my love affair with hungarian túró
I was first introduced to Túró when a colleague offered me a Túró Rudi, a Hungarian chocolate coated Túró treat. I must admit, it was not love at first bite. It was everything but heavenly. It was a disappointment. Looking at the wrapper and the chocolate log inside, one would expect a caramel or ganache type center. This is, however, not the case. The taste is creamy, sour combined with sweet from the chocolate.
After my first disappointment with Túró Rudi, I stayed away from it for quite some time. It was weeks later that I decided to try it again and it soon became clear that my life would never be the same.
What is Túró?
Túró is an essential ingredient in Hungarian cooking. Túró is similar to fromage frais, but is not. Túró is often translated as cottage cheese, but it bears no relation to liquidy cottage cheese. Dictionaries sometimes translate it as curd cheese or quark or farmer’s cheese. But it’s none of the above. Túró is distinctly different from ricotta, because ricotta is made from scalded whey. It also differs from cream cheese in its usually much lower fat content (about the same as yogurt), and it is completely salt free. —zsuzsaisinthekitchen
Túró soon became part of my daily life. From breakfast to dinner, from salty to sweet. It adds body to every meal. I usually mix half yogurt, half Túró, cinnamon and coconut flakes for breakfast. You can even add sugar or honey. I also add dollops of Túró to my soup. I’ve made delicious chunky tzatziki with Túró. The possibilities are endless.
My favourite Túró recipe is Cottage cheese pasta with caramelized bacon from Budapest Bites by Zsofia Mautner.
Ingredients
- 250 g dry pasta (lasagne broken into pieces)
- 100 g smoked bacon, cut into cubes
- 40 g cane sugar
- 250 g Túró
- 400 ml sour cream
Steps
- Cook the pasta in salt water.
- Fry the cubes of bacon in a frying pan. Drain the fat to pour over the pasta later.
- Sprinkle the cane sugar on the bacon and fry until it’s caramelized.
- Mix the Túró with the sour cream.
- Drain the pasta and mix it with the fat from the bacon.
- Spoon in the Túró mixture.
- Sprinkle the caramelized bacon over.
Túró is hard to find outside Hungary. You can substitute Túró for cottage cheese.