Wash and cube the meat. Cook the finely chopped or grated onion until transparent, add the meat, and fry for 2-3 minutes over high heat, stirring constantly. Take off the fire, sprinkle with paprika, add salt and pepper, cover, and cook over low heat until tender. Remove from the pot, leaving the juice for later, and crush with a fork.

Thicken the cooking juice as follows: combine, until smooth, 1 tsp. flour and 1-2 tbsp. sour cream, add to the veal juices, bring to the boil, add the remaining sour cream and stir thoroughly. Add 1-2 tbsp. of the thickened stew to the crushed meat in order to render the meat spreadable.

Prepare the pancakes: whip the eggs with the milk and oil until smooth, add salt, then, stirring constantly, slowly add the flour until the mixture is the consistency of a heavy creamed soup. Heat a thin Teflon pan, pour in a ladleful of the pancake mix, and dipping the pan carefully, distribute the mix evenly. (When cooking the first pancake, add a bit of oil to the pan.) Cook over medium heat (appr. 1 minute) until the pancake separates from the pan when gently shook. Turn around using a flat spatula and cook the other side until light brown. Of the dough breaks apart, add a little more flour, if it is too thick, add a bit of milk. While the pancakes are cooking, stir the dough from settling.

Spread the meat stuffing on the pancakes, and roll up to make flat sacks". Place the pancakes in a fireproof dish, pour the remaining meat juice mixed with the sour cream on top, and heat in a pre-heated oven.

Wash, clean and cube the meat, Fry the finely chopped onion in oil until transparent, take the pot from the fire, sprinkle with paprika, add the meat, and cook over a high flame for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper and cook, covered, until the meat is half done. Add the cleaned and quartered vegetables and the green pepper cut into rings. Meanwhile, prepare the csipetke: make a stiff dough from the flour, egg and salt (but do not use water!). With fingers dipped in flour, pinch small fingernail size bits out of the dough and put on a flowered board. (The Hungarian name csipetke means pinched dumplings.)

Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes, and add to the soup with 1 quart water. Bring to the boil, add the csipetke to the boiling soup, salt to taste (you can also add a sprinkling of powdered cumin), and cook on a low flame until all ingredients are tender. Serve with cherry peppers in a small separate bowl for those who like their soup "hot".

Soak the bean overnight. Cook the smoked pig's hocks (knuckle) in 1/2 quart of water. Taste the soup after the nocks have boiled for 15 minutes. If the soup is too salty, pour off the cooking liquid and add fresh water. When the hocks are partly tender, add the beans. When the beans are also partly cooked, add the cleaned and quartered vegetables.

Cut the bone off the cooked hocks, cut into small serving pieces and put back in the soup.

Make the roux: lightly brown the flour in the oil, add the crushed garlic, stir and cook for a very short while, take the pot from the fire, sprinkle with paprika, add appr. 1 cup cold water, stir until smooth, and pour into the soup. Bring to the boil, then continue cooking for at least 10 more minutes. To make this soup into an extra special treat, make it with sour cream in a separate bowl, though some prefer this classic Hungarian soup with a dash of vinegar.

Cook the meat in appr. 1 quart of water until half done. Also cook the rice, separately, until half done.

Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing: combine the ground meat, the drained rice, the crushed garlic, the egg, salt and pepper, until all the ingredients are well blended. Place some stuffing on each cabbage leaf and roll up, tucking the ends in so the leaves won't open. Wet your hands and shape the remaining stuffing into balls.

In a large pan fry the smoked bacon until the fat comes out, add the onion and fry until transparent, sprinkle with paprika, add half of the sour cabbage leaves and the meat balls, and finally, the rest of the sour cabbage. Cut the sausage into rings and put on top, add the bay leaf and the smoked pork chops, and enough water to cover half-way. Cover and cook on a low flame until tender.

Lift out the stuffed cabbage leaves with a slotted spoon and set aside. Stir the flour in 2-3 tbsp. sour cream until smooth, add a little water, stir again, and add to the cabbage, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil, put back the stuffed cabbage leaves, and bring to the boil once again.

Before serving, sprinkle with half of the left-over sour cream; serve the other half in a separate dish, on the side.

Wash and core the green pepper and cut into rings. Blanche the tomatoes, peel, and quarter.

Cook the thinkly sliced smoked bacon until the fat comes out, then fry the finely chopped onion in the lard until transparent. Add the green peppers, the paprika sausage cut into thin rings, and cook for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt to taste, sprinkle with the paprika, and cook, covered, over medium heat until tender.

If you do not like the taste of smoked bacon, you can use 2 tbsp. oil instead and add hot dogs or plain sausages. For those who like their lecsó hot, serve crushed hot peppers in a small dish on the side.

Cut the meat into small cubes. Finely chop the onion and fry in the oil until transparent. Reduce the heat, add the paprika, then immediately add the meat to prevent the paprika from turning bitter. Salt to taste and brown, stirring all the time.

When the meat is browed, add a small amount of water or stock. Cover the pot and simmer, stirring occasionally. Add more liquid if necessary, but very sparingly; for full flavor, the meat should be browned, not cooked. When the meat is partly tender, add the green pepper cut into rings and the peeled tomato. Simmer until tender, remove the lid and cook until only a thick juice remains. (You may want to thin it with a little water or red wine.) Serve with galuska dumplings (see Chicken paprikás, p. 20).

Note: Pork and beef pörkölt – pörkölt being a kind of stew cooked in its own juices – is made the same way, only the cooking time is slightly longer.

Cook the potatoes in their skins. Peel and rice them while still warm. Set aside to cool. Cut open the plums, remove the pits, and if they are not fully mature or sweet enough, stuff with a bit of sugar of cinnamon sugar. Mix the potatoes with the flour, the butter (or oil), the egg, salt and knead well. (Add enough flour to make a light, but not runny dough.)

Stretch the dough out to 1/2 in. thickness on a floured board, then cut into appr. 3 in. squares. Place a plum in the middle of each square of dough, flour your hands, pull the corners together, and shape into small dumplings, making sure that each plum is completely covered and there are no openings anywhere. Cook in ample boiling water until the dumplings rise to the surface, then continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Brown the bread crumbs in the oil or melted butter till golden brown, place the dumplings carefully into the bread crumbs, and roll them around carefully to coat. Remove the dumplings and serve sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Note: These dumplings can also be made with prune jam, apricots or sweet greengages.