Making food like our ancestors did is not easy, but it's worth the effort.
I had a bit of a meltdown on Christmas Eve morning, when trying to roll up my poppyseed roll (mákos bejgli), as most of the poppyseed squished out of the dough, onto the tray. (See the photo at the end of the post!)
The roll, I find, is the most difficult part of making this traditional Old Country dessert, which is unfortunate, because as the name suggests, rolling is rather essential to its creation.
Meltdown aside, I do generally enjoy making the food my grandmother made at holidays. Not only is the food delicious, but cooking and baking Old Country foods is a skill I'm proud to continue practicing.
On my Hungarian citizenship journey, my language teachers always prepared fun and informative lessons about Hungarian holiday traditions. Whenever our Christmas and Easter lessons would come around, I would be ready. Because I was so lucky to know my grandparents and some great-grandparents, I was used to practicing Old Country traditions in the United States.
And though we don't do the full Old Country Christmas anymore, I do strive to make a couple of things---like stuffed cabbage and poppyseed roll each year.
And without fail, I always leave bread with honey outside for the animals on Christmas Eve. My great-grandparents were subsistence farmers in The Old Country, and it was tradition to feed the animals a treat before the humans could eat on the night of the 24th. I think this is a beautiful gesture, honoring the beings that helped keep my ancestors alive.
But back to the poppyseed roll....Amazingly, I do have an actual family recipe. It's a rare thing, as most of my ancestor's cooking was done from memory. But one of my second-cousins made an effort to write down as many family recipes as she could while the older women were still alive, and the mákos bejgli made it!
So I know all the ingredients, but I still don't have the muscle memory to get the roll right. I try every year and one day will get it all right, because it's part of me. Sort of like learning the language.
And that's value, I think, in making foods from the Old Country, even though it would be much easier to buy a pre-made poppyseed roll from the grocery store. Going through the physical process of grinding the poppyseeds (yes, you have to do that!), kneading the dough and rolling the bread, no matter how imperfectly, is a strong connection to some of the people who made me who I am.
My poppyseed roll this Christmas wasn't pretty on the outside, but the inside was delicous and sweet. Which is really what matters most!
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