Hungarian cottage cheese dumpling recipe has become world-famous

The Hungarian cottage cheese dumpling (túrógombóc) is among those traditional specialties that we highly recommend you to try, either at one of the local restaurants or at home. Although it is a rather easy-to-make dessert, it is quite difficult to find the perfect recipe and master the secrets of the perfect cottage cheese dumplings. A few weeks ago, Michelin Guide’s Instagram page posted a recipe variant for this delicious dessert.

The original idea of the cottage cheese dumplings came to Hungary with Austrian influence. According to the early cookbooks, this dish started to become more popular in the second half of the 19th century. As far as the recipe and the preparation are concerned, there have been certain changes throughout the past few centuries.

Dumpling history

The oldest Hungarian recipe was found in 1864 by Sándor Csíki, titled Tasks of a Hungarian Housewife in Public Life, House and Kitchen, Handbook and Guide for Women, writes Telex. According to this recipe,

the dumplings are salty, buttery, thickened with breadcrumbs, and are sprinkled with cheese.

This recipe is more reminiscent of the Italian ricotta gnocchi.

Aunt Rézi’s recipes are probably the first ones that resemble the most to the current version. These two cottage cheese dumpling recipes were published in her 1876 Szeged cookbook, although one of them cannot be prepared because it does not specify the amount of cottage cheese needed for the dish. The other recipe calls for a lot of flour, breadcrumbs, and eggs, so cottage cheese is not really a dominant ingredient in this version.

Ágnes Zilahy’s recipe was published 16 years later. These dumplings still had a thick hard consistency compared to the current versions. According to this recipe, water needs to be added to the cottage cheese along with eggs and flour. Also, none of the above-mentioned recipes contain sugar.