Grandma Insky’s Corner

Posted On May 4, 2020

This is a corner that I saved just for my mom. 🙂  She is the one who taught all of us (my 3 sisters Mary, Debbie, Carol and me) some of the traditions of slavic cooking, which I consider to be one of the greatest gifts she could have given to us.  I’m not sure how much my Aunts (Joyce and Susan) remember or my sisters, so I figured I would post these here for them, their children, grand children and great-grand children.  I also want my extended family members to have these for their archives too! Here is a little about her:

She was born as Helen Marie Troyan on a cold January day in 1930 in Cleveland, Ohio,  Her father’s family were citizens of the Kingdom of Hungary and lived in a village that is now called Helcmanovce, Slovakia (Nagykuncfalva in Hungary) and her mother was predominantly Irish (although she thought she was 100% Irish) but Ancestry DNA has proved otherwise. 🙂  My grandfather was from a very large family with many siblings (16 boys and girls) and his parents were from the old country.  They brought with them many Hungarian inspired recipes, such as töltött káposztá (Stuffed Cabbage), Chicken Paprikas (a very tasty chicken and dumplings originating from Hungary), Pierogie (easiest way to explain is Polish Ravioli), káposzta tészta (a wonderful fried cabbage, egg noodle, and fried onion dish) and Kolbasz and Sauerkraut.

When my mom passed in the mid 2000’s, many of her recipes were not written down.  Luckily, I was blessed to be able to watch and help her make these dishes growing up and thanks to my photographic memory, I was able to remember a lot of them.  I’m sure my mom would want me to share these with the rest of the world so I will make sure to publish those here for her.

I know that the recipes may vary slightly from the way my Great Grandparents made their meals, but things such as the Great Depression in the 1930’s, etc. demanded using different ingredients because they simply may not have been available.  I do try to make the recipes “Light” as they will allow, but I didn’t want to sacrifice the flavors so they are pretty much very “carby” and “fatty.”  These are the types of meals you may want to eat when you are running a marathon the next day and/or perhaps going to the gym that night to work out! 🙂  In any case, they are tasty and well worth the extra sit up, crunch or jog. 🙂

The other thing to keep in mind is sweet Hungarian paprika is a staple in many of these dishes (ie..Kolbasz and Sauerkraut or Stuffed Cabbages) and is relied upon for the flavoring of the sauces. Make sure you use an authentic paprika that states that it is a product of Hungary and not Hungarian Style. It will make a huge difference in the flavor and authenticity of your dish.  You can find these at some specialty stores but easiest to purchase them via Amazon if it’s not convenient to get to Hungary any time soon! 🙂

I hope you enjoy getting to experience some of these wonderful dishes that I did growing up in Cleveland with a very close and Central European Family.  I’ve seen those “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” movies and they have nothing compared to our “Big Fat Central European Family” including huge weddings, communion parties, and most of all our annual Family Picnic which is held the 4th Sunday of every June in Cleveland, OH.  We have been doing this tradition for 67 years (and counting) with hundreds of attendees each year.  So sit back, relax and enjoy our journey to Central Europe, where tradition, taste and love is all that counts!