomenclature is a bit confusing, but the fish known as fogas or süllő in Hungarian is closely related to the American walleye. It is usually translated as either "zander" or "pike-perch" on menus. It's a very common fish found in Lake Balaton.

The latin name for zander is Sander lucioperca, and walleye is S. vitreus, so they are both of the same genus.

Yet another wonderful post, Binko!

(Not to hijack this thread but I've posted some photos of a zander in one of my posts: scalloped fish.)

Since you've started posting photo-recipies, Binko, I've been noticing a wide variety of peppars in some of our local grocery stores. They are mostly grown in Turkey. One of these days I'll hopefully get a chance to pick some up, post a few pictures of and even ask you for some advice in terms of how best to prepare them.

Lovely post, Binko. Though I suspect I will continue to get mine at The Epicurean.

The Epicurean
4431 W. Roosevelt Road, Hillside
708-449-1000
www.thehungarianrestaurant.com

LAZ wrote:Lovely post, Binko. Though I suspect I will continue to get mine at The Epicurean.

The Epicurean
4431 W. Roosevelt Road, Hillside
708-449-1000
www.thehungarianrestaurant.com

I don't blame you. That place is spot-on for pretty much every Hungarian dish I've had. The only item I've had there that I've been less than completely happy with was the Dobos Torta. Other than that, everything's been as good or better than the typical Hungarian restaurant you'd find in Budapest. For that matter, my experience with Paprikash was the same, although I haven't been to that restaurant since the move.

JeffB wrote:For a less fishy/muddy fish (not a problem for me), I wonder if Walleye is an option

I think it would work fine. I've had this soup made from a mess of pan fish; bluegills, sunfish, crappies, etc., and it was wonderful. I think if the cook knows what they're doing, the type of fish is less important. I was told that the head of the fish was important for flavor. The gills were removed before cooking, the heads afterwards, and the remaining soup was fantastic. Thanks for this post Binko, this is one Hungarian dish I've never tried because I didn't have a good recipe or guide. Now I do.

Binko,

I hope you might continue on sometime with your series on Hungarian dishes.

Between visiting relatives and a nasty cold upon their departure, I have been housebound lately. If I had my druthers, I would have liked to have had breakfast at Frank's Diner in Kenosha. What I always order is their Hungarian mushroom soup.

To satisfy this desire, I found a recipe for Hungarian mushroom soup. I found it is pretty darn close to Frank's, who makes theirs a bit thicker. I believe I used half the amount of paprika called for, though I might add more next time. I did not add more flour as I liked its consistency as is.

Regards,

Looks nice C2. I made a similar soup, but found that it benefited from the addition of an ounce or so of reconstituted dried mushrooms--really richened up the flavor. I found the mushrooms (sold as a bulk blend) at my local Polish deli in Montréal, but there are lots of places to buy dried 'shrooms, including eBay.

Geo

I would love to see a post on Chicken paprikash. There are so many different recipes ....I guess each cook has their own way of making it. We always put some green peppers in it with a few spoons of tomato sauce, paprika and onions of course and at the end some sour cream. Would love to see a similar post on that.

toria wrote:I would love to see a post on Chicken paprikash.

Voilà.

Cathy2 wrote:Binko,
I hope you might continue on sometime with your series on Hungarian dishes.

I second. Great series of posts, Binko. Egészségedre.

--Rich

I totally missed this entry in Binko's excellent (indispensible) series. Probably my favorite (and least made) Hungarian dish. Every family has a fisherman, and every family has a recipe.

In Chicago, we buy giant carp heads from the Asian markets to build the stock. Try it.

Cathy2 wrote:Binko,

I hope you might continue on sometime with your series on Hungarian dishes.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy it. I was a bit surprised to see a couple of these threads resurrected. When I get back from my trip to India, I'll see what I can add. Even though I've outlined the basics in a couple recipe threads, I think a post dedicated to real Hungarian goulash (what is sometimes known as goulash soup here) would be a good continuation. Would be perfect for the cold weather, although I hear it really hasn't quite arrived yet in Chicago. Stay tuned.

Binko,

I'd love to see your take on goulash soup. I've never been to Hungary, but, as you probably know, goulash soup is a major Brauhaus offering at good German brewhouses. For example, my favorite place in Köln is the brauhaus Früh, just down the high street from the Dom. Here's their menu entry:

Deftige Gulaschsuppe, mit Paprika und Kartoffeln, dazu ein Röggelchen E 5,80

It's lovely. But of course I don't have a clue how accurate it is! So it would be a pleasure to see your recipe.

Geo

German and Austrian styles of goulash soup, in my experience, tended to be a bit heartier and a bit more heavy on the onions and caraway than their Hungarian counterparts. Whereas in Hungarian goulash soup you might go around 3:1 to 4:1 meat:onions by weight, in Austrian goulash, recipes go as high as 1:1, which makes it a richer, sweeter, and thicker soup. I seem to recall German goulash soups being similar, but I'm most familiar with the Austrian take on it. Tomato paste may also be used. Also, you might find herbs like marjoram and thyme in non-Hungarian versions of goulash soup, whereas Hungarian goulash soup is typically only spiced with paprika, black pepper, and salt.

Hungarian goulash tends to be more brothy, with a thin red oil slick of paprika that forms on top of the soup if you don't disturb it. This is a pretty typical version of Hungarian gulyásleves. Do note that there is, of course, considerable variation depending on the cook, but that photo gets you in the ball park. I've had versions that are thicker, thinner, much less paprika-y, etc. Here's another photo of it being cooked in a traditional bogrács (cauldron), and it often goes by the name bográcsgulyás when cooked in that manner.

I'll do some research and see if I can figure out some generalities on the international and regional variations of the dish.