You are right, it is just me with a loat of bread, but if you read this artickle, I will tell you in it, why the Hungarians love the lard and how we eat it? (Photograph: K.S.E.)

I know, the next 'course', what I would like to talk about is not too popular among my guests or among the tourists in Budapest, but I am a guide at all, I must tell you every intetesting details.

 Well, you perhaps know the famous Hungarian deep-fried flat bread, the 'lángos' and you heard, that we eat it with sour cream, cheese and many other toppings. Maybe you have tasted it and you found it delicious. It is not impossible, that you think, many of the most tasteful Hungarian dishes are oily or fatty. You are right, this is a very exact conclusion.

 Bread is life. The citiy center of Budapest in 1958 (Photograph: fortepan.hu)

There is another basic food in the Hungarian cuisine, which is fatty, actually this is the fattiest one. We call it 'fatty board', naturally this is just a nickname, in fact, it is a slice of bread with soft lard on the top. 

You are surprised? I am not.

 The bread is very important for the Hungarian people, as for the Italians or for the French people. In the past, in some parts of the country the name of the bread was 'élet', what means 'life'.

 The bread was always very important for the Hungarians. 'The celebration of the bread' in Budapest, 1950 (Photograph: fortepan.hu)

But why do we eat bread with lard? Earlier, for a long time, Hungary was a poor country. In the middle ages, for 500 years it was a great and powerful kingdom, but from the moment, when the Habsburgs acquired the Hungarian throne, people had been getting poorer and poorer. The Hungarians recognised, that the foreign powers (the Habsburgs, the Ottomans) take everything. That's why they tried to hide the food and they used to eat every edible things.

Good old times! A sclice of traditional Hungarian sourdough bread, 1976 (Photograph: fortepan.hu)

 The ’fatty board’ was very common in the socialist era, we ate it at home, in the school, in clubs, at parties etc. etc. Nowadays – becouse it is really not too healthy – this is not as popular as earlier, but I think, there is no a Hungarian, who has never eaten a slice at least.

A slice of 'fatty board' and a glass of white wine from the Balaton region on my terrace - the perfect afternoon. (Photograph: Kerékgyártó György) 

The bread with lard is very delicious and nutritious. I know you hardly believe it. Taste it and you will agree with me. The best with the Hungarian sourdough bread (made of wheat flour), the most flavourful lard is the duck or the fat of the fried pork, but the most ordinary one is the pork lard.

The lard has melted on the fresh, hot bread (Photograph: Kerékgyártó György)

 As you can see on my pictures, I have made my own version for you. The bread is not the traditional sourdough bread what I mentioned above, it is my recipe. I used yeast, 2/3 wheat flour, 1/3 rye flour and beer instead of the water. The lard is the fat of the fried meat what we made on the previous day. Look, it is melted on the slice of the fresh, hot bread!

 Bon appetit!