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Hungary

Hungarian cooking runs on sweet paprika, rendered lard and onions cooked down until they nearly disappear, turning humble cuts of meat into something rust-red and deeply savory. Sour cream cools the heat, egg dumplings and noodles round out the bowl, and pastry gets stretched paper-thin around whatever fruit is in season. It is farmhouse food sharpened by empire-era exchange — Ottoman peppers, Habsburg pastry craft and plain Magyar thrift, all landing on the same plate.