A favourite recipe from Tamás Gere in Villány

A cookery book was published in 2010 with recipes and food stories from the most famous winemakers of Hungary. 15 years passed and it is fun to look through this book, the smiling faces, the dreams they had mentioned back then. Tamás Gere was 60-year-old in the book, he spoke about his dream of his son, Zsolt taking over, and about himself, dreaming of a grandchild. Now, Zsolt is managing the winery, and the happy grandpa can spend time with his gorgeous and naughty granddaughter!

In the book Tamás Gere recalled his childhood, when he adored his grandmother’s sweet pastries. He also spoke about the travels in the wine regions of the world, from Chile to Portugal, where he realised how much he loved fish. As for the family gatherings, he is happy to have several women in the family, they can share the duties among themselves, and he can enjoy the festive dishes, for example plates made of their home breed chickens.
The following recipe is a Swabian pork dish, a memory of the old times, when they used to kill a pig at home and made all the meat products themselves.

Knuckles and steam dumplings with sour cabbage

For 4 persons

For the cabbage base: 1.5–2 kg sour cabbage, 400 g onion, 350 g mangalitza bacon, 600 g smoked sausage, salt, pepper
– Fry the bacon cut into small cubes. Add the chopped onion, fry them together.
– Wash the sour cabbage in cold water, add it to the fried bacon.
– Add some broth and cook it slowly.
– Add the sausage as well, cut into slices, cook it all until the cabbage is tender.

For the meat: a big knuckle (4-5 kg), 4 green peppers, 4 tomatoes, 3 green onions, 3 garlic heads, 200 g fat, salt, pepper
– Remove the bones from the knuckle, rub it with salt, pepper and garlic, let it rest for an hour in the fridge.
– Heat the fat and fry every side of the knuckle.
– Add the vegetables, fry them together for a few minutes.
– Add broth and let it cook covered for about 1.5–2 hours.
– When it is soft and tender, cut it into slices and grill them in the oven.

For the dumplings: 1 kg flour, 1 tbs fat, 50 g yeast, 0.5 l milk, salt, pepper
– Add the yeast to lukewarm milk and wait for the yeast to rise.
– Mix the flour with the fat and some salt, add the yeasty mixture to create a soft dough.
– Form dumplings, cover them with a clean table cloth and let them rise in a warm spot.
– When risen, add them to the sour cabbage pot, and cook them slowly for 45 minutes.
– Make sure there is enough liquid to prevent the dumplings from burning.
– Do not remove the lid so that the dumplings get cooked by the steam.

Serve it with Gere Portugieser!

“The contrast of ripe fruit cherries and astringent flavours (cherries) makes it playful. The sip is long enough to hold itself gracefully. Fresh and crispy. It is characterized by a creamy texture, beautiful acids and complexity.”

More about the wine
More about Portugieser grape here

The book, written by Gábriel Őszy-Tóth, is still available, though only in Hungarian.
More information here.