Hungarian Pancakes With Walnut Filling

This is a Hungarian pancake, a "palacsinta," called "Gundel Palacsinta," in Hungarian, after the dessert's inventor, Károly Gundel, a Budapest restaurant owner of the early to mid 20th Century.   

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

1 1/4 cup flour
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup sparkling mineral water (or club soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
oil/butter for frying

Filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 to 1 cup finely chopped or ground walnuts
1/4 cup chopped raisins
2 tablespoons rum
2 tablespoons grated orange peel

Chocolate Sauce:

4 ounces dark chocolate
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cocoa powder
1 tablespoon rum

Put the raisins and grated orange peel into the rum in a small bowl or cup about an hour before you will use them. In a bowl, mix the flour, the eggs, the salt and the sugar. Gradually stir or whisk in the milk to form a batter. Add the sparkling water (it will foam) and stir to mix. The batter should be neither too thick (like most cake batter), nor too thin, but rather like the thickness of gravy, so you can adjust the ingredients slightly to achieve that. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes. In a sauce pan, heat the cream to just a simmer, then stir in the sugar until it is well dissolved. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Keep the heat very low, so that the mixture just barely simmers for a few minutes, stir frequently. The mix should form a paste-like consistency. In another pan, heat the cream over low heat. Add the chocolate and keep stirring until the chocolate has melted. KEEP THE HEAT LOW! Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and cocoa and then gradually whisk the mix into the chocolate, whisking constantly. Whisk in the rum. Let the chocolate sauce remain over VERY low heat, stirring or whisking occasionally, until it is nicely thickened.

Make sure to oil the pan you will use to fry the crepes (pancakes, palacsinta). I used an 8 inch nonstick fry pan with a little butter and oil mixture for each palacsinta. I used low heat, but some recipes I've seen used medium heat. Put enough batter into the pan to just coat the bottom. These should be pretty thin pancakes. Cook until lightly browned, then flip the pancake to the other side and do the same. Spread some walnut mixture (paste) onto half of each palacsinta, fold over the other half and then fold again. Drizzle some chocolate sauce over each palacsinta and serve while still warm.  


Spread some of the walnut paste onto half of each pancake ...

Fold the palacsinta and drizzle with some chocolate sauce ...

WORD HISTORY: 

Meander-This word goes back to a river in southwestern Asia Minor (now modern Turkey). The transliterated Ancient Greek name was "Maíandros," which was borrowed by Latin as "Maeander." English borrowed the word in the late 1500s as "meander," meaning "a winding path or course," seemingly initially for rivers and streams and then broadened to land courses. The verb developed about a decade later meaning, "to flow in a winding course," but it too then broadened beyond water, eventually even taking on a further meaning for humans or animals of "wandering about." 

Hungarian Cheese Filled Pancakes

"Palacsinta" (pronounced as if, "palah-cheen-tah") is the Hungarian word for pancake. From what I've found, these cheese filled pancakes are called "Túrós Palacsinta" (curd cheese pancake) in Hungarian. These are a sweet crepe-like pancake. If you can't find dry cottage cheese, you can use small curd cottage cheese.

Ingredients:

Pancakes:

1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup sparkling mineral water (or club soda)
1/4 teaspoon salt
oil/butter for frying (I used a mix of the two)
powdered sugar for dusting

Filling:

8 ounce package cream cheese (let warm to room temperature), mashed
2/3 cup dry cottage cheese (room temperature), mashed 
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Mix the flour, egg, milk, sugar, salt and sparkling water together into a batter. Heat a little oil in a small to medium frying pan over medium heat. Add enough batter to just cover the bottom of the pan and shake the pan to spread out the batter to form a relatively even thin layer. Fry the pancake until it gets a little brown, then flip it over and brown that side. You will have to watch the palacsinta carefully, as they will cook quickly, with the first side likely requiring only 25 to 30 seconds and the second side needing only 15 to 20 seconds, but the cooking time will naturally depend upon how thick you make the pancakes. Remove each fried pancake to a separate plate, then fry another pancake.

Make sure to let both the cream cheese and cottage cheese come to room temperature. In a bowl, mix the cheeses and other ingredients well. Spread a heaping tablespoon or two of the cheese filling into each pancake and then roll up the pancake. Serve the pancakes seam side down and dusted lightly with powdered sugar. Alternatively, to serve the pancakes warm, you can place the palacsinta on a baking sheet (parchment paper lined helps with any clean up), seam side down, and put them into a 350 F oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately. 

I overfilled this palacsinta with cheese filling so it could be easily seen.

