Tag: Hungary

Goulash by the Gallon

My mother used to make Beef Stroganoff when I was a kid; an easy one-pot concoction to satisfy a hungry family of seven. Mom’s recipe was a far cry from the elegant Russian original of beef strips in a sauce of sour cream and mustard. Hers started with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, added in whatever leftover beef and spices were found in the kitchen, and finished with soft egg noodles, all mixed together. It wasn’t my favorite dish, but as I recently discovered it’s a whole lot more satisfying than Hungarian Goulash.

This isn’t “Beef Stroganoff”, Dave

A month ago I didn’t know the first thing about Hungarian Goulash.  Now I know way too much about it.  That’s what happens when you visit Budapest.  Everything is about goulash.  And paprika.  Even goulash itself is about paprika.  But I’m getting ahead of myself here (kind of like I did with the last few blog posts, which were further down the Danube).

Before our plane landed in Hungary for the start of our Viking river cruise, I imagined goulash as a more traditional version of Mom’s Beef Stroganoff.  I expected a hearty casserole of meat, vegetables, and noodles, drenched in a rich, creamy sauce.  As it turns out, goulash isn’t even a poor man’s version of Stroganoff.  No “spoiler alert” here because you’re not missing much.  Goulash is plain ol’ broth-based soup.

Check out the list of ingredients here.  Besides the ground caraway (ground “carraway”?), the only item standing out to me is the paprika, and only because paprika is synonymous with Hungary.  You find the peppery spice everywhere (and in everything) over there, in grades of sweet, mild, pungent, and strong.  Choose wisely; a small spoonful of the “strong” knocks your socks off even if you like it hot.

On a guided walking tour of Budapest (which included an hour inside the exquisite Parliament Building), we stopped for lunch in a basement restaurant for our first sampling of goulash.  The soup was served family-style with bread so we all ladled a helping.  In short, Hungarian Goulash didn’t “have me at hello”.  I was underwhelmed from the get-go.  I looked around the table at our fellow travelers and noticed the same reaction.  We struggled to come up with something distinctive or even complimentary about our meal.

Pálinka shots

Later on, we ventured into the countryside for a “Hungarian Folklore Dinner”.  As soon as we stepped off the bus, the place practically screamed “tourist trap”.  They greet you at the door with a shot or two of pálinka (fruit brandy), no doubt to dull the senses for what lies ahead the rest of the night.  Then they seat you at long picnic tables with people who look like, well, travelers from all of the other Danube river boats.  The gypsy folk dancing was impressive – I’ll grant them that – but the cauldron of goulash set unceremoniously in the center of the table was no more tasty than the helping we had at lunch.

Our goulash guide

The next day, we took another trip into the countryside for a walk through the several acres of an “open-air museum”, an interesting collection of buildings and settings from Hungary’s storied history.  The tour included lunch (hold tight, I know what you’re thinking), but even before lunch we stopped at an outside kitchen for a “special treat” – a demonstration on how to make goulash! (You’ll see I earned a diploma for my efforts.)  Then we were hustled into a nearby dining room for our third helping of goulash in twenty-four hours.  Part of the restaurant was already set up for a wedding reception later that afternoon.  Wonder what they were having for dinner…

Lest you dismiss Budapest over the goulash that seems to be oozing out of the city walls, let me set the menu, er, record straight.  It’s a beautiful city, whether you choose to tour the Buda or the Pest side of the Danube River.  The buildings are illuminated at night, the same way you’ll see Paris during the Summer Olympics in two weeks.  And Hungary’s history is adventurous and remarkable, with many more chapters than you’ll find in America’s.  But sorry comrades; the goulash (and the paprika) can only be described as superfluous.

One of the highlights of a Viking river cruise is the nightly dinner menu.  In addition to standing entrees, Viking chefs design “sampling menus” made up of the food of whatever city or region you happen to be passing through.  In Vienna it was the veal cutlet wienerschnitzel.  In Nuremberg it was the famous white sausage Weisswurst (correction: it would’ve been Weisswurst had our ship actually made it to Nuremberg).  And in Budapest it could’ve been Chicken Paprikash.  Instead, it was Hungarian Goulash… again.  Make that four helpings in two days.  I should’ve misbehaved so our captain could’ve sent me to my room without supper.

