This recipe comes from Konyhaművészet by János Rákóczi. À l’Orly is a French cooking term used to describe a method usually reserved for cooking fish in which it is dipped into batter and bread crumbs, fried and served with tomato sauce.
But the name and the technique have for decades been so popular in Hungary that it is easy to believe that “Orly” is actually a Hungarian word. In Hungary, however, the tomato sauce is usually replaced with tartármártás when fish is prepared in the Orly módra.
Ingredients:
150 grams flour
250 milliliters beer or milk
2 tablespoons oil, plus additional oil for frying
2 eggs
Salt
Pepper
750 grams mushrooms
Lemon
1 bunch of parsley
Method:
To make the Orly breading: Make a thick batter by mixing 125 grams of flour, the milk or beer, 2 tablespoons of oil, two egg yolks and a bit of salt. Whip the egg whites, and fold them into the mixture.
Wash the mushrooms and take off the stems. Boil them in salted water with lemon for a few minutes. Drain, and dry with a cloth. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, and then coat with the Orly mixture. Fry in hot oil. Serve with rice, fried parsley and tomato sauce.
In Hungary Orly is always made with beer, not milk and that is what gives it that distinctive flavor. I might be old school or just plain old but I have never eated or served this appetizer with tomato sauce and feel that Tatar Martas is a must. These are the differences that makes it distinctly Hungarian!