Hunter Style Pork with Bread Dumplings

One of the favourites of Hungarian cooking: meltingly tender meat in a silky, sweet-and-sour game sauce.

1. Pound the pork slices lightly flat, and salt both sides.

2. Slice the carrots, the parsley root and the onion into rounds, and chop the garlic finely.

3. In a pot melt the lard, and fry the vegetables in it for a few minutes.

4. Add the meat, the bay leaves and the whole peppercorns, then pour in enough water to just cover it.

5. Under a lid, over a low heat, braise the meat tender – this is about 60-90 minutes, topping up the water if it cooks away.

6. Take out the meat, then blend the soft vegetables smooth. Stir in the mustard, and thicken it into a creamy sauce with the sour cream mixed smooth with the flour; boil it together for a few minutes.

The bread dumplings

7. Mix the diced bread roll with the flour, the egg, the water and a pinch of salt, then let it stand for 10 minutes to come together.

8. With wet hands shape dumplings, and cook them in boiling, lightly salted water for 12-15 minutes, until they rise to the surface.

9. Serve the pork slices drenched in the game sauce, with the bread dumplings.

Tip: The sauce is at its best when well balanced: the mustard and the sour cream give it its characteristic, slightly tangy flavour.