As the weather becomes colder, so do the flavours in the kitchen of SALT become richer and deeper: our seasonal ingredient-based winter menu can be tasted since the end of November.
After nearly half a year of experimentation, planning and creative work, Szilárd and the team have once again created a sustainable, exciting, seasonal menu, mainly inspired by the traditions of peasant food from Transylvania and the Szatmár region.
One of the characteristics that ties the dishes on the winter menu together is that they all feature several nostalgic delicacies from our grandparents’ pantry, this time preserved by the SALT team. Thanks to the preserved ham, lard, cheese, pickled or fermented vegetables and fruits, even during the winter, we are able to cook seasonally, with plenty of vegetables in an exciting and diverse way.
Once again, our winter menu features modest dishes in the truest sense of the word, such as a variation on a roux-based soup called golden soup.
The original version of the dish (which was regularly prepared by the grandmother of a former colleague) is a soup made from “almost nothing”, using the cooking juices of potatoes cooked to make dumplings to create a simple but tasty flour and fat-based soup.
Needless to say, Szilárd and co.’s version has all the SALT characteristics we all know and love and is truly unmissable.
The new menu, just like traditional peasant food during the harsh winter months, features root vegetables, cabbage and meat dishes partly inspired by the dishes of the traditional festive table.
When it comes to vegetables, the winter season is not particularly abundant, therefore root vegetables that can keep for a long time are of great importance, and through exciting techniques, well-balanced seasoning and unique food pairings, they can become part of innovative new dishes. On SALT’s winter menu, the humble but versatile beetroot, with smoked pike roe and verbena, is shown in an entirely new light.
Cabbage also gets a main role: it’s wintertime, so we are making stuffed cabbage the way it is done in the Szatmár region. Stuffed cabbage is a beloved winter favourite all over Hungary, however, in most places, it’s made with sauerkraut, whereas our version is made with sweet cabbage.
Our “szabolcsi” stuffed cabbage is not only inspired by Szilárd’s roots, but it is also a great example of seasonality, sustainability and our zero waste approach.
In this version, the cabbage, which is smaller than usual and shaped like a cone, is stuffed with offal (duck liver, duck heart) and less noble cuts of meat (such as the tongue), and is prepared with cornmeal instead of rice, with fermented tomatoes and sprinkled with fig leaf oil.
Our bread dish returns in its original form accompanied by the best of the pantry, and these long-keeping treasures can also be found in the desserts. One of Szilard’s favourites is the homemade – indeed, made in-house – slightly curd-like goat’s cheese, which is served with a quince brioche to create a curious and exciting dish.
As always, the new menu is complemented by high quality Hungarian and/or European wines and exciting homemade non-alcoholic juices, which are the perfect accompaniment to the dishes on the menu.
