Gala dinner of the Competitiveness Council

A gala dinner was held in the Museum of Fine Arts on 11 April, in honour of the ministers for research & development who participated at the informal meeting of the EU’s Competitiveness Council. On arrival, the guests were served Chateau Vincent Prestige Brut 2005, a cold sparkling wine from Garamvári Vineyard made by using traditional procedure, orange juice, Theodora mineral water and titbits.

The ministers were entertained by Csík Band, which has earned acclaim primarily for its genuine performance of Hungarian folk music in the past two decades. Their latest musical style has boosted their popularity, attracting more people to enjoy folk music.

As usual, after the starter, Helga Gál, the Hungarian Presidency’s official sommelier, presented the wines of the gala dinner. This evening, the wines came from the Balaton Wine Region. The shores of Balaton are full of volcanic cones, mild hills, special micro-climatic zones and terroirs producing unique wines, and a cultivation area which has been developed and improved over the past millennium. The region includes a total of six separate historical sub-regions boasting its unique characteristics. They are located along the northern and southern shores and west of the body of water. All in all, the sub-regions cover a total of 33 hectares, with 11,000 hectares in production.

The wines and meals of the dinner

The wine: ‘Gesztenyés’ Rajnai Rizling 2007 (Ottó Légli, Balatonboglár)

The Balatonboglár wine district is situated on the south-west side of the lake. Its main soil type is loess. Local products are typically light, elegant and harmonic beverages. Gesztenyés (Maroon Orchard) is the name of the field, where the rhine riesling vineyard of barely four hectares is situated. In 2007, the selectively harvested bunches also included berries affected by Botrytis cinera, which made this rhine riesling singular and peculiar. The must was first fermented in steel tanks, and later transferred to 500-litre oak casks. This yielded an exciting, fine dry wine which excels amongst the riesling varieties from the Alsace, Mosel and Rhine regions.

Starter served with the wine: cold catfish and pike-perch with a lettuce heart. Two fish fillets, nearly 20 kilograms in weight each, treated in oily brine with lemon, were stewed at 100°C until their temperature reached 70°C. The pike-perch was made similarly. Shaped while still cold, the fish was separated by fried red paprika, and was later enveloped in leaves of bear-onion, and sliced. For the lettuce heart, a whole lettuce was cut and dipped into vinegarish-oily water, and placed on the plates afterwards.

Along the shores of Lake Balaton, fishing was regulated by county ordinances from the 1870s. Before, vine-dressers from Balatonboglár could catch fish with a spear without permission. At that time, there was an abundance of fish with more than fifty varieties described in the catchment area of the lake. At least 30 of them still exist. Records from 1830, gives an account of silver breams and zieges, and the king of all Balaton fish, the zander (Stizostedion lucioperca). The pike-perch and the zander belong to the same variety of fish, with excellent white meat. Individuals below 1.5 kg of weight are called zander, while specimens above that weight are called pike-perch. The catfish, which has no scales, is valued nowadays, as an “old” fish that has plenty of flesh. The Rhine Riesling and the fish – especially if well-prepared – make a fine match.

The soup: potato cream soup with artichoke and ham shavings

The artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.), which belongs to the order of asterales, was already known and popular in the ancient times; and it was re-discovered in Italy at the end of the Middle Ages. In Hungary, it was cultivated during the Middle Ages, and later during the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the turn of the 19^th century. At present, it is not so known and is hardly consumed, thus its emergence is always a pleasure. The artichoke is grown in two periods, from March to May, and later in the year from October to December. Though the potato from the New World made its way to Hungarian households a little later, it overshadowed the artichoke greatly with regards to its economic and culinary importance and range of usage.

The base of the soup is made from potatoes, artichokes, salt, pepper, and nutmegs. These ingredients are mixed, filtered and passed through a sieve, and smoothened with sour cream. The artichoke and the potato goes well together, and their health benefits should not be disregarded either.

