Halászlé

Halászlé – Hungarian Fisherman's Soup

A fiery, paprika-red river fish soup simmered from carp and onions, traditionally served on Christmas Eve in Hungary. The broth is deeply flavourful, the fish tender, and the hot pepper gives it a brilliant, lingering heat.

Prep

25 min

Cook

50 min

Total

75 min

Serves

6

Difficulty

Medium

Recipe ingredients

• •1.5 kg (3¼ lb) fresh carp, head, bones and tail included; ask the fishmonger to clean and scale it
• •2 large onions, yellow, finely chopped
• •60 ml (¼ cup) sunflower oil or lard, lard is more traditional
• •45 g (⅓ cup) sweet Hungarian paprika, Édesnemes; do not substitute smoked or hot Spanish paprika
• •10 g (2 tsp) hot Hungarian paprika, Erős; adjust to taste
• •1 medium ripe tomato, grated, skin discarded
• •1 whole Hungarian wax pepper (TV paprika), fresh, mild; or ½ a mild green bell pepper
• •1–2 whole hot red chilli pepper, Hungarian erős paprika or cayenne, slit lengthwise
• •1.5 L (6½ cups) cold water, enough to just cover the fish
• •1 bay leaf bay leaf
• •salt, to taste, start with 1 tsp/6 g and adjust

Steps

1. 1 Rinse the carp under cold water. Cut off the head and tail and reserve. Fillet the body, removing the skin, and cut the fillets into 4–5 cm (1½–2 in) chunks. Keep bones, head, tail and any trimmings separate from the fillets.
2. 2 In a heavy pot, melt the lard or warm the oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onions and cook gently for 8–10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and translucent but not browned.
3. 3 Remove the pot from the heat. Take the pot off the burner completely and sprinkle the sweet and hot paprika over the onions, stirring immediately so the paprika blooms in the fat without scorching. This off-heat step is essential – burnt paprika turns bitter.
4. 4 Return to low heat and stir in the grated tomato. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the fish bones, head and tail along with the bay leaf and the whole mild and hot peppers.
5. 5 Pour in the cold water, season with salt, and bring slowly to a bare simmer – never a rolling boil, which would emulsify the fat. Skim off any foam that rises.
6. 6 Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, until the broth is richly coloured, reduced by about one-fifth, and the fish bones have given up their flavour.
7. 7 Lift the fish head, bones, tail, and the whole peppers out of the broth. Strain the broth through a fine sieve back into the pot and discard the solids (the peppers are no longer needed; the broth carries their heat).
8. 8 Return the broth to a gentle simmer. Slide in the carp fillet chunks and poach them for 6–8 minutes, until the flesh is just opaque and flakes easily when pressed with a spoon.
9. 9 Taste and adjust salt and heat. The soup should be aggressively peppery and the broth silky but not greasy.
10. 10 Serve hot in deep plates with a small bowl of fresh white bread (or csipetke – pinched egg noodles) on the side. Provide extra hot paprika or fresh chilli on the table for those who want it fiercer.
11. 11 FOOD SAFETY: Cook the fish fillets to an internal temperature of 63 °C (145 °F); they should be opaque and flake easily. The broth must reach a full simmer and be held there for at least 30 minutes to ensure the fish bones and any attached flesh are safely cooked. Use only impeccably fresh carp from a trusted source, and keep all raw fish refrigerated below 4 °C (40 °F) until you begin cooking.