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When I was a child, my small world contained two types of palacsinta—one filled with jelly, another filled with farmer cheese. In our house, whenever Mom served her delicious bean soup for dinner, she usually served palacsinta for the second course. Palacsinta is simple enough to make, but I always found it to be quite time consuming for Mom who prepared this goody for a family of eight. Mother always made enough to fill two nice size baking pans—one contained palacsinta filled with apricot jelly and another with farmer cheese. Served hot, they were DELICIOUS; we quickly devoured them.
I was an adult when I first discovered that palacsinta is similar to what the French call crêpes. A friend and I were at the West Farms Mall in Farmington; she suggested eating at the Crêpe Pan. I didn’t know anything about crêpes; but I was willing to try them once she explained that they were like pancakes but much thinner. The menu contained a large variety of crêpes; however, I wasn’t familiar with any. Then I spied a crêpe filled with lobster. Boy, it beckoned my tasted buds. Of course, I had eaten lobster before, but never inside a crêpe. Mom had always served palacsinta with jelly or farmer cheese, and they were always SWEET. My mind simply could not comprehend eating lobster in this manner. No, lobster and sugar did not go together—not according to my limited knowledge in the kitchen! Oh, I sat there debating. I thought—I so do love lobster, and the price is so reasonable. In the end, I eagerly awaited this new dish. Well, it was new for me! I savored those crêpes filled with lobster. No, they were not sweet at all!
In 1980, my Dad and I were in Hungary visiting my cousin Ani and her family. She had invited us to dinner. I was completely astonished when she served a seven course meal! Among the many dishes, I especially recall palacsinta filled with meat. At first I didn’t even want to try it, for I was sure I wouldn’t like it. With some coaxing, especially from Dad, I finally accepted a very small serving. The palacsinta was filled with ground veal which she ground herself, and it was covered with a paprikás sauce! Quite unexpectedly, my tasted buds danced with every forkful. Ani was delighted when I asked for another serving of the Hortobágyi palacsinta.
Growing up in Connecticut, I was also unaware of another well known Hungarian palacsinta—the Gundel palacsinta. I had the pleasure of making that discovery during a trip to Budapest one summer. My Aunt Kati and I were invited by her neighbors for Gundel palacsinta. I asked Kati what it was. She explained that the palacsinta is filled with chocolate. At first, I was a little anxious, as I pictured chunks of chocolate sliding off my plate. I dreaded the idea of this happening. Fortunately, it never did! The texture of the warm chocolate filling was smooth and flowing! As it rested on my plate, I finally understood why my host insisted I would need a spoon instead of a fork! The palacsinta also had powdered sugar sprinkled on top. As we were eating, our host explained that a true Gundel palacsinta also had walnuts. “Yes, and rum too,” chimed in his wife. Well, the Gundel palacsinta was quite delectable.
This past November, my Aunt Zsuzsi and her daughter Zsuzsa were in Florida on vacation, visiting my sister. Rose and I decided it would be nice to take them on a road trip to see Miami and the Florida Keys. We arrived late in Miami. Checking in, we noticed the Parrilla 75, an Argentinian steakhouse adjacent to our hotel. None of us were especially fond of steaks, but we were less fond of having to drive to a restaurant in this busy city. We peeked in. It looked appealing, so we stayed.
Rose and I studied the menu; we both spotted crêpes filled with soft caramel. We pondered whether or not we should order any, for if the caramel was hard we surely would have difficulty eating it. No, we certainly didn’t want that. We debated. The menu specifically noted that the filling was soft caramel. We still hesitated. We asked our waiter to explain. He assured us that it was warm, soft, and flowing—not hard at all.
With his assurance, we ordered the crêpes. They were extraordinary—so light and airy. Wow! The warm, soft, caramel filling tantalized our taste buds! Indeed, the caramel did flow nicely. The fine, caramelized sugar coating nestled on top was a pleasant surprise. In addition, powdered sugar lightly laced the entire dish. None of us had ever eaten crêpes prepared in this fashion! Even Zsuzsi and Zsuzsa decided to have some. They too marveled at the soft caramel filling. As we savored each, scrumptious spoonful, the four of us thoroughly enjoyed this yummy dessert.
When the waiter inquired how we liked the Argentinian crêpes, I teased. “You know, crêpes arrived to Argentina from Europe. The French are especially noted for making crêpe. We’re Hungarian. Hungarians call crêpes – palacsinta. My aunt and cousin make palacsinta and fill them with jelly or cheese. My sister makes manicotti – it’s Italian. She fills the crêpes with ricotta cheese, covers them with tomato sauce, and bakes them in the oven.”
Of course, we praised the Argentinian crêpes. They were excellent. We sent our compliments to the chef. The waiter was delighted. He informed us that in Argentina crêpes are called Panqueques de Dulce de Leche. He further explained that the soft caramel filling is made with sugar and milk. Rose asked me if I understood what he was saying. I said, “I think panqueques must be pancakes. That’s all I got.”
Today, my world is a little bigger than it once was. Nonetheless, globally, it is a small world! More people are traveling to faraway places – places many people once only dreamed of seeing. The internet and oh so many technical wonders connect mankind who are far and near. In fact, it was through the internet I really came to comprehend what our waiter was saying about the panqueques. To have found such delicious palacsinta, oops, Panqueques de Dulce de Leche, in Florida is not such a surprise after all! For palacsinta is not just a Hungarian dish; it may pop up anywhere, when least expected! Kicsi a világ!
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