Pommes de Terre à la Hongroise

Pommes de terre à la hongroise (potatoes in the Hungarian manner) teaches the discipline of reduction: the potatoes must turn tender at the same moment the consommé nearly disappears. This is the one true thing to know before touching the pan. The liquid isn't broth for serving; it is the future sauce, carrying butter, onion, paprika, tomato, and potato starch into a glossy coat.

The original recipe assumes a stockpot of finished consommé never off the fire and a broad sauté pan watched by a professional cook. The home-scale version reduces its two pounds of potatoes and four ounces of onion by one quarter, giving four generous portions while keeping the same proportions. A wide covered sauté pan replaces the brigade pan, and good prepared consommé replaces the perpetual stockpot. Those are scaffolding and may go. The thick roundels, pressed tomato, real butter, and near-total reduction are the dish and must stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.

Where the book leaves the butter, parsley, and exact quantity of consommé to professional judgment, the recipe below gives working amounts. The words "just enough to cover" still govern, because the width of your pan decides the final measure. Watch the last ten minutes closely: bringing tenderness and reduction together is the step that decides the dish.