Two years before we came to live in Hungary we were invited to a picnic in a vineyard. Being English, the best I expected was a leg of cold chicken, some hard boiled eggs, perhaps a bit of salad and some wine. The worse was maybe a few sandwiches and if we were lucky a bottle of cola and a piece of cake.
Was I in for a surprise!
We were taken to the vineyard at around 3 pm by car, which was situated several miles from where our hosts lived. The car was packed with several boxes and bags, their contents carefully wrapped so I had no idea what was in them.
When we arrived we were settled down in chairs around the garden to sunbathe and were given a choice of excellent wine, palinka, cola or fruit juice.

Then about 5.30 pm our host began to build a fire in what I can only describe as a concrete, hexagonal fire place that had seats around it.
When the fire was going well we were all asked to sit around the fire and issued with long sticks and a plate each which contained pieces of smoked fat bacon and a selection of smoked sausage pieces. We soon discovered we were to use the sticks to roast them in the fire and the fat from the bacon was dripped onto chunks of fresh, crusty bread. All this was eaten with salad and pickles.
A truly delicious picnic where you forget all thoughts of being on a diet. It was the best picnic I have ever been on.When we came to live in Hungary at the beginning of the summer it was not long before we were invited to another outdoor eating event. This time we were asked if we liked fish. Fresh water fish is a firm favourite with the Hungarians. We live by the Danube and it is readily available from the fishermen every day in the fishing season.
We went to our friend’s house at 6 pm and discovered he had made a fire in a shallow container and was busy frying fillets of bream over it in a shallow pan. The pan had been made out of the stainless steel blade of a discarded tractor attachment and was a much prized outdoor cooking utensil. The fish had been dipped into flour and seasoning before being fried in shallow oil. We ate it with our fingers accompanied by fresh bread and pickles and of course glasses of fine Hungarian wine or beer. That certainly put fish and chips in the shade.The next event we were invited to was a bogrács¹ supper. This time lecsó² was on the menu and again it was eaten with fresh bread, salad and pickles. Afterwards there was some homemade cakes and of course plenty to drink.Our friend said that every Hungarian household should have the equipment to cook in the garden in the summer and said that a frying utensil and a bogrács was essential equipment. We agreed (I insisted that the bogrács was to be stainless steel) so he went about arranging for them to be made. They arrived accompanied by 12 long forks for roasting sausage and bacon on.

We have held several parties in our own garden and have thoroughly enjoyed every one – especially as preparing for them is so easy and there is very little clearing up to do afterwards.

¹ lecsó– a stew of onions, peppers and tomatoes – you can find the recipe in the recipe section.
² bogrács – an ancient Hungarian cooking utensil, shaped like a cauldron, that is hung over an open fire and used to cook tasty stews.