A youngman named Jonathan Harker was taking a really long journey from Vienna to Carpathian Mountaines, and on his way, in Trasnylvania he tasted a dish called ’paprika hendl’. Okay, Harker is a fictional character, but the dish is real. I tell you how you can also taste it.

It is a gossip or a fact, who knows, they say, it was Ármin Vámbéry, a Hungarian scientist, traveller and double agent, who told tales and legends about Transylvania to Bram Stoker in Trinity College, Dublin. Either way Mr Stoker had learnt enoguh about this historical region of Kingdom of Hungary to wright his brilliant novel, Dracula, although he was interested in not just facts, but fairy tales and vampire stories, too.

Paprika chicken with 'puliszka' in Transylvania (Photograph by Gyrögy Kerékgyártó)

At the beginning of the novel Jonathan Harker stopes at Hotel Royale in Klausenbourgh. (It was the name of the city during the period of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, while German was the official languauge, but actually Hungarians always called it Kolozsvár, and from Treaty of Trianon it is unfortunately mentioned on the Rumanian name, Cluj-Napoca.)

 The dinner – or rather supper, as Stoker writes – what is served for Harker is to his liking. By the text, it is called ’paprika hendl’, it is ’very good but thirsty’, and you ’should be able to get it anywhere along the Charpatians’.

 Well, make things clear! ’Hendl’ is a German word, it means ’chicken’. The Hungrian name of the dish is ’paprikás csirke’ (’paprika chicken’), it is really a national dish and you are able to get it anywhere along the Carpathians, but it was invented in the Lowlands during the Ottoman period (1541-1686) as every Hungarian dish made with paprika powder. (Paprika is a type of chili, it comes from America, but Hungarians have been cultivating it for 500 years, and we proud of our own species.)

The Kéhli has a speciel offer of Austro-Hungarian cuisine (Photograph by DishCovery Food Tours)

In Hungary we eat paprika chicken with ’nokedli’, noodles, but Szeklers consume it with ’puliszka’, which made of grits and milk (Italians call it ’polenta’). Harker has it for his ’mămăligă’ breakfast next morning. Both are delicious!

 You will be able to taste paprika chicken, if you visit Budapest. It is easy to find a place in the city, where you can got it, but I recommend The Kéhli, in Óbuda ,not just because Salma Hayek likes this place, but also because this restaurant has a speciel offer of Austro-Hungarian cuisine. You can taste it on your own, but more fun to do it on a food tour.

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