Csalamádé is a traditional, vegan Hungarian mixed pickle or salad made from finely shredded fresh vegetables preserved in a tangy vinegar brine. It is a popular side dish served with hearty Hungarian meals like goulash or schnitzel to provide a refreshing, acidic contrast.
Csalamádé is as varied as people are. My grandmother made fermented csalamádé, but then she treated it with borkénpor, stuff I don’t have access to. Other cooks pack csalamádé in jars and refrigerate them. They are probably good for many months, but I don’t have that kind of space in my fridge.
Borkénpor (or Borkén powder) is a Hungarian pickling spice mix, often containing sulfur dioxide (like potassium metabisulphite) and seasonings (mustard, peppercorns, salt, sugar) used to preserve vegetables like cucumbers (vizes uborka) and mixed salads (csalamádé), ensuring crispness and preventing spoilage during fermentation or canning. It helps make tangy, long-lasting pickles by inhibiting bad bacteria and keeping veggies fresh.
In this method, the hot water bath kills off the yeast that would ferment the vegetables and substitutes the yeast action with a brine. Whatever is your preference, the brine can be mildly sour or stronger. It is important to process the bottles for 30 minutes in a hot water bath to kill off all the yeast. My large dutch oven takes 3 bottles at a time. If you have canning jars that have been around for a few years, start the processing in cold water and wait for 15 minutes before removing the bottles from the hot bath. Sudden temperature change can break older bottles.
Vegetable Mix:
1 large green cabbage, sliced
4 cups of sliced pickling cucumbers
4 bell peppers, any colour, chopped
4 very large carrots, sliced
8 green tomatoes, sliced
2 medium sized onions, sliced
2 tsp pickling salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
2 Tbsp peppercorns
1 tsp mustard seeds
Brine:
vegetable juice [from salting the vegetables]
4 cups water
1-1/2 cups vinegar
4 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp pickling salt
Directions:
1.] Wash the vegetables thoroughly and slice.
2.] Place in a large bowl.
3.] Sprinkle with pickling salt, caraway seeds, peppercorns and the mustard seed.
4.] Toss and let stand for 1 hour.
5.] Squeeze the juice out of the vegetables, reserving the juice and the spices.
6.] Pack the sterilized bottles with the vegetables 3/4 way up.
7.] To make the brine, place the reserved vegetable juice in a pot.
8.] Add the water, vinegar and the seasonings.
9.] Taste the brine; it should be pleasantly sour. This is a personal taste. You increase the water or vinegar or add more salt or sugar to suit personal preference.
10.] Bring the brine to the boil.
11.] Boil for 3 minutes.
12.] Pour the hot brine in the bottles, leaving a generous head space.
13.] Wipe the rims and place the softened lids on top.
14.] Cap the bottles and place them in a canner or a large pot.
15.] Fill the canner with cold water, and bring to a boil.
16.] Process the jars for 30 minutes.
17.] Remove the canner from the heat.
18.] Wait for 15 minutes before removing the bottles from the hot bath. Sudden temperature change can break older bottles.
It began with posting a few recipes on line for the family. "zsuzsa is in the kitchen" has more than 1000 Hungarian and International recipes. What started out as a private project turned into a well visited blog. The number of visitors long passed the two million mark. I organized the recipes into an on-line cookbook. On top of the page click on "ZSUZSA'S COOKBOOK". From there click on any of the chapters to access the recipes. For the archive just scroll to the bottom of the page. I am not profiting from my blog, so visitors are not harassed with advertising or flashy gadgets. The recipes are not broken up with photos at every step. Where needed the photos are placed following the recipe. Feel free to cut and paste my recipes for your own use. Publication is permitted as long as it is in your own words and with your own photographs. However, I would ask you for an acknowledgement and link-back to my blog. Happy cooking!
Blog Archive from 2008 to 2023 :O
Cser Mama’s Csalamádé
Ingredients
2 heads (6lbs) organic cabbage shredded
13 organic red peppers (4 3/4 lbs.) ribboned
11 large organic onions (6 1/2 lbs.) sliced
4 1/2 lbs. organic Persian cucumbers sliced
7 oz sea salt
Brine
10 cups cold water
2 Cups organic white distilled vinegar
12 Tbsp organic cane sugar
Directions
Wash, shred, ribbon and slice vegetables as pictured.
If you don’t have a big enough bowl; which I did not, scour your sink and disinfect it thoroughly, including sink stopper, rinse sink thoroughly. Stop sink and dump all cut vegetables into sink.
Add 7 ounces of sea salt. Mix well and let sit for another two hours. Mix well every thirty minutes or so.
Squeeze all excess liquid from vegetables & add vegetables to a large bowl.
Wash nine 1 quart size, wide mouth, mason jars & 1.5 pint wide mouth mason, along with 10 new 2-piece lids, dry & fill the jars with shredded mixed vegetables.
Pour brine into each jar until almost top of jar. Cap each jar & close lids tight.
Go through them one last time just before placing into pot on stove to ensure they are all closed tight.
Place a dish towel at the bottom of your pot, carefully place jars in pot allowing a little space in between. Fill pot with water to just below the neck of the bottle. (See picture where I’m pointing at the spot, of pictures are available;-)
Soak another clean dish towel, squeeze excess water pot and drape over bottle tops submerging all the ends I the water.
Bring water to a slow boil and turn flame down to the lowest setting allowing a very slow gentle boil for approximately 30 minutes.
Turn off burner and allow pots of covered csalamàdè to completely cool. Leave on stove till next morning.
When removing jars from water bath, inspect each bottle. If liquid is not covering vegetables, jar will need to be opened and more brine added from the 2 1/2 ish cups left. Any bottle that has had the seal broken needs to go straight into the fridge.
Csalamàdè needs about three weeks before it’s ready.
They should be a little crispy, a little sweet and a little sour.
What is Borkénpor:
A blend of preservatives and spices for pickling.
Often includes sulfur compounds (E224) for preservation and crispness.
May contain salt, sugar, peppercorns, and caraway seeds.
How it's used (in pickling):
Prepare Vegetables: Slice or prepare cucumbers/veggies.
Salt & Spice: Toss veggies with Borkénpor and let sit to draw out juice.
Make Brine: Use reserved vegetable juice with water, vinegar, & more seasoning.
Boil & Pack: Boil the brine, pour over veggies in sterilized jars, and seal.
Process: Can the jars in boiling water for preservation.
