Title: Szegedin Fish Soup (Halaszle)
Categories: Appetizer Soup Fish Hungarian
Yield: 6 Servings

6	lb	Fish **
6		Onions
		Salt
		Noble sweet paprika
1	ts	Hot paprika
OPTIONAL
		Green paprikas; sliced

NB* "The fish should ideally be from fresh water. In Hungary this recipe is made from a mixture of Sterlet, Fogas, Pike, Carp and Sheatfish. As most of these are unavailable outside Hungary, here are a couple of substitutions. For Fogas, which is the most hungarian of fish, and lives only in Lake Balaton, you can substitute Haddock. For Sterlet, young sturgeon would be acceptable, though that isn't itself exactly easy to find. You don't have to try to use ALL these fish, but as in most fish soups, a mixture makes the dish much more interesting. In Szeged, the restaurants make a point of serving some hard carp roe in the soup. IMH" : Scale and wash the fish before gutting them. Then remove their heads and bone them before cutting the flesh into largeish equal sized cubes. Salt these cubes and cover with 1/3 of the onions, finely sliced. Put the heads, bones tails and fins with the remaining onions, sliced, into a pot of water and bring to the boil. When the water reaches boiling point, add a liberal quantity of sweet paprika and boil until the onions disintegrate - about 1 1/2 hours. Strain this stock over the pieces of fish, (and their onions) and simmer for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pot from time to time. It must not be stirred, only shaken, to prevent the fish from breaking up. Finally, correct seasoning, adding the hot paprika. In season, a few green paprikas (bell peppers) cut into longish slices, may be added.

Recipe from Karoly Gundel. - Hungarian Cookery Book. MMed IMH Georges' Home BBS 2:323/4.4

From: Ian Hoare Date: 18 Mar 97 National Cooking Echo Ä

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