Töpörtyűs pogácsa — Little Scones with Cracklings
Small, rich, flaky brioche-like scones studded with pork cracklings (töpörtyű) that give them a salty, umami depth. They are scored with a crosshatch pattern before baking; they keep for several days and travel without complaint.
Small, rich, flaky brioche-like scones studded with pork cracklings (töpörtyű) that give them a salty, umami depth. They are scored with a crosshatch pattern before baking; they keep for several days and travel without complaint.
Here, these have covered more miles than I have! As a child, my mother would sew them into a cloth before every departure, and I never stopped taking them—on night trains to Berlin, on ocean liners to America. The good baker scores them in a checkerboard pattern on top, like a chessboard: that's how you recognize a true pogácsa. Bite into one, close your eyes: you're in a Budapest café, the smoke of cigars, the bursts of voices—and all of Hungarian cinema around a table.
- •Flour — according to batch (base)
- •Chopped pork cracklings (töpörtyű) — a good portion (umami flavor)
- •Lard — a portion (richness, flakiness)
- •Sourdough or yeast — a little (leavening)
- •Eggs — a few (binder and glaze)
- •Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Töpörtyűs pogácsa — Little Scones with Cracklings
Small, rich, flaky brioche-like scones studded with pork cracklings (töpörtyű) that give them a salty, umami depth. They are scored with a crosshatch pattern before baking; they keep for several days and travel without complaint.
Why this dish? In Hungarian folk tales, the hero always sets off with a pogácsa baked under the ashes. Korda spent his life traveling—Budapest, Vienna, Berlin, Hollywood, London—a tireless emigrant of European cinema; these little scones that keep well and slip into a pocket are his true childhood luggage.
Here, these have covered more miles than I have! As a child, my mother would sew them into a cloth before every departure, and I never stopped taking them—on night trains to Berlin, on ocean liners to America. The good baker scores them in a checkerboard pattern on top, like a chessboard: that's how you recognize a true pogácsa. Bite into one, close your eyes: you're in a Budapest café, the smoke of cigars, the bursts of voices—and all of Hungarian cinema around a table.
Ingredients (period version)
- Flour — according to batch (base)
- Chopped pork cracklings (töpörtyű) — a good portion (umami flavor)
- Lard — a portion (richness, flakiness)
- Sourdough or yeast — a little (leavening)
- Eggs — a few (binder and glaze)
- Salt, pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour — 400 g (base)
- Chopped pork cracklings (or crispy bacon bits) — 200 g (umami)
- Lard — 100 g (flakiness)
- Fresh yeast — 15 g (leavening)
- Eggs — 2 (+1 for glaze) (binder and glaze)
- Sour cream — 100 g (tenderness)
- Salt + pepper — 1 tsp + 1 pinch (seasoning)
Method
- Dissolve the yeast in a little warm milk; knead with the flour, lard, eggs, sour cream, chopped cracklings, salt, and pepper.
- Let rise for 1 hour, then roll out and fold like a letter two or three times for flakiness, resting between turns.
- Roll out to 2 cm thick, score the surface with a fine crosshatch pattern using a knife.
- Cut out with a cutter, brush with beaten egg.
- Bake in a hot oven (200°C) for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned.
- Let cool slightly; they keep for several days in a box.
How it was made : The pogácsa descends from flatbreads baked under the ashes ('pogácsa' comes from the Latin 'focus,' hearth). Rich in fat, it keeps well without turning rancid quickly—hence its place in tales as a traveler's provision, and in Viennese-Hungarian cafés as a morning snack.
The contemporary twist : Served warm in a kraft paper bag styled as a 'film crew ration,' to nibble between takes.
Sources : Károly Gundel, Hungarian Cookery Book · George Lang, The Cuisine of Hungary (1971)
Alexander Korda · Charactorium