Some content sourced from Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia”.

Go(ing) With the Flow

In the camping days of my youth, I’d get a kick out of dropping little sticks into the water and watching them float lazily downstream.  I’d imagine them as little boats, navigating uncharted waters on their way to some exotic destination.  I’d see how far those sticks could go, sometimes removing obstructions to create clear channels.  Perhaps it’s no surprise then, all these years later, I’m drawn to the adventure of Viking River Cruises.

Maybe you’ve seen their commercials.  Viking River Cruises advertise by showing you one of their elegant white ships cruising slowly down a pristine river, with dramatic terrain sloping up and away from the shorelines.  Viking “longships” are low, flat, and narrow; a  wholly refined version of my stick in the stream.  Take your pick: the Nile in Egypt, the Rhine in Germany, or the Mississippi in America, to name a few.  Viking has you covered when it comes to cruising the world’s rivers.

My wife and I just completed our second Viking cruise (well, “completed” doesn’t really cut it but I’ll get to that in a moment).  Our first, in 2019, down the Rhine River from the Netherlands through Germany to Switzerland, was so satisfying we were ready to sign up for another as soon as we were done.  Then the world went a little off the rails so we had to wait until the waters calmed again, so to speak.  A week ago then, we returned from Viking’s Danube River cruise; Hungary through Austria to Germany.

There are at least two reasons why Viking River Cruises don’t appeal to those who seek a vacation on the water.  First, you’ll find little more to do on the ship besides eat and sleep.  Yes, you’ll find live music in the lounge and an occasional cooking demonstration by the head chef, but for the most part a Viking ship is a floating hotel.  Second, the daily excursions off the boat are fast-paced guided looks at whatever is worth seeing, with only a little free time at the end for shopping and such.  Best to bring a comfortable pair of walking shoes to keep up.

Those same reasons are why Viking cruises do appeal to us.  We’ve been on one of those floating-city ocean cruises before (Carnival – ick), and everything from the buffet to the entertainment felt cheap and mass-produced.  A Viking river ship caters to only two hundred passengers, in rooms as nice as most anywhere we’ve stayed on shore.  As for the excursions, the tour guides are carefully chosen for their knowledge and personalities, adding so much more to the tour than if you were to go it alone.  Yes, you’re only getting a “taste” of each locale, but this means you see a lot in eight days of cruising, leaving you to choose if and where you might come back to for more in-depth looks.

Eight days is plenty of time to be on the river (at least in our book) but Viking offers several options twice as long, including a fifteen-day Grand European Tour covering the Rhine and the Danube.  You can also add “land-based” days to either end of a cruise, exploring the cities from where you embark and disembark.  Finally, Viking tailors its menus (and I do mean menus, not buffets) to the cuisine of the region you travel through.  From our experience, the food is excellent.

Passau, Germany (one of our destinations)

If this sounds like a ringing endorsement for a Viking River Cruise, let me silence that bell for just a moment.  Perhaps the only thing Viking can’t control is the water itself.  Unbeknownst to most Americans, the Danube River flooded its banks earlier this month, forcing the powers that be (and who exactly are those powers?) to “close” the river.  Residents in destinations downriver found themselves wading through four feet of water.  River ships couldn’t fit under low-flying bridges, let alone dock at the shores.  As a result, our cruise came to a premature halt in Vienna, Austria, with the remaining itinerary carried out with busses and hotels.

I’ll take the next several posts to dive deeper into our “Romantic Danube” Viking cruise.  We missed out on the time we expected on the river, but the destinations were no less impressive.  Budapest is a heck of an interesting city.  Gottweig Abbey (outside the Austrian town of Krems) is keeping apricots relevant.  So stick with me the next few weeks and you’ll find out more about what the Danube has to offer.  After all, river cruising is a whole lot more adventurous than floating a stick down a stream.