What do all Hungarians eat at Easter?

90 out of 100 Hungarian people would answer: tender smoked ham with freshly ground horse radish and boiled Easter eggs. At Easter the smell of slowly boiling smoked ham fills the air all over the streets, and in the countryside it is still a tradition to take some of the ham with some eggs to the church so that the priest blesses the Easter food.

How do make it properly?

The chef of Óbor restaurant of Bock Winery in Villány shares the secret of the perfection of this simple, traditional meal.

1. Soak the raw smoked ham in cold water for overnight then boil it for at least two hours at low temperature.
2. Boil some quail eggs, start the procedure in cold water, and boil them for two minutes from boiling point. Rinse them in cold water and peel them.
3. Grind the fresh horse radish into fine and then fry it in a dry horse radish for a minute. Prepare dressing: mix 1 dl vinegar, 10 g sugar and 5 g salt, and mix it with the ground horse radish.

Serve the ham, the eggs and the horse radish together and drink Bock Kadarka Siller 2015 with the meal!

Bock Kadarka Siller 2015

First we should explain the colour: Siller is not a Rosé, Siller is a category, a style in itself. It is darker than rosé, because they leave the must on the skin longer and it ferments with the marc for a while. Siller is a Swabish traditional style, therefore it is used in Hungary in the Swabish regions like Villány. People used to harvest red and white grapes together to make Siller. It is not allowed any more, thus the above mentioned longer maceration is applied.

Kadarka is the most frequently used grape variety for Siller in Hungary. Its spicy character is nicely present in Bock Kadarka Siller along with the typical cherry aromas and flavours of Kadarka. Easy drinking wine with balanced, good acidity – its refreshing character is necessary because of the strong horse radish, while the nice acidity is helpful with the creamy eggs.

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