🇭🇺 Hungary
KorhelylevesHungarian sauerkraut soup
A Hungarian soup of sauerkraut cooked with smoked sausage or smoked pork, onion, paprika and caraway, finished with sour cream, traditionally eaten on New Year's Day to settle the stomach after a night out.
Origin and history
Korhelyleves is a Hungarian sour cabbage soup of sauerkraut, smoked meat or sausage and sour cream. Hungarian Wines says korhely, the word in its name, now means a drunkard but refers to a young nobleman who spent his evenings in inns and restaurants. The soup is eaten on New Year's Day and through the winter, as a remedy for the morning after.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 to 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 15 min
- Hands-on
- 30 min
Ingredients
- 500 g1.1 lb sauerkraut, squeezed, with its juice kept; rinse only if very salty
- 225 g1/2 lb smoked paprika sausage (kolbász), thinly sliced
- 200 g7 oz smoked pork shoulder or knuckle, optional, diced; in addition to or instead of the sausage
- 2 tbsp lard
- 1 onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
- 1 tsp ground caraway
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 l2 quarts water
- 200 g3/4 cup sour cream (tejföl), plus more to serve
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- salt and black pepper, salt last and sparingly
- crusty bread, to serve
Method
-
1. Fry the sausage slices in a dry pan over medium-high heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned on both sides. Keep the fat.
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2. Melt the lard in a large pot and soften the onion over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until translucent.
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3. Lower the heat, add the sausage with its fat, the smoked pork if using, the paprika, caraway, bay leaves, pepper and garlic, and stir for 30 seconds. Do not let the paprika burn.
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4. Stir in the sauerkraut, pour in the water, cover and simmer for 45 minutes, until the cabbage is tender but still has a little bite.
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5. Whisk the flour into most of the sour cream, then whisk in a few ladles of hot broth to warm it.
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6. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the sour cream mixture, return to low heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, until the soup thickens.
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7. Taste and add salt only if needed. For more tang, stir in some of the reserved sauerkraut juice. Serve with a spoonful of sour cream and bread.
Notes
- Korhelyleves is usually translated 'drunkard's soup' or 'night owl's soup'. Hungarian Wines says it is served on New Year's Day to settle the stomach after a night of drinking; Offbeat Budapest calls it a traditional winter hangover soup.
- Sources differ on the thickening and the base. Offbeat Budapest (the version here) simmers the cabbage in water and stirs in sour cream mixed with flour at the end; the Kifli recipe fries flour with the paprika at the start, uses chicken stock, adds diced potatoes and a little sugar, and uses 4 to 6 tablespoons of sour cream only to serve. Potato is a common addition rather than a requirement.
- Smoked meat varies: Offbeat Budapest uses paprika sausage, Kifli uses smoked pork shoulder or knuckle (it says fried sausage rounds can replace it), and Hungarian Wines names smoked knuckle and sausage together. Use either or both.
- Frying the sausage first and using its fat builds more flavour than adding it at the end.
- Go easy on salt: the sauerkraut and smoked meat already bring plenty. Rinse the cabbage only if it is very salty, and use a little of its juice to sharpen the finished soup.
Adapted from Offbeat Budapest: Sauerkraut soup (korhelyleves), Kifli.hu: Korhelyleves füstölt hússal és burgonyával, and Hungarian Wines: Hangover soup and its liquid friends.
At the festivals
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