Sunday, February 12, 2006

Szeráj, goose fat, and sesame oil

Szeráj (Honvéd utca and Szent István Körút, near Nyugati Pályaudvar) continues to be terrific. Budapest has thousands of indistinguishable gyros/falafel places. Szeráj joins them in being cheap and not having waiters, but their gyros and falafel are always fresh, and they have a wide selection of other things. I still haven't tried their meat and vegetable dishes that sit in a tray as in a cafeteria; at most gyros places, these have a tendency to make you sick, but I imagine they're good here. I have tried their grape leaves, humus (or in Hungarian, humusz), and pizza-like things that they sell. They're all excellent. They also have the best pita I've had in Budapest. It's comfortable, with well-separated smoking and non-smoking sections.

My landlady/host-mother/roommate uses margarine instead of butter. She also uses goose fat instead of butter, which makes me wonder why she uses margarine. I don't like to put butter on bread, but goose fat is delicious. It's as rich as butter, but it tastes like roast goose. (I barely ever eat it, so my arteries are perfectly safe.)

An open question for my many readers: what can I make with sesame oil?

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