Book of Days Tales

Today is the feast of St Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F., (German: Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen, Hungarian: Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet). Elizabeth was the daughter of king Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania. Her mother’s sister was St. Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia. Her ancestry included many notable figures of European royalty, going back as far as Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus. According to tradition, she was born in the castle of Sárospatak, Kingdom of Hungary, on 7 July 1207. According to a different tradition she was born in Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary (modern-day Bratislava, Slovakia), where she lived in the Castle of Posonium until the age of four.

Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to become betrothed to Ludwig IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, a future bride who would reinforce political alliances between the families. She was raised by the Thuringian court, so she would be familiar with the local language and culture. In 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Ludwig; the same year he was enthroned as Landgrave Ludwig IV, and the marriage appears to have been happy.

Elizabeth is perhaps best known for her miracle of the roses which relates that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig on a hunting party, who, in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. At that moment, her cloak fell open revealing a bunch of white and red roses. In some versions of this story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions her. Hers is the first of many miracles that associate Christian saints with roses, and is the most frequently depicted in the saint’s iconography.

To honor Elizabeth I have chosen pogácsa, a Hungarian bun which figures in many folktales as the food packed by the hero for journeys. They seemed suitable in light of Elizabeth and the roses. Maybe she was carrying them. They are delightful and I have had them as a lunch snack in Budapest on a couple of occasions. I have never made them, however. So I will give you a recipe verbatim from this website (the comment at the end is her’s, not mine!):

http://www.festival.si.edu/2013/tepertos-pogacsa-savory-biscuits-with-pork-cracklings/

Pogácsa
Recipe by: Ilona Kollár

Ingredients

Dough:
2 lb 3 oz flour
3/4 oz. sour cream
salt, pepper, sugar, caraway seeds
5 oz. lard
10 oz. farmer’s cheese
3/4 lb. ground pork cracklings
4 .25 oz packets of dry yeast
1 cup of milk
1 egg
5-6 Tbsp dry white wine

Filling:
Approximately 3/4 lb of ground pork cracklings*
2-3 Tbsp salt
1 heaping tbsp. ground black pepper

Topping:
1 egg
1 pinch of salt
1 pack of caraway seeds

*To make your own tepertő/pork cracklings:
1 lb pork belly chunks
Cook pork chunks in a pan in the oven, or in a skillet on the stove, until all fat is rendered out and what is left are small crispy pieces.

To prepare the scones:

• Preheat the oven to 390° F.
• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in some warm milk, and allow it blooms (starts to bubble). If you’re short on time, you can skip this step and add dry active yeast to the dry ingredients instead.
• Sift the 2 lb. 3 oz. of flour into a bowl and mix in the salt.
• Form a dent in the mound of flour with your fist and add the yeast-sugar-milk mixture, sour cream, lard, and white wine, mixing everything carefully together within this dent (either by hand or with a wooden spoon).
• Gradually add the rest of the warm milk and work it into the flour.
• Knead the dough thoroughly, until it is smooth and sprinkle the surface with flour.
• Cover dough with a clean cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour (until it expands to twice its original size).
• In the meantime, grind the pork cracklings and mix in the salt and black pepper.
• Lay the risen dough onto a board sprinkled with flour and, using your hands (also sprinkled with flour, knead it and stretch it to be about 1/4 in. thick.
• Spread the pork crackling evenly onto the surface and tightly roll up the dough from the bottom to the top. (Ideally, the dough should be left to rise for 10-20 minutes after it’s been rolled.)
• Starting from the left side and moving to the middle, flatten the dough a bit and then flip the right half over the left, like pages of a book.
• Cover it with a clean cloth and let it sit for 20 minutes.
• Stretch the dough to 3/4 in. thickness and score the surface about 1/2 in. apart and 1/4 in. deep.
• Dust a round cookie cutter with a diameter of 2-3 in. (or 1 in. for minis) and use it to cut out shapes from the dough.
• Arrange these on a baking tray, setting them at least 1 in. apart from each other. This is very important, because otherwise you will end up with one giant rectangular biscuit!
• Beat one egg, add a pinch of salt, and brush over top of raw dough.
• Sprinkle a small amount of caraway seeds on each.
• Let the dough rest in a warm place for 15-20 minutes before placing the pan into the oven.
• Bake for 20 minutes (check after 15 min.) until the tops turn reddish gold.

These are best served fresh, but you should wait to serve them until they cool down a bit, lest they give you a stomach ache!