Paprika for Flavor

I discovered something that was one of my first personal identifications with the Hungarian cuisine that I still hold today: Csípős Paprika (hot peppers). My greatest discovery was that of the Hegyes Paprika (peaky peppers) which is the only one that matches the flavor and intensity of the Hatch green chiles from my own region. I also noticed that the erős piros paprika (strong red pepper) bableves (bean soup) with chunks of beef resembled the red chile with beans that my grandmother made. I can still remember her in her own kitchen chopping up sirloin steak to put into her red chile.

So many people think that chile peppers are just to make food hot. People from my region and Hungarians know that chile peppers must be carefully selected for flavor and to fit the food they will be cooked with, not just to make the food spicy!

Hungarian food, spices, paprika, flavor, pepper, chile, bean soup, bableves, cuisine, cooking