I just came across this piece from Nina Lalli’s column on the Village Voice’s food blog that quizzes foodie-type people on what their last meals would be. George Lang, who is undoubtedly the best internationally known personality involved in Hungarian cuisine, was the topic of the column on August 29th. Lang is the one who renovated and re-opened Budapest’s famous Gundel restaurant, and now runs New York’s Cafe des Artistes. He recounted his movie-like life in his autobiography, in which he wrote about dramatically escaping Hungary after his entire family was killed in the holocaust and then re-making his life in New York where he eventually became the first “restaurant consultant” after giving up plans to become a concert violinist.
So, what would Lang choose for his last meal? He would prepare everything, and his selections would come from his past meal highlights. There would be “crisp chunks of sweet bread scented with a light vinaigrette sauce, served with truffled potatoes”; “huge Pacific oysters dipped in a Chinese version of barbecue sauce and then threaded on a skewer and cooked until they are almost crisp outside”; and a “hot pot with ‘blushing raw beef’ to dip into a vinegar-spiked broth and wrap in lettuce.” Each bite would be followed with “a swallow of good Belgian beer.”
George Lang is also the author of the The Cuisine of Hungary, which as well as being a cookbook, is the only thorough history in English that there is about Hungarian cuisine. So I’m not surprised that some of Lang’s choices for his last meal are Hungarian, dishes that he remembers from his mother: fisherman’s soup, stuffed goose neck, sour cherry soup, layered cabbage, stuffed peppers, plum dumplings, pancakes with apple meringue, and whipped-cream strudel.
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