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Túrós csusza

Name: Túrós csusza
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 225 g smoked pork belly or fatback (or bacon), skin removed, cut into 1 cm cubes; 350 g dried pasta, ideally Hungarian square csusza; 500 g Hungarian túró or crumbly cottage cheese; 400 g sour cream (tejföl); 1 pinch salt

túrós csusza

Flat square noodles tossed in rendered pork fat, then folded with túró (fresh curd cheese) and sour cream and topped with crisp cracklings. A Hungarian classic, often eaten after fisherman's soup; this is Tas Tóbiás's version for Offbeat Budapest.

Location: Hungary · Pictured: Bogrács gulyás, Käsespätzle

Servings: 4
Preparation: 5 min
Cooking: 15 min
Total: 20 min
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Large frying pan
Pot for the pasta; slotted spoon

Servings4

Ingredients

225 gsmoked pork belly or fatback (or bacon), skin removed, cut into 1 cm cubes
350 gdried pasta, ideally Hungarian square csuszaOr lasagne sheets broken into pieces of about 4 cm.
500 gHungarian túró or crumbly cottage cheese
400 gsour cream (tejföl)
1 pinchsalt

Shopping list

Method

Put the pork into a large pan and render it over medium heat until golden and crisp, 8–10 minutes. Lift out the cracklings with a slotted spoon and keep the fat in the pan.
Why Burnt cracklings must be thrown away: watch the heat.
Timer · 10 min10:00
Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, 7–8 minutes. Drain.
Timer · 8 min8:00
Toss the pasta in the hot fat until every piece is slippery; you can let the edges crisp a little over medium-high heat.
Turn the heat to low, add the sour cream, túró and a generous pinch of salt and fold everything together.
Serve hot with the cracklings scattered on top.

To drink & serve with

Bogrács gulyás
Another Hungarian classic for the same table.

Substitutions

Túró → Dry farmer's cheese or a crumbly cottage cheese, drained.
Smoked pork belly → Bacon, as the source allows.

Common mistakes

Heating the túró and sour cream hard: they split. Keep the heat low.

Storage & reheating

Best at once. Leftovers keep 2 days in the fridge; reheat gently.

Safety

Contains gluten, egg (Hungarian dried pasta is usually made with egg) and milk.

Allergens

Gluten · Egg · Milk

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Slippery noodles

Offbeat Budapest's Tas Tóbiás calls túrós csusza a late-medieval Hungarian dish that has stayed popular ever since, often eaten as a second course after fisherman's soup. He describes it as slippery egg noodles smothered in sour cream and túró. The medieval date is his statement; the atlas has not seen the historical cookbooks he worked from.

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Fat first, cheese off the heat

The pork is rendered until crisp and lifted out; its fat coats the hot pasta so the cheese cannot clump. Túró and sour cream go in over low heat only to warm, and the cracklings go on top at the end so they stay crunchy.

[1]

How it connects

Place

origin Hungary In preparation

Recipe

related Bogrács gulyás
similar Käsespätzle