Hungarian Coffee with Egg

[sgreen0]

I have heard of using egg in Hungarian coffee. Does anyone have a recipe for this? I assume one can't use a modern filter coffeemaker.

Thanks.

Stephen

[Chris Amirault]

Wow. Do you mean the coffee is brewed with an egg? Or it's served with an egg? Or...? What do you mean?!?

[violetfox]

Is this like Camp Coffee, where an egg white and/or egg shell is added to supposedly settle the grounds?

[Joe Blowe]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What+is+Hungarian+egg+coffee

[djyee100]

The only reference I've encountered for coffee with egg is Norwegian in origin, not Hungarian. But I bet both groups put egg in the coffee for the same reason.

Carrie Young, in a wonderful article she wrote in Gourmet (March 1983, yes, that long ago) described her Norwegian mother's coffee, which included a whole egg. Her parents were homesteaders in North Dakota in the first years of the 20th century. Her memory of coffee and snacks for the threshing crew at harvest time:

... I see my mother in the kitchen. She is lining a large dishpan with a snowy flour-sack dish towel and heaping it high with butter sandwiches and doughnuts. I see her standing over the black cast-iron range making coffee in a giant granite coffeepot. She vigorously grinds the coffee at the hand grinder on the wall, mixes it with an egg--shell and all--and drops it into the pot. Boiling water is poured over the grounds and allowed to settle. Finally a cup of cream is added.

In her memoir of family and food, Prairie Cooks, Carrie Young again mentions coffee with egg. The egg was supposed to soften the water and make the coffee clear. The book, which is a pleasurable read, is available on Amazon.

Also about Scandinavian egg drop coffee:

http://www.baristaconnection.com/profiles/blog/show?id=1992125%3ABlogPost%3A6197

[nakji]

I used to enjoy egg coffees in Hanoi. Vietnamese coffee was dripped into a cup. Then warmed egg whites were shaken vigorously with sweetened condensed milk to make sort of a thick, boiled-icing style layer. The dark coffee was poured over ice, then the the egg foam was layered on top like whipped cream. You could either whip it into the coffee layer at the table, or - if you were me - spoon it all off first, then drink the bitter coffee as a chaser.

*sigh

[sgreen0]

I've seen the Google results for Hungarian Egg Coffee. That's the first thing I did. I was interested in the responses of the responses of the interesting people here.

In fact, the first Google result is almost exactly what djyee100 quoted as Norwegian. Very interesting.

Has anyone tried this?

Stephen

[milgwimper]

I wonder if it is the same as the Kaiser Melange in Austria? I was pregnant at the time so never got to taste the coffee with egg yolk. It seems in some versions it comes with whipped cream, and/or a shot of alcohol.

[sgreen0]

Looking at the search results for Kaiser Melange, It sounds like the egg thickens the coffee - though I can't be sure. The Hungarian version with egg and shell supposedly clarifies the coffee. My guess is that it was supposed to ameliorate the water quality at the time...

Stephen

[sgreen0]

Well, I got around to trying the Hungarian Egg Coffee I mentioned. the recipe I used is here:

Hungarian Egg Coffee

The result, in my opinion, was just OK. Just not worth the trouble. I suppose now we have good filter coffee systems, we don't need to fiddle with the egg, which I understand is there only to clarify the water...

Stephen

PS There is a video here that is similar to Hungarian, but is called Swedish:

Egg in My Coffee

S

Edited September 19, 2010 by sgreen0 (log)