WORD HISTORY:
Callow-This word, meaning, "young, inexperienced," in modern times, goes back to Indo European "galwh," which meant, "bare, naked." There is disagreement over the next step in this word's history, with some believing there was an Old Germanic offshoot from the Indo European form, while others point to the Latin form derived from Indo European, and that this was borrowed into Germanic. I go with the latter, but it seems to me the borrowing was into the West Germanic branch of Germanic, as forms of the word were (and still are) in West Germanic, but not in the Germanic languages in general in the past.^ So, the Indo European form gave Latin "calvus," which meant, "bald." This gave West Germanic "kalwas," which meant, "bald, bare." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "calu," with the same meanings. This then became "calwe," before the modern version of "callow." The meaning gradually came to be applied (adjectivally) to young birds not yet old enough to have feathers. Later the meaning broadened to young living things in general; then, to the notion of "young," to "inexperienced." The other West  Germanic languages have: German and Low German Saxon "kahl" (bald, bare), West Frisian "keal(e)" (bald), Dutch "kaal" (bald, bare). (Karl/Charles II, the grandson of Charlemagne, and also a Frankish king and emperor, has been known to history as "Charles the Bald," which in German is, "Karl der Kahle," from Latin "Carolus Calvus.")

^ Present versions of a word don't necessarily tell much about the history of its ancestor, as words are frequently borrowed between languages; so, in this case, while English has always had a form of "callow," just knowing that English has "callow" in modern times does not mean it originally had it; thus, if Swedish had a form of "callow" in modern times, would not mean it always had it.  

Savory Hungarian Stuffed Pancakes: Hortobágyi Palacsinta

Slight update to "Word History" 8-14-22

This crepe-like stuffed pancake dish is called "Hortobágyi Palacsinta," in Hungarian. It is often made with veal, but other meat is not uncommonly used, especially ground pork, which is what I often use. Chicken is also commonly used, but it is not always ground chicken, but rather pieces of chicken are cooked as part of the stew, then the meat is taken off of the bones and chopped to the desired size. Of course, you can make the pancakes using a smaller skillet (like 6 inch) up to a large skillet (like 12 inch skillet), or something in between, which is what I do, as I generally use a 9 inch skillet. 

Ingredients:

Stew:

1 pound ground pork (or ground veal)
1 medium onion, chopped (smaller type pieces)
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, with some of the juice
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
2/3 to 1 teaspoon salt
2/3 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika (preferably Hungarian, but use what you have)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons olive oil

sauce:

1 cup sour cream
1 cup broth from the meat preparation
3 to 4 tablespoons flour

for the crepes:

1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
oil or butter for frying

In a skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and let cook for a couple of minutes, then add the ground meat. Keep breaking up the meat as it cooks with the onion, as you don't want large chunks of meat in the filling. When the onions are softened, add the tomatoes, the caraway, salt, pepper and paprika, and mix well. Add the broth and continue to simmer the stew for about 20 to 25 minutes. Strain the stew using a sieve.

Put the strained broth into a pan over medium low heat. Mix the flour with a little water and whisk it into the broth. Let the mixture cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Remove the thickened broth from the heat and let it sit for a few minutes, then whisk in the sour cream.

In a skillet (preferably non-stick), add a little oil or melt some butter over low heat. In a bowl, mix together the flour, eggs, milk and salt. Add enough batter to the heated skillet to form a thin crepe-like pancake. Let the crepe cook until the liquid is no longer runny on top, then turn the crepe over. Both sides of the crepe should be lightly browned.  

Put a couple of tablespoons of the meat mixture into each pancake (crepe). Tuck in the sides and roll up the palacsinta around the filling. Serve the palacsinta with the sour cream sauce over them, or put the filled pancakes into a baking dish, pour the sour cream sauce over them and bake at 350 F for about 12 to 15 minutes, then serve.

 Served with a small green salad of kale, tomato and red onion ....

WORD HISTORY:
Hinder-The ultimate origin of this verb (and sometime adjective) is uncertain, "perhaps" going back to Indo European "kom," which meant, "beside, near, together, by;" but I'm not totally convinced of this. Whatever the source, "hinder" does go back to Old Germanic "hindronan," which meant, "to put to the back, to keep back, to keep to the rear." This gave Old English the verb "hindrian," which meant, "to hold back, to obstruct, to impede or prevent advance." Later condensed to "hinder." The adjective use shows reference to "behind, in the rear, in the back." Other Germanic relatives (verb forms): German has "hindern" (prevent, hamper, impede), Low German Saxon "hinnern" (stop, hold in, hold back), Dutch "hinderen" (hamper, hold back, keep back from), Swedish "hindra" (prevent, keep back, hold in). This was all I could find, but Old Norse seems to have had "hindra" and Frisian once had "hinderia." By the way, German has the derived noun, "Hindernis," meaning, "barrier, obstacle," with the obvious tie to the verb, and English has the noun, "hindrance," originally spelled "hinderance," which dates to the mid 1400s. It is one of those mixed words, with "hinder," an English word derived from Germanic, with the "ance" suffix from French, from Latin "antia/entia."