Hungarian Mushroom Soup?

[Jenise]

I had never heard of Hungarian Mushroom Soup until I moved to the Pacific Northwest. But here it's popular, enough that multiple restaurants I've been to in Bellingham have it on their menus. I've never tasted it though until today, when I heated up some brought over by a friend for our dinner.

I have no idea how typical it was since I have no basis for comparison, but it had no dairy element,and the only other one I've seen--in the grab n' go case at a local deli who have it available every day of the week--is creamy with what I suspect is sour cream. It's like a meatless goulash.

Today I mentioned to my brother that it was what we were having for dinner and he said, "What's that? Never heard of it." Made me laugh out loud as I was kind of thinking maybe I was the only person who had not heard of it. And it's notable that neither of us had since our stepmother Betty was bonafide Hungarian, the daughter of a mail order bride immigrant so famous in Los Angeles for her authentic cooking that Bela Lugosi, also Hungarian, was a frequent guest at Betty's childhood home. And for a period of 6 or 7 years Bob and I had Hungarian best friends, both of whom were also heavily accented immigrants. I've eaten a LOT of Hungarian food!

So what about the rest of you--know of it? Or is it just a thing in my neck of the woods just because someone put a bunch of paprika into a cream of mushroom soup?

I googled it and found several recipes, including one from the 1974 Moosewood Cookbook. They all involve sliced mushrooms, Hungarian sweet paprika, and sour cream.

-Paul W.

I have no idea where to buy Hungarian mushrooms.

[Jenise]

Paul, thanks for that. Makes sense that it would come from the Moosewood book. Lot of ex-hippies up here and it seems to be a vegetarian staple. Like I said, kind of a meatless goulash.

Jeff, that's funny. Btw, if you're Hungarian you don't call something Hungarian. The shorthand is "Hunky".

Jeff, that's funny. Btw, if you're Hungarian you don't call something Hungarian. The shorthand is "Hunky".

I work with a Hungarian woman. I shall have to ask her if that's still common parlance. (And maybe she knows where to buy Hunky Mushrooms?)
Last time she and I talked about food, she was making potato muffins because, she said, whenever Hungarians are upset, they make potato muffins to feel better.

"Hunky" is an ethnic slur, like "wop" for Italians. My uncle married a "Hunky," whom my grandmother hated and used that disparaging term regarding her.

Looks like good hearty winter fare: (sorry you missed the Harira soup I made for last month's lunch - similar good winter dish)

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food ... hroom-soup

[Jenise]

"Hunky" is an ethnic slur, like "wop" for Italians. My uncle married a "Hunky," whom my grandmother hated and used that disparaging term regarding her.

I learned it from Betty! She used it all the time as a matter of pride, not disparaging at all so of course nothing like that was intended by my comment.