"Hungarian Recipes" Reflections On An Intriguing Cookbook From The Magyar Evangelical and Reformed Church in Elyria, Ohio, 1957

I love food.  I like to cook but I don't claim to be a good cook.  I also love cookbooks, especially interesting, odd, unusual cookbooks, and I have bought cookbooks which fit that description for many years at yard sales and discount stores such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.  I don't even remember when or where I bought this little cookbook but I strayed into it again and, due to the fact that it is a piece of work from a truly unique cultural group in America and contains a few odd, interesting, and unique recipes, I decided to write about it on this blog.  My copy is the 12th printing of the book with a copyright date of 1957.  It is, amazingly, available online in whatever the current printing may be.  In the copy I own, it labeled as being "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of the MAGYAR EV. and REF. CHURCH 119 West River Street, Elyria, Ohio".  The copy available for sale on the internet today is labeled "Compiled by The Dorcas Guild of Community of Faith United Church of Christ (formerly Magyar UCC)".  My copy sold in 1957 for one dollar with shipping available for 25 cents extra.  The copy available today online is priced at $15.00 with standard US shipping.  Inflation has obviously had some effect on the cost of cookbooks.  Interestingly, the cover of the book is exactly the same plain green it was in 1957.  The only change is the address and name of the church.  It is said to be available until December 31, 2025.  One other interesting footnote to this story is that despite my not remembering where or how I came to own this cookbook, I used to have an aunt, uncle, and three cousins who lived in Elyria, Ohio.  The book is only 40 pages in a pamphlet form but it is loaded with recipes.  

For me, the most interesting recipes in the book would be the following: Liver Dumplings, Veal Heart And Lung Soup, and Kidneys With Rice.  There is also one recipe for Chicken And Rice which calls for "1 chicken--using bony pieces: neck, feet, wings, gizzard, liver".  The wording in that ingredient is taken verbatim from the book.  Many of the meat based recipes also call for generous portions of lard.  I am forced to wonder if the 2024 version of the book still calls for lard but I doubt it.  The book also has a large section of recipes for dessert items, cakes, pies, cookies, etc.  For those of you who might not know the term Magyar, it is defined as:

"a member of a people who originated in the Urals and migrated westward to settle in what is now Hungary in the 9th century AD"

 

Basically, Magyars are Hungarians.  For those of you who have spent your entire lives in Central and Southern Appalachia and wonder what connection there is between Appalachia and Magyars or Hungarians there was once a large community of Hungarians in Martin County Kentucky who were brought into the area to staff a large, cooperatively operated coal  mine near Beauty and Lovely on the Tug River.  This is a fascinating little cookbook and you can find your copy at the link above at a considerably larger, but currently standard level, price.  I would love to try the recipes I mentioned above but doubt that I ever will due to changes in my eating habits over the last 6 or 7 years. I was raised on organ meats and love to eat them but I just don't do that anymore.  If any of you readers try the book and recipes, please leave the rest of us a comment about what you learned from the experience.