Szegedi Halászlé

Ingredients

• 4⅓ lbCarpwhole fish; fillets for the soup, head, bones and fins for the stock
• 1¾ lbCatfishadded alongside carp; bullhead or crucian carp also used
• 14⅛ ozOnionfor the stock base, sliced or finely diced
• 3 tbspPaprika powderfor colour and base flavour, stir in off the strongest heat
• 14¾ cupsWaterfor the stock from head and bones
• Saltsalt the fish pieces beforehand, season the soup at the end
• Black pepperground, for seasoning
• 1Tomatodiced, sweated with the onion
• 1pointed pepperdiced, sweated with the onion
• 2 tbspLardfor sweating the vegetables, sunflower oil as alternative
• 7 ozFish roe and miltfrom the fish, briefly cooked and added to the soup
• 1Hot pointed peppercooked in rings in the soup or served alongside (optional)
• ½ cupDry red winepoured in shortly after the soup comes to a boil (optional)

Method

1. Scale the carp and gut both fish, setting the roe and milt aside, and carefully remove the gills and eyes.
2. Fillet the fish, cut the flesh into pieces and salt them; keep the heads, fins and bones back for the stock.
3. Sweat the onion with the diced tomato and bell pepper in the lard until translucent, then pull the pot off the heat and stir in the sweet paprika so it doesn't turn bitter.
4. Add the heads, bones and fins to the onion, pour in the water, season with salt and, once it comes to a boil, add the red wine if you're using it.
5. Simmer uncovered over low heat for about 40 to 45 minutes, until the heads and bones fall apart; top up with water in good time as it evaporates.
6. Push the stock through a sieve along with the scraps of meat and the vegetables, then strain it again through a fine sieve until no bones remain — from this point on, no more water goes in.
7. Bring the strained base back to a boil, season with salt and black pepper, and add rings of hot pointed pepper to cook along if you like.
8. Slide in the salted fish pieces along with the roe and milt and let them cook gently over moderate heat for 10 to 30 minutes; don't stir, just swirl the pot carefully so the pieces stay whole.
9. Serve straight away, piping hot, with thick slices of fresh white bread and rings of green hot pointed pepper to taste.

Tips and variations

If you want it simpler, skip the straining altogether and cook fish slices, onion and seasonings together in the kettle, finishing with a splash of red wine. There's also a finer version built on root vegetables — carrot, celeriac and parsley root — with garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns, sweated in butter, thickened with flour and scattered with parsley at the end; fish out the bay leaf and peppercorns before serving, or strain the soup. Instead of the plain paprika-and-salt seasoning you can also use fish soup cubes. The fish is up to you: carp alone, carp with catfish and crucian carp, or the carp slices swapped for silver carp. Letting the salted fish pieces rest for an hour or two keeps them firmer, and more heat comes from hot pointed pepper rings cooked in the soup or a pinch of hot paprika. Bring it to the table hot, with plenty of white bread for mopping up.