A family recipe from Szekszárd

Carp might not belong to the most noble species of fish, but in Hungary it is still popular, especially around the river Danube, where carp is an obligatory ingredient of fish soup. The wine regions near the Danube give significant amount of Kadarka wines, no wonder, carp and Kadarka have been partners for centuries here.

Ágnes Heimann of Heimann Family Estate has a simple recipe, easy to make and it gives a wonderful “pub grub”.

Food that makes wine ‘slide down our throat’

Let us stop for a bit of etymology. In Hungary we have a word for simple bits of food given with wine, it is ‘borkorcsolya’, which literally means ‘wine skate’ – food which helps wine slide down our throat like skate slides on ice. In English I could not find a proper equivalent, pub grub seems to be the closest in meaning, though pub grub is not only for wine. Wine crackers are different, they are used to clean the palate, mostly for professional tastings. Wine biscuits are usually cookies made with wine (though in some countries wine appears only in the name).

How to prepare carp crisps

Ágnes uses the meat and not the fat of the carp, yet the meal is rather hearty, especially if you drink the proper amount of Kadarka with it.
– First make a picante sauce by mixing 30 ml sour cream 2 cloves of smashed garlic, salt and some red paprika powder. Keep it in a cold place.
– Separate the carp from the backbone, you will get two nice fillets of carp. Freeze them a little so that it would be easier to slice.
– We need a sharp knife for the half frozen fillets, cut stripes of 2-3 mm, perpendicular to the fishbones, Doing so the tiny fishbones will quasi dissolve when frying.

– Mix 150 g corn flour with a pinch of red paprika powder. Salt the carp stripes and cover them with the flour. Fry them in ample amount of hot oil.

– Serve it hot with the piquant sour cream sauce.

Enjoy!

The recipe is from Edit Szabó’s book called ‘Gyengébb? Nem!”. Photo: Ferenc Dancsecs.

More about the book

Celebrate Kadarka!

The first International Kadarka Day will take place on 20 November, 2021. Stock some Kadarka wines to get ready!

Kadarka Recommendations

Heimann & Sons, Szekszárd

Eszterbauer Winery, Szekszárd

Frittmann Winery, Kunság

Koch Winery, Hajós–Baja

Tóth Ferenc Winery, Eger

Vesztergombi Cellar

Order Kadarka wines from Winelovers Webshop, they ship any European countries! Find their Kadarka selection here!