- Dishes prepared from Mangalica pigs
- Bakery
- Middle age era kitchens
- Renaissance era kitchens
- Market village
- Strudels, flat bread-scones
- Shepherds of Hortobágy
- Dishes made of mutton
- Kitchens from the era of the Settlement of Magyars in Hungary
- "Grey cattle" dishes
- Handcraft shops
- Millennium era kitchens
- The introduction to handicraft professions
- Bio-products
- Domestically brewed beers
- The entry of the Order of Knights

HELYSZÍN: VAJDAHUNYAD VÁR

Adventures around the table

The first settler Magyars' main sources of foods were wild meats and fish roasted over fire or cooked in a caldron, although they had kept tamed domesticated animals that lived with them such as: cows, horses, sheep and pigs. Other then the wild meats, it was common practice to eat horse meat. As spices they used salt, pepper, onions and garlic. For sweetener, they used honey.

During the reign of the kings of the House of Árpád, the court was always on the road: they continuously visited their subjects to collect and consume the due grain taxes and other taxes. In the kitchens of the chefs working in the court of kings and lords besides the exclusive array of wild meats, fish played an important role as well. There was a great tradition of ox roasts, in which not only the courtly chefs, but the chefs from villages and average, common towns excelled. Cabbage was a favoured staple food not only in noble houses, but with peasants as well. "This, with Hungarians is such a common plant, that a peasant can barely survive without it. Rather, sour cabbage with a name inherited from our ancestors, we used to call the coat of arms of Hungary."

Galeotto Marzio remembered the court of the opulent Renaissance monarch, King Matthias: "it is customary in Hungary, to eat at a square table, a custom inherited from the old Romans, -furthermore, all dishes are prepared in a broth, and the sauces differ based on the quality of the dish. Goose, duck, capon, pheasant, partridge, starling, which can all be found here in abundance, as well as cows, sheep, pigs, and wild boars are all prepared in different but appropriate sauces, then they are either breaded, or baked. Saffron, cloves, cinnamon, black peppers, ginger and other spices are all used in great quantities."

The Eighteen hundreds - in the kitchen as well -, was the time of reforms. An abundance of new and not so new plants conquer the noble and peasant tables: potatoes, corn, paprika, sugar carrots are all introduced. This is the time when our "paprika" dishes make their first appearance: the paprikash, goulash, and the stews begin their emergence. "...many times Petőfi (famous Hungarian poet) designed our menu. His favourite dishes were goulash soup and cottage cheese noodles. Many times he asked to have goulash soup served for breakfast."

By the time of the Millennium, chefs known all over Europe, restaurateurs run most establishments from the village inns to small town restaurants all the way through to the pubs of the Tabán or the hotels' fine dining establishments found along the Boulevard. This is time when fares such as the Palóc soup, the Rigójancsi (dessert) or the Dobos torte are created. The era's kitchen art is described by Zsigmond Móricz (famous Hungarian writer): "Meat soup has to be prepared, so it not only has beef, but poultry in it, as well. Preferably duck, but if it is rooster, it is even better... On an enormous cake platter, just hot off the fire, a great quantity of marrow in layers surrounded by small slices of fresh toast....Wonderful pieces of beef lay on the plate as it still steamed with God's given flavour... Fresh cherries "large size, crispy hard, yellow-red fruit", and black coffee.