SVÍCKOVÁ (pronounced SVEECH-koh-vah)

• 3 lbs rolled beef rump or rib roast
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/2 cup carrot, diced
• 2 T chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/8 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1 T sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups sour cream

Loosen cord from around roast and place bacon slices evenly around it. Re-tie, rub with salt and set aside. Melt fat in heavy saucepan; add celery, carrot, parsley and onion; cook for 10 minutes. Stir in bay, thyme, and pepper. Place meat on top of vegetables; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add water, vinegar and sugar. Cover and bake in 350ºF oven until very tender. Add water as needed. Slice thin and serve with a sauce consisting of: 1/4 cup flour blended and simmered with meat juices from the pan the meat was cooked in, into which is stirred 1 pint sour cream.The vegetables will have cooked apart and will help thicken and season the juices.

Pollo en salsa verde

• 1 large onion
• 1 handful of fresh coriander
• 1 clove garlic
• 6 tomatillos (Mexican green tomatoes)
• 1 serrano chile
• 1/4 cup water or chicken broth
• 1/2 tsp salt, or 1 bouillon cube
• 1 chicken, cut up
• oil

In blender, combine onion, coriander, garlic, tomatillos, chile, water, and salt. Brown chicken in oil in a large pot. Add blended sauce and simmer until chicken is tender and sauce has thickened. Add more water or broth as needed. Serve with rice and tortillas.

SzerbRizses Hús: A Serbian Rice

This is a recipe extracted and translated by Dad from the old Hungarian volume of Az Ìnyesmester Szakácskônyve (The Expert’s Cookbook). It smacks of the kind of home cooking favored in our family, even though it isn’t a family recipe, per se.

Ingredients for Serbian Meaty Rice

• 4 oz. cubed bacon
• 1/4 small onion, chopped
• 2 lbs. veal or lamb
• 1 T sweet paprika
• consommé or marrow broth
• 1-1/2 cups rice
• grated cheese

Brown cubed bacon with chopped onion. veal or lamb, paprika, and a little consommé. Mix in rice and add consommé or marrow soup in correct proportion to rice. Cover and steam or bake until both rice and meat are tender. Remove from heat and add grated cheese (about 1 T). Serve with additional cheese on the side.

• 1 lb. pork cutlets, pounded thin
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 T water
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 cup fine bread crumbs
• Flour
• Oil for frying

Mix eggs and water together in a shallow bowl. Combine crumbs, salt and pepper in another shallow bowl.

Dredge cutlets in flour, dip in egg mixture and then in crumb mixture to cover. Heat oil in frying pan and fry cutlets until golden.

Hungarian stuffed cabbage with minced pork, pork ribs, bacon, and pork sausages.

My paternal grandfather was from Hungary, and Dad spent the first few years of his life in that country before the family emigrated to Canada. Grandpa J brought with him the art of making sauerkraut, and he was always proud to show us the heavy crock of bubbly sauerkraut that often sat in the corner of the basement, sending a somewhat malodorous scent out into the cool space below the house.

Töltött káposzta (Hungarian Stuffed Cabbage, or Cabbage Rolls)

• 300 g minced pork
• 50 g diced smoked bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 egg
• 80 g boiled rice
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
• 300 g pork spareribs
• 1 bay leaf
• water
• 1 kg full leaf pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), drained and rinsed
• boiled smoked sausage
• 2 T fat
• 40 g flour
• paprika
• Sour cream

Mix minced pork with diced smoked bacon, onion, egg, boiled rice, crushed garlic, salt, pepper and paprika. Roll filling in 4 pickled cabbage leaves, tucking in the ends.

Cook 300 g sparerib of pork in a little water until tender, add the bay leaf and sauerkraut. Make hollows in the sauerkraut for the four cabbage rolls, nestle them inside, cover, and cook until tender.

Carefully remove the cabbage rolls from the bed of sauerkraut and set aside, keeping them warm.

Prepare a roux from the 2 tablespoon of fat, 40g flour and paprika. Add some of the sauerkraut liquid to it to make a smooth paste, then return to the sauerkraut pot and cook until thickened.

Cut any meat chunks into small pieces and serve with the cabbage rolls, boiled smoked sausage, and sour cream.

Serves: 4