In addition to heaving plates of sausages, the other essential bone-warming Germanic winter treat to be had in Budapest is knusprige Hachse gegrillt auf Holzkohlenglut, a.k.a. charcoal-grilled crispy pig’s knuckle. We say “Germanic” rather than “German” because Hungarians also know a thing or two about faszénparázson sült ropogós csülök. In fact, we suspect it was Hungarians in the kitchen at the 113-year-old Haxen Király Sörház Étterem on the border between Pest’s Districts VI and VII (and longtime member of the “Top 33″) to offer both this time-honored bajor (Bavarian) celebration of pork along with another, less-well-known knuckle dish: Hachsenauflauf (foreground in the above pic), which Hungarians would know as rakott csülök, and the rest of you might call “layered knuckle.” And we recommend you do what we recently did, by knuckling down and ordering both – at the same time.
The traditional ropogós csülök is easy enough to understand and appreciate, assuming you are not a vegetarian or a health nut. You get a half-knuckle (Ft 49 per 100 grams) that has been slowly roasted next to – as opposed to over – the coals until it is a combination of falling-off-the-bone tender meat and tooth-crackingly crunchy skin backed by a layer of fat so supple and sweet (left) you’ll keep wondering how it is you’ve eaten so much and are still be able to speak, assuming you are.
Which is what brings us to the rakott csülök (a very reasonable Ft 1,980), advertised on the menu as ahogyan ángyom csinálta. (This translates as either “the way my old auntie made it,” or the way some other old lady friend made it.) We didn’t get a complete list of the ingredients that auntie/ladyfriend used, but the overall theme is one of smoked csülök, potatoes, and some combination of full-fat dairy products put under the broiler until nice and brown. Paired with the ropogós csülök, we are talking a major-league blowout of the sort winter was made for, but one that is in some ways a little less extreme than just gnawing on a giant hog knuckle until you pass out. Meanwhile, if you’re curious, Auflauf roughly translates as “food thrown into a pot and tossed in the oven,” which is exactly how you’ll feel after you’ve eaten it. God bless.
