Lángos

Hungary's deep-fried disc of yeasted potato dough, rubbed with a cut garlic clove and buried under soured cream and grated cheese

Origin: Budapest & the Pannonian Basin

From the journey of Wheat.

Lángos takes its name from láng, flame, and originally it was exactly that: a scrap of bread dough flattened and baked at the mouth of the wood oven in the flame whilst the loaves were going in, eaten hot as the baker's perk. When household bread ovens disappeared the dish moved into deep fat, and the fried version is now the only one most Hungarians have eaten. The dough is bread dough with boiled potato worked into it, and the potato is what gives lángos its particular texture: chewy and slightly damp inside rather than airy, and soft enough to fold. It is stretched by hand rather than rolled, thin at the centre and thicker at the rim, and dropped into hot fat where it puffs almost immediately. The dressing is a matter of some feeling. The oldest and plainest is a raw garlic clove rubbed hard over the hot surface, or garlic water brushed on, and nothing else; the standard modern one is soured cream and a heavy fall of grated cheese; and the versions sold at Lake Balaton in summer run to sausage, ham, and a good deal more. Hungarians who care will tell you the garlic goes on first regardless of what follows. It belongs to markets, fairgrounds, ski slopes, and the shore of Balaton, and it is eaten standing up, immediately, from a paper plate. It does not keep even for an hour, and there is no version of a good cold lángos.

Ingredients

Dough

200 g floury potatoes, boiled and riced
450 g plain flour
7 g fast-action dried yeast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
250 ml warm milk

To fry

1 litre sunflower oil, for frying

To finish

4 garlic cloves, halved
300 ml soured cream
200 g hard cheese such as Trappista or Edam, coarsely grated
1 tsp salt, for the garlic water
60 ml warm water, for the garlic water

Method

Boil the potatoes, rice or mash them very smoothly, and let them cool to lukewarm.
Mix the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar, then work in the potato and the warm milk to a soft, slightly sticky dough.
Knead for eight minutes. It should stay softer and tackier than a bread dough; resist adding much extra flour, since a dry lángos is a tough one.
Cover and leave to rise until doubled, about an hour and a half.
Knock it back gently and divide into six. Roll each into a ball and rest them, covered, for fifteen minutes.
Heat the oil to 175°C in a wide deep pan. Too cool and the dough drinks fat; too hot and the outside colours before the middle cooks.
Take a ball and stretch it by hand into a disc about 18cm across, thinner in the middle than at the edge. Do not use a rolling pin, which knocks the air out.
Some cooks tear a small hole in the centre, which stops the middle ballooning and makes it fry evenly.
Slide it into the oil and fry for about a minute and a half a side, turning once, until puffed and deep gold.
Drain on a rack rather than paper, so the underside stays crisp.
Crush the extra garlic into the warm salted water and brush it over the hot surface at once, or simply rub a cut clove hard across it.
Top with soured cream spread to the edges and a heavy handful of grated cheese, and eat immediately. It is uneatable within the hour.

Notes

Potato in the dough is what makes a lángos rather than a plain fried bread, so do not leave it out. Keep the dough soft and slightly sticky. Stretch by hand and never with a pin. Watch the oil temperature closely: 175°C is the window, and a batch fried too cool comes out greasy and heavy. Drain on a rack. The garlic goes on the moment it leaves the pan, whilst the surface is hot enough to take it. Eat it standing up, straight away, which is not a stylistic instruction but a practical one.

The Gastrographer

Name: Lángos
Prep time: 1 h 25 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Budapest & the Pannonian Basin
Ingredients: 200 g floury potatoes, boiled and riced; 450 g plain flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 1.5 tsp salt; 1 tsp caster sugar; 250 ml warm milk; 1 litre sunflower oil, for frying; 4 garlic cloves, halved; 300 ml soured cream; 200 g hard cheese such as Trappista or Edam, coarsely grated; 1 tsp salt, for the garlic water; 60 ml warm water, for the garlic water

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

To explore — select an ingredient below · click any location dot on the map for recipes and stories · browse the information panel on the right · trace the full journey on the timeline.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control