Crackling scone

You can’t visit Hungary without eating scones (Hungarian: pogácsa). Whether you’re having a tasting at a winery, enjoying a drink in a bar, or attending some form of social gathering, you’re bound to encounter those little round pastries that the foreign eye easily mistakes for American Southern buttermilk biscuits or English scones. The Hungarian scones go really well with alcohol, whether you’re enjoying an expensive Tokaji or just getting blotto.

There are many different versions. It can be made from puff pastry or leavened dough, and the inner mass can be supplemented with cheese, potatoes, cottage cheese...etc. The top is often not decorated separately, usually only cuts are visible, but some versions may include, for example, cheese or even sesame seeds.

Among these, the pork crackling scones occupies a special place. The use of cracklings in pogis dates to the early 20th century. At first prepared only in the countryside after the slaughter of a pig, this pastry provided a tasty outlet for the solids that remained in the cauldron after rendering pork fat and skin to produce lard. It soon became a popular snack to eat with wine in village pubs, then conquered cities as well. The humble pork crackling scones was even entered in the European Union’s Traditional Speciality Guaranteed registry in 2016, but curiously, it doesn’t appear on the official list of Hungaricums.