After a couple of hundred years of Asian-inspired spicy gulyás-cooking (which was allegedly flavored with ginger and tons of cayenne pepper before paprika was imported during the Ottoman occupation) democracy when everyone who was anyone ate pretty much the same dishes with varying amounts of meat, Hungary turned towards feudalism and international cuisine.
Indeed, the two sometimes entered into a causal relationship: the kitchen was important enough to merit the giving of lands and nobility, as many Hungarian towns with “szakácsi” in their names such as Kisszakácsi demonstrates.
Renown king Mátyás, who gained the epitaph “Fair” not for his appearance but for his decisions, did have a preference for Hungarian food, but that was interesting enough to be remarked upon by travelers. His wife, Italian Beatrice also brought Mediterranean flavor to his court for example by serving peacock-meat.
Miklós Zrinyi, a well-known poet and military strategist even imported a copy of a papal cookbook from the Vatican published in 1643, composed by famous Bartolomeo Scappi. Roux, the French flour-and-fat base used in soups and vegetable stews, also began its march to proliferation in Hungary sometime in the 17th century. And foreign cuisine’s influence was not limited to recipes – even food was imported. As a poem written by Pál Kőszeghy about a 1695 wedding shows, even the lesser nobility partied in cosmopolitan style: seafish – including dolphin and whale-meat – as well as live oysters were imported from the Atlantic Ocean (!) in ice-filled vats drawn by horses.
The globalization of the 19th century further immersed well-to-do kitchens into French cooking with kitchen jargon en français and dishes just comme ça. A 1914 cookbook by Mariska Vízvári, celebrated actress turned scandal-hounded hostess to the elite makes plain that party food pretty much consisted of what you would expect today if someone was putting on a show: lots of foie gras, salmon and caviar, dips, sauces and intricately prepared vegetables to go with huge hunks of red meat.
But today, haute cuisine is notable absent from most castles, most of which are now serving as fancy or not so fancy hotels. What you usually get in these three-five star establishments is high quality and expensive, but just no longer top-notch in the international culinary scene. Château Visz, Ferenc Tolvaly’s kastély just south of Lake Balaton, where a Michelin-star chef from Austria, Eric Schröter holds court (reserve well ahead) is of course a notable exception, but the only one I know of.
However, you could also go to for example the Szent Gaál Kastély near Szekszárd (which is more a villa than a castle with its 7 rooms) and just enjoy your meal for what it is: a good dinner prepared with enough loving care by the caretaker himself you ask for the recipes.
