Of course it’s Hungarian. It’s got paprika and sour cream!
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces blue cheese
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 4 to 6 ounces sour cream
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
Let the blue cheese and cream cheese stand at room temperature until softened. Using an electric mixer or mixing by hand, blend together the blue cheese, cream cheese, and 4 ounces (¼ cup) of sour cream until the mixture is homogenous and smooth. Add more sour cream if necessary to achieve desired spreading consistency. When mixture is well blended, add paprika and caraway seed, and mix thoroughly. Spoon into a bowl; cover and chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve with cocktail rye or pumpernickel, or with hefty crackers such as Triscuits.
I learned to make this cheese spread when I was a little kid. It is wonderfully deep in flavor, and the paprika gives it a lovely rosy hue. The recipe comes from our dear family friend Julia Deutch, who emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary during World War II with her husband Gene in the 1930s.
Yes, the name is tricky—three umlauts! My little brother never quite got the hang of it, so for many years our family used his version: Cooter Zoot. That’s close enough.
