Kürtőskalács is the holiday cake of Szekler families, being a symbol of Transylvanian Hungarians, and the dessert has its own festival in the center of Sfântu Gheorghe municipality, Covasna county, usually in the first part of October. We found out about the organization of this event by chance and since we were not that far from the venue, we chose to head towards Covasna instead of returning to the seaside.
The smell of celebration on a warm autumn day
When I started researching kürtőskalács, I was convinced that it was an ancient dessert with Hungarian specificities. In reality, according to the festival organizers, the cozonac arrived in Romania via the Saxons. The sweetened version of kürtőskalács, however, is a Hungarian invention that spread widely in the 19th century. The Germans completely forgot about this dessert baked on a wooden cylinder, and in the Carpathian Basin it persists in the Szeklerland, where it became a festive dessert.
But before we could partake of the local sweets, we had a hop to go. Although the event can attract tens or hundreds of Romanian and foreign tourists, it was deficient in terms of publicity and useful information. For example, we, using the location mentioned by the organizers on the event page, took two tours of the city, visited the cemetery in Sfântu Gheorghe and were one step away from abandoning the experience. Intuition told us that we had something to lose, so we wandered around the extremely clean streets of the city of Covasna for another 25 minutes, and when we smelled the smell of baked buns, we knew we were close.
The cake is good, but the langoustine is better
We arrived just as the organizers were announcing the rules for choosing the best kürtőskalács. In a bilingual speech, the jury announced the main rules: the dish must necessarily contain local ingredients, have a crust on the outside, be soft on the inside and feel the warmth of the soul of the one who prepared it.
As the coals were just starting to burn and the cozonacs were waiting to be baked, we decided to start our day with a local breakfast, actually with a langoş and a cappuccino. I'm not a big fan of scovergi with garlic, cream and cheese, but the dish I had in Sfântu Gheorghe was the best langoş I've tried so far. The two coffees and the dish cost, in total, 22 lei, at a terrace in the city center. Yes, I know, we exclaimed the same! Such prices have long been set in almost all large cities in Romania . As for the Szekler cozonac, the prices were between 10 and 20 lei.
The middle of the day caught us sniffing the aromas of kürtőskalács from the stands in Sfântu Gheorghe. That's how I found out that you can make the cozonac salty, but also that the one with walnut and sugar is the most requested. The one with dehydrated and granulated raspberries had a special taste.
Click on the photo if you want to enter the atmosphere of the festival.
20 meters, the record for "Longest Kürtőskalács in Szeklerland"
In evaluating the products made by the competing teams, the jury members took into account certain criteria. In this regard, they agreed that the secret of a successful kürtőskalács lies in the use of natural, high-quality ingredients. Therefore, in the preparation of these traditional products, additives and flavor enhancers must be avoided, which have no place in a traditional product. The kürtőskalács must be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the size of the wooden roll, the thickness of the dough and the preparation technique are aspects that make the difference. The record for the "Longest Kürtőskalács in the Szeklerland" was achieved by the members of the Youth Organization of Sântionlunca. They managed to prepare a 20 m kürtőskalács. For its preparation, 60 kg of flour, 10 kg of butter, 20 kg of sugar, half a kilogram of yeast and the same amount of salt, 6 kg of lemon peel were used , 1 kg of vanilla sugar and 25 liters of milk. The same team achieved a kürtőskalács of 15 m in the previous edition, this year surpassing their own record.
Spectacular landscapes on the unpaved road from Intorsura Buzăului
But on DN13E (Covasna – Întorsura Buzăului), right when crossing the mountain , the asphalt has completely disappeared, and 14 kilometers of the route will seem like an eternity. Luckily, at the end of the string of curses, saints and other gods, this landscape opens up before your eyes and you have the energy to continue.
And if you are bagel lovers and you like the ones originating from Buzău, I'll give you a tip. You will find this local product freshly baked even on Sundays at a bakery in the station area.
Enjoy your travels!
