🇭🇺 Hungary · Lake Balaton
Balatoni halászléLake Balaton fish soup
The Lake Balaton form of halászlé, with a mix of lake fish, gentler paprika and wine added to the pot (white in today's sources; red in the oldest account, Keszthely 1827); generally eaten without pasta.
Origin and history
Lake Balaton has its own family of halászlé, alongside the Danube and Tisza styles. Its cooks use the lake's mixed catch and a gentler paprika, and add wine. The Kaposvár teacher József Elek Horváth described a lakeside fish supper of 1827 in which mixed fish were steamed with onion and paprika and finished with water and wine, and the poet Mihály Vörösmarty praised the Balaton fish soup. Balatonfüred and Balatonlelle are named among its local forms.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 700 g1.5 lb carp (ponty), a third of the fish; cut into 3 cm steaks, head and tail kept
- 700 g1.5 lb predatory lake fish: pike-perch (fogassüllő/süllő), pike or catfish, a third of the fish; cut into thick pieces, head and bones kept
- 700 g1.5 lb small lake fish: bream (dévérkeszeg), roach or bleak (küsz), a third of the fish; gutted, gills removed, left whole for the stock
- 300 g10.5 oz yellow or red onions, chopped
- 2.5 l10.5 cups cold water
- 3 tbsp Hungarian sweet ground paprika, less than in the river styles; divided
- 150 ml2/3 cup light dry white wine from the Balaton region, such as Olaszrizling, one glass
- 1–2 hot cherry peppers, optional
- salt, to taste
- white bread, to serve
Method
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1. Salt the carp and pike-perch steaks lightly and keep them cold.
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2. Put the small whole fish, the heads, tails and bones of the larger fish and the onion in a large pot, cover with the cold water and bring to the boil, skimming off the foam.
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3. Stir in 2 tbsp of the paprika and simmer gently for 45 minutes, until the small fish have fallen apart and the onion is very soft.
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4. Pass the stock through a sieve, pressing the soft onion and fish flesh through and discarding the bones.
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5. Return the stock to a wide pot, bring it back to the boil and add the remaining paprika and the cherry peppers if using.
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6. Lay in the carp steaks first and, after 5 minutes, the pike-perch pieces, which are more delicate.
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7. Simmer for 10 minutes more without stirring, shaking the pot gently now and then.
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8. Pour in the white wine, let the soup bubble for another 3–4 minutes and season with salt.
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9. Serve without pasta, a piece of each fish to every bowl, with bread alongside.
Notes
- What makes it Balatoni: a mixed catch from the lake, by an old saying one third carp, one third small fish and one third predatory fish, a milder hand with the paprika than on the Tisza or Danube, and a glass of light white wine added just before the end. It is usually served without pasta, unlike Bajai halászlé.
- This is the least codified of the three regional styles; lakeside towns (Balatonfüred, Balatonlelle, Keszthely) each have their own habits, and some cooks do not strain the stock at all.
- József Elek Horváth's account of a Keszthely fish supper (1827, printed in 1832) has mixed fish steamed in their own juices with salt, a whole pepper and onion, then finished with water mixed with red wine and a light roux; a few cooks still use red wine.
- Pike-perch (the Balaton fogas) is prized and expensive; any firm white freshwater fish such as perch or more carp can stand in. Sea fish change the character of the soup.
Adapted from Pénzcentrum / HelloVidék: Eredeti halászlé recept (szegedi, bajai, balatoni) and Economx: A halászlé felfedezése.
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Hungary.
Earlier editions
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July 10, 2014
🇭🇺 Baja, Hungary
Bajai Halfőző Fesztivál