Old Country Summertime Cooking

My Experiment with Hungarian Outdoor Cooking in a Bogrács

My grandmother taught me how to cook many delicious Old Country foods very well: stuffed cabbage (töltött káposzta); noodles with cottage cheese (túrós tészta); poppy seed roll (mákos beigli), Easter bread (kalacs) just to name a few.

What was missing from my repertoire were dishes for summertime. My grandparents were caretakers at a lake community and didn't have time to do anything but work in the summer. Leisurely cooking over an open fire while sitting around and chatting wasn't an option. So I didn't learn about the bogrács until recently.

image of a traditional Hungarian bogrács, copyright: Shutterstock via Wix

Of course, cooking in a pot over an open fire wasn't invented by Hungarians! People all over the world have always and still do cook this way, everyday. It's still a necessity in many places.

But to me, what is special about the bogrács, or more specifically bográcsozás (the practice of cooking outside over a fire with this pot) is how Hungarians, with modern kitchens, have embraced this method of cooking. It's a way to honor ancestors and pay homage to the hardworking Old Country people while enjoying time in nature, with friends and family.

You can read about the history of Hungarian outdoor cooking in this article with beautiful archival photographs.

Like many things I have discovered in my ancestry journey, there is that ironic twist. My Old Country ancestors who emigrated to the US would have cooked over an open fire back home out of necessity, and it was hard work. But in the US they didn't have time to do it and relied on quicker, modern indoor stoves, and now, I can choose to use the bógracs and leisurely cook outside -- just for fun.

My ancestors truly did sacrifice so much so that their future generations could have an easy life. However, I often wonder if my great-grandparents are looking down at me from heaven and shaking their heads at all the things I do for fun -- going on long hikes, cooking outside, lifting weights. Things I do for "fun" were just life and work for them.

But why? I imagine them asking themselves when I do physically hard things for "fun."

Even though my ancestors might be wondering why, I was very excited to recently get a bógracs set up. I have access to a fire pit and was gifted a tripod stand and dutch oven pot.

You'll see in the first photo in this post, a bogrács has a more cauldron-like shape, and cooking is often done without a lid. So while a traditional bógracs has a different shape than my new dutch oven, the cooking method is similar and most importantly, the jó hangulat (good vibe) is the same!

My version of the bogrács isn't exactly the right shape, but it does the job.

Though my grandmother didn't pass on any bógracs recipes to me, she did pass on her ability to cook well without a recipe, through intuition. Often, when asked how much of an ingredient to put into a dish, my grandmother would respond, "oh, the right amount."

Luckily, I know what that means, most of the time.

I decided my first bogracs meal would be fish stew (halászlé.) I skimmed a few recipes online, looked around the kitchen, and summoned my intuition to create this dish.

halászlé made in the bogrács

I believe everyone can decide their own "right amount," so I encourage you to experiment!

But this is a short summary of my process:

I cut up an onion and several pieces of garlic, stirred them around with some olive oil in a large bowl, then added four big spoonfuls of sweet paprika (of course,) and a little salt. I cut about ten new potatoes in half, sliced a large red pepper, then a small green pepper and a handful of cherry tomatoes, and added it all to the mix. I put in a little cayenne to make it a bit spicer, and 5 fillets of firm white fish. Then I added a bit more paprika, (just because,) then two large spoonfuls of "Better than Bullion" and a couple of splashes of clam juice. I filled a pitcher with several cups of water.

After the fire had been going for about an hour, I put the bogrács on with a bit of olive oil. Then I added the ingredients, all at once, stirred them around a bit with a wooden spoon, then added the water. I let it cook for about an hour, stirring once or twice, until it looked right.

The result: absolutely delicious.

my first bográcsoszas meal!

Next time I will do a few things differently: perhaps add a bit less oil; maybe find a fresh hot pepper to add, rather than powdered cayenne; and definitely get a longer wooden spoon (it was very hot to get so close to the fire to stir!)

But overall, my first bogracs was a success. I hope my ancestors are proud. I'm grateful to them that I have the time and resources to cook for fun.

If you want to read more posts like this, or learn about my Hungarian Citizenship journey, please subscribe to the blog. And let me know if you have any of your own bogrács stories!

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*I'll be honest, it feels a bit strange to write about cooking for fun while so many people in the world are hungry. If you are able, please consider a donation to a food program, like World Central Kitchen, UN World Food Program or your local food pantry. Thank you.