Cabbage in „magnate”style

July 15, 2018

Cabbage in „magnate”style

Etyeki Kúria Kékfrankos and an amazing recipe

The Hungarian word ’mágnás’ is not equivalent of magnate. It functions as an adjective as well, not only as a noun, and since it is really rarely used, it has a special taste. A ’mágnás’ dish is rich of something, especially because people could not afford it every day, so ’magnate’ plates had a special importance. Sára Matolcsy, who has just resigned from Etyeki Kúria, shared her grandma’s recipe in Edit Szabó’s book, which we described earlier. As Sára says, the dish is a time consuming one, she can find the time only once in a blue moon. Recently she stepped back from managing Etyeki Kúria on an every day basis, so probably she will have more time to cook! Her hard work has had its reward by now: the winery in among the top ones of the country, and winemaking is in good hands with Sándor Mérész.

How to make magnate cabbage (4 persons)

First we have to make pork stew in the usual way: fry chopped onion, season it with salt and paprika, add the chopped pork, fry for a while and add a little water to let the pork cook until tender. Stew can be made in thousand ways, you can add other spices (caraway seed, pepper, etc) or vegetables (turnip, carrot) or red wine, you can start frying bacon and add onion to melted bacon, but the basic recipe is only onion, some fat or oil, pork and paprika.
Put the stew aside, let it chill and smash it with a fork.
Cook 150 g rice and put it aside.
Carve the inside of a medium size cabbage carefully. Chop the carved cabbage and fry it on a little oil. Add some salt, a pinch of sugar, add some water and boil it until tender.
When the cabbage is soft, mix it with the stew and the rice, add some sour cream and fill this mixture into the cabbage.
Wrap the cabbage tight in a kitchen cloth and boil it in water for 40 minutes.
Unwrap, place on a baking tray, spread some more sour cream on top, sprinkle it with grated cheese and bake in the oven in 10 minutes.

Wine pair: Kékfrankos from Sopron

Etyeki Kúria has its estate in Etyek–Buda wine region, near Budapest, but they have vineyards in Sopron wine region as well, and they place more and more emphasis on this north-west terroir. The wine was matured in barrel for a year, then in bottle for 11 more months before being released. Intense sour cherry, blackberry and plum on the nose, while the palate is characterized by juicy fruitiness and firm acidity. Medium body and great length.