Goulash

[shewhomust]

Things that you don't order with goulash (as determined by the demeanor of the non-English speaking waitress at the Hotel Fortuna, Baile Tusnad):

• rice


• potatoes


• vegetables


• tomato salad

Things which do accompany goulash:

• bread


• plum brandy (from a miniature teapot

The plum brandy - clearly a local and traditional treat - came unordered, and at first we weren't sure what it was (not salad dressing...). Later we learned that you knock it back as an aperitif, pouring from the spout of the pot into your mouth. With the excuse of ignorance, I enjoyed mine from my wine glass, as a digestif, when we had finished the wine.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Damn, what else was I reading about recently where bread was the proper and due accompaniment? Something in Spain, I think, where to have only bread with your meaty meal was a sign of wealth, or alternatively to need potatoes was a sign of poverty. Can't quite remember, but it was definitely a class issue.

Want slivovitz in teapots. Want...

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

It was a very small teapot, not even large enough to fit a dormouse into.

Romania seems largely comfortable with serving starch with the meat, but to regard vegetables as - well, wrong, somehow, and I do wonder whether it's that poverty thing.