Articles by Initial Letters
Szegletes lednek – egy elfeledett ősi hüvelyes
Hungarian traditional cusine – soup made with ’Szegletes lednek’. The peavine or bitter vetch (Lathirus sativus) is a legume that produces a square-ish white pea or bean. It is often dried and used in soups or other dishes. The unusual soup is traditionally made and cooked in 10, 20 or even 50 liter ceramic pots called ‘vászonfazék’. This kind of nutritious legume has or had fallen out of popularity, probably due to its association with wartime foods or foods of the poor. ‘Lathirus sativus’ grows well in dry conditions with little water. A traditional Hungarian potter Berta István makes the right pot, the ‘vászonfazék’, for this soup; his workshop is in the tiny village of Vönöck in Western Hungary. For decades Berta has been working/collaborating with chef Akács István at the Pajta restaurant in Őrisszentpéter (also in Western Hungary). Provided here are recipes for two soups, instructions on how to prepare the bean as a side dish, and a recipe for Sokác beans. By ethnographer Juhász Katalin