Wish You Were Here: Budapest, Day 4

Today, Em & I took a cooking class at Chef Parade. We were to meet our cooking school lady, Bernadette, at the Burger King in front of the Great Market Hall. We got there early, because I wanted to be sure we weren’t late. The tram that goes in front of our hotel also goes in front of the market, so it worked out perfectly. I needed batteries for the camera, so I got some at a little souvenir shop near the market. We were still really early, so we went to the market for a few minutes to look around. Our class included a market tour, but I thought it would mostly be food, and I wanted to see the rest.

We came back out to wait, and I took some pictures of the surrounding buildings.

We saw Bernadette (she was wearing a Chef Parade shirt), and she took us back in. We were the only two in class. She told us that the market used to be an open market, but it became a hotbed of disease, because all sorts of sick people would come sell their wares and make everybody else sick. So, the town decided they needed a covered, regulated market. So, they held a contest for designs, with the main requirement being the use of mostly metal, because of fear of fire. The current market hall was built between 1893 and 1896, and was ready to open for Christmas shopping in 1896. Then, it caught fire, and the roof burned off. Luckily, since it’s mostly metal, they only had to redo the roof, and it opened in 1897. The new roof was made of ceramic tiles by one of the famous Hungarian ceramics manufacturers.

The downstairs is food, and the upstairs is mostly handicrafts and souvenirs. Burnadette bought us some yummy Hungarian bakery products to try. She was surprised that we had never had kohlrabi, so she bought us some of that, too. She showed us all around the food section, and explained lots of stuff to us.

From left to right - heart, livers & kidneys, stomachs

We saw some strange foodstuffs, as well as lots we had seen before. She took us to the basement, where they keep the fish and the pickled products. She told us that every vegetable that isn’t ripe or is for some other reason unusable, they “throw it in the pickle.” They had pickled everything. She bought us a large variety of pickled things to try. She also told us that horse sausage is popular in Hungary, but we didn’t see any of that, because we didn’t have time. She told us to look for “Lo” if we came back, though.

Then, it was time to go. We all hopped in a cab and she took us to the school. She sat us down and explained to us what we would be doing and why. She told us all about paprika and the different kinds of peppers they eat in Hungary. She also told us that nobody in her parents’ generation ever cooked, because under socialism, every jobsite had a buffet, and it was much cheaper to eat there than cook at home. It was that way so that people could spend more time working.

All things paprika

Then, it was time to cook. First, we started with our krumplileves (potato and sausage soup).

Then, we made Paprikascsirke nokedlivel (chicken paprikesh with dumplings).

Then, it was time for palacsinta (Hungarian pancakes). I have to say, I am a palacsinta flipping master. First time out, I did it beautifully.

Last but not least, we made the noodles for the chicken. They look a lot like spatzle, if you’ve ever had those. You make a batter, and then you use a tool that looks like a cross between a mandolin and a cheese grater. You put the batter in a little tube thing, and run it over the cheese grater part, so it mades little blobs of noodle that fall into boiling water.

After that, it was time to eat! We very gamely tried all of the pickled things. We were both very brave. Em doesn’t like pickled things, and I don’t like veggies. But, we tried them without complaining! I was very proud of us. I liked the gherkins stuffed with whole cloves of garlic, but nothing else, really. The pickled baby watermelon was pretty nasty, as was the pickled pepper stuffed with sauerkraut.

Pickled stuff and Chicken Paprikesh with noodles

After lunch, it was time to head back to the hotel. Bernadette drew us a map of how to get back to our tram, so we headed out. We stopped in a grocery store, where we saw these. I think they’re cough drops. I’m not quite sure why they’re called Negro. There’s a bar called Negro here, too.

We found our tram, but there was no ticket booth. Our Budapest Card had expired after that morning’s trip, so we needed tickets to ride the tram. So, we followed the tram line, hoping to find a ticket machine or some other place to get tickets. No. We ended up walking all the way back to the hotel. It was a long-ass walk. On the plus side, I did get to see the Little Princess, a famous sculpture.

We came back and took a nap.

A bit later, Max wanted to go to the market. Em was still exhausted, so we left her here, and Max & I went to the market. We were able to buy tram tickets at the hotel (which we hadn’t known before), so we made sure to buy them for there and back.

At the market, we bought some souvenirs and gifts, and got Em some of the horse sausage she wanted to try. She really liked it.

Then, we walked to the Museum of Applied Arts, a building I had wanted to see for the roof. There are so many beautiful roofs in Budapest. It’s hard to tell in the picture, because it was evening, but it’s a gorgeous green and gold tiled affair.