The local cheeses of Eger with the local wines that suit them, and why they work.
The cheeses of Eger with the wines made beside them. Pairings marked as a local tradition are the ones a regional source names; the rest are our own picks, and say so.
The Sándor Tamás dairy at Mónosbél says orda goes well with fresh, lively white and rosé wines. Its mild, lightly sweet flakes want freshness rather than weight, which these light to medium-bodied whites and rosés give.
Bottles to try:
The HÍR collection describes gomolya as fresh, lactic and pleasantly salty. A fresh Egri Csillag or Leányka, or a higher-acid Olaszrizling, keeps pace with it without covering it.
Bottles to try:
Parenyica is smoked, salty and ham-like, and the HÍR collection calls red wine an excellent companion to it. A Kékfrankos-led Egri Bikavér Superior brings medium body and high acidity to cut the salt and stand up to the smoke.
Bottles to try:
The HÍR collection calls red wine an excellent companion to parenyica, without naming a grape. A light, low-tannin Kadarka or a medium-bodied Kékfrankos, both high in acidity, meets its smoke and salt.
Bottles to try:
Smoked, salty parenyica has more weight than a fresh cheese, so it takes a medium-bodied white. The Leányka, Hárslevelű and Olaszrizling blend of a Superior or Grand Superior Egri Csillag has medium acidity and a medium finish to match.
Bottles to try:
The Mónosbél dairy suggests orda with home-made jams and as a dessert filling. A sweet late-harvest white takes the place of the jam, with medium acidity to keep the mild, lightly sweet cheese from tasting flat.
Bottles to try:
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No protected designation is given for it. It is recorded in the national HÍR collection of traditional foods, which describes it as a fresh cheese of about 3 kg.
The HÍR collection gives about 3 kg for a whole loaf.
Raw sheep's milk in the past, raw mixed milk in the first half of the 20th century, and mostly industrially pasteurised cow's milk today, according to the HÍR collection. It lists sheep, cow and goat versions.
The Sándor Tamás dairy at Mónosbél lists plain, clover and chive gomolya on its own site, marked as made to order. Vidéki Sajt at Ostoros also lists a gomolya.
About 0.3 kg: a roll 7 to 8 cm across wound from a ribbon 6 to 7 cm wide, according to the HÍR collection.
The name is Slovak, and Slovenská parenica has its own EU protected geographical indication. The HÍR collection records the cheese as a Hungarian speciality that small dairies began making after 1920.
Traditionally raw sheep's milk; today mostly cow's milk, according to the HÍR collection. The curd is kneaded in hot brine, rolled and smoked over sawdust.
Vidéki Sajt at Ostoros lists a smoked cow's milk parenyica on its own site and delivers in Eger and Ostoros; its contact page asks for a phone call before a visit.
