The following recipe and excerpt for Körözött (Hungarian Pimento Cheese) are from “Second Generation: Hungarian and Jewish Classics Reimagined for the Modern Table” by Jeremy Salamon. It’s available for purchase on Amazon.
The base of this recipe comes from a Hungarian dish, körözött, a spiced cheese spread traditionally made with quark, kind of a chunkier cottage cheese. I grew up in Florida and spent the summers in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, so my love for Southern cooking is genuine and deep. In the summers, we ate a lot of pimento cheese, and I saw a bridge between these two very traditional Hungarian and American foods. (If that’s not the origin story of my cooking, I don’t know what is.) This dip pulls from both sides, with sweet paprika, caraway seeds, and raw onion mingling with a ton of sharp cheddar cheese. It’s a perfect party dip or even better on toasted bread as a late-night sandwich after everyone leaves.
 "Bring Brightness To Your Party With This Hungarian Pimento Cheese Recipe 4")
Körözött (Hungarian Pimento Cheese)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine the cream cheese, chopped peppers, mustard, lemon juice, kosher salt, caraway seeds, and paprika in a food processor and process for about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed, until you have a smooth mixture. Transfer to a large bowl and gently fold in the cheddar and onion until combined.
- To plate: Scrape the körözött into a large serving bowl and garnish with chives, black pepper, and a pinch of flaky salt. Accompany with chips (Ruffles, if you have them) crackers, or toast.
- Wine pairing: Try pairing körözött with a fuller-bodied white wine with greener flavors and aged in used oak, like Furmint, Zöldveltelini (Grüner Veltliner), or similar.
From the book SECOND GENERATION by Jeremy Salamon. Copyright 2024 by Jeremy Salamon. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.