Bableves

A staple of the Great Hungarian Plain since at least the 18th century, when paprika moved from ornamental garden plant to peasant kitchen ingredient in the Kalocsa and Szeged regions. The famous Jókai variant — named after 19th-century novelist Mór Jókai, a regular at a Balatonfüred restaurant where he reportedly ordered bean soup almost every time — is a richer version simmered with smoked pork knuckle and finished with csipetke (hand-pinched egg-dough bits); it is the version most served in restaurants today.

Great Plain staple since at least the 1700s, when paprika moved from ornament to kitchen via Kalocsa and Szeged. The Jókai variant — named for novelist Mór Jókai — adds csipetke pinched egg-dough bits and is the restaurant default.

Brick-orange broth from sweet paprika and pork drippings, thick with white beans and chunks of smoked pork knuckle or csabai sausage. A spoonful of sour cream stirred in at the table turns the surface streaky pink. Bread on the side, never noodles in the bowl. The smoked meat should be soft enough to fall off the bone with a spoon.

Paprika burns above 160°C and turns bitter, so it goes in off the heat after the onion-pork base is rendered, then liquid hits immediately. The smoked hock does double duty — flavor and gelatin — so the broth bodies up without flour roux. Sour cream is tempered with a ladle of hot soup before stirring in or it splits.