Hungarians supposedly use PAPRIKA generously and more so that salt. I mean on EVERYTHING not just Chicken paprikash. When I started this series on nationalistic stereotypes, I mentioned goulash. You say "I'm Hungarian." They say "Oh, Hungarian goulash."
Well, it seems goulash has paprika in it too. So do many recipes that have become traditional. Hungarian cooking is said to be the only European fare that embraces heat.
So what's the 'scoop?'
In Hungary there are many varieties of the peppers that were introduced, like tulips were, by the Turks, who were so much the enemy that they slaughtered two thirds of the Hungarians in order to occupy and take over the country. But then maybe the Hungarians only borrowed the name for the plant from Turkish words and were more comfortable with the notion that the peppers originated in Portugal. The Hungarians liked these peppers, not to be confused with the Spanish/Mexican peppers, as these have a more sweet taste. Peppers are higher in Vitamin C than citrus and provided much of the vitamin C at a time when citrus was a tropical fruit that didn't grow in a temperate climate and wasn't imported much either. There are a variety of these peppers with different degrees of heat, from none to mouth burning.
Supposedly if you buy paprika you should use it within 6 months because of flavor changes that could mean the taste goes bitter but I've had the same tin longer than that, from an American grocer too, and it's just fine sprinkled on boiled eggs after 'deviling' the yolks, and on potato salad or on freshly made humus.
So here's the catch. In the United States only one type of paprika spice is generally sold (but for a little importing into rare specialty stores) so many a Magyar-American may not even know about the other flavor varieties available in Hungary and so have a limited number of recipes to use it in. (American paprika is often a product of California.) Depending on the region of Hungary, the soil there, the pepper has a different flavor.
Which means that Hungarians in Hungary have the variety and the knowledge on how to use the various peppers and paprikas made of them and are judicious. And get this : a pepper is a pepper and a chili is a chili... sometimes they look the same but they are not, so if you enter a hot chili eating contest you're not eating hot pepper. Sweet, hot, or smoked, you basically have two varieties, and the one that began to be integrated into Hungarian cooking in the 17th century is from Szeged.
No, Hungarians DO NOT lavish paprika on everything or without first tasting the dish before deciding to sprinkle more on. However, paprikas are used in very many recipes. So, as for this stereotype, perhaps it's one to be applied more to the Hungarians than the Hungarian-Americans?
Here is a good discussion about the history and use of paprika! THE HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA
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