Székelykáposzta

The story

Székelykáposzta, also called székelygulyás, is named after a person, not a region. Hungarian accounts credit the writer József Székely, a friend and contemporary of the poet Sándor Petőfi. The usual story puts him in a restaurant in what is now Budapest around 1846: arriving at closing time, he asked the cook to combine the last of the pork pörkölt with sauerkraut, and the dish kept his name. Writers who retell the anecdote add that it is probably not true, and that early versions used three kinds of meat rather than pork alone. Either way the dish has nothing to do with the Székely people of Transylvania, though the name often leads people to assume so. Sauerkraut, savanyú káposzta, is the most common of Hungary's pickled vegetables, and because it keeps for months it stayed on the table through the winter. Here pork shoulder is stewed with onion, paprika and caraway, the sauerkraut goes in for the last 45 minutes or so, and sour cream finishes the pot. It reheats well, so it is a good dish to make a day ahead and serve with boiled potatoes or crusty bread.