The wine: Szilénusz 2007 (Mihály Figula, Balatonfüred-Csopak)

The Balatonfüred-Csopak wine region consists of vineyards, shady valleys and hill slopes facing south and south-east, descending to the lake. The soil is of a particularly good quality. Located on the north-east side of Balaton, the wine district is best known for its white wines. As with the rest of the Balaton wine region, typical varieties include olaszrizling, szürkebarát, Rhine riesling, rizlingszilváni, and chardonnay. Silenus was a companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. To make this wine, grapes were harvested from the finest sites of the estate at the same time, and were also fermented and ripened together as customary in this wine region, in old times. This wine is a blend of olaszrizling (Welschriesling, 50%), szürkebarát (Pinot gris, 25%) and Sauvignon blanc (25%). It was fermented in refilled 225-litre barriques for eight months. It is a mature, mouldy, fruity, and slightly vanilla-flavoured wine.

The main course featured duck breast accompanied by a curd pie, seasoned with dill, and marrow compote. For the 120 guests, the duck breast was prepared by sous-vide technique at 65°C for 20 minutes. In the curd pie with dill, the cheese-curd was mellowed by sour cream, and seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper. The pie was baked at 170°C. The dish was enriched by marrow compote.

As with other waterfowl species, the duck has always been kept in chicken-yards along the shores of Balaton. The appearance of roasted ducks by the side of Balaton wines is natural and reasonable. Pies have also been popular up to now. Pie is a generic term for flat pastries. The curd pie seasoned with dill used to be the festive, weekend cake of peasant cuisine. Earlier, it was considered to be the highly esteemed pastry of illustrious courts as well. If the pie is covered by pastry, it is called “béles”, though it preserved its original name in many parts of Transdanubia. Dill and curd or sour cream, go exceedingly well together, and the pie can either be salty or sweet. It is especially good with the duck if served hot. Marrow is a peculiar complement, for generally everything, although here it challenges the wine, rather than the duck, the curd or the dill.

The wine: Áldozói Zenit Főbor 2003 (Sándor Tóth, Upper Balaton)

The wine district in the rolling hills north-west of Lake Balaton, named after Upper Balaton, divides into three areas of a breath-taking natural beauty. Its major grape varieties include olaszrizling, szürkebarát, zenit, chardonnay, tramini and muscat. Zenit is a grape variety from the crossing of ezerjó and bouvier. It was bred by Ferenc Király in 1951. The grape variety lends itself to a wine with a pleasant bouquet, rich aromas, and a rich line of fine acids. It is also frequently affected by Botrytis. Áldozói Zenit Főbor is a medium sweet wine with a high percentage (14.5%) of alcoholic strength, made of late harvest grapes from the Áldozó site, a supreme location with registered designation of origin. “Főbor” had been used in Hungary as a name from the period of the Árpád Dynasty of kings up to the 13th century, to denote a special sweet wine with sun-dried fruits on the palate made of ripe, late vintage grapes affected with Botrytis.

Another version of the dessert already featured in gala dinners. Its name has not changed, but its contents and shape have. The dessert composed for Áldozói Zenit Főbor was mousse of elderberry flowers with shavings of Turkish delight. The dessert was accompanied by a thin “scummy pastry” which was, on the whole, like the one Ágnes Zilahy described at the end of the 19^th century, or the one the wife of Ferenc Móra referred to. The pastry cook of the dinner used the shavings of Turkish hazel and Turkish delight as indispensable ingredients of the light mousse of elderberry flowers. The fresh elderberry was flavoured slightly with vanilla and with traces of lemon.

Following the dessert, coffee was served with a glass of elderberry pálinka, selected from Békés County (Békési Pálinka Zrt.). It showed an intense scent of elderberry flower, and a complex and unique aromas. In the case of this superb Hungarian speciality, it is worth mentioning that pálinka is just as suitable for flambéing, flavouring vinegars or making sauces, as well as for a joyful clinking of glasses.

Sándor Csíki