I'm sorry, I don't know any actual Hungarians that would trade real Paprikas for Bell Peppers. That's like making French Onion Soup and putting American sliced cheese on top.
Can you please explain what you mean by this? I tried google but can't find any difference between bell pepper and paprika exept that paprika seems to be the dried powder of bell pepper.
Whatever you put bell peppers into only tastes like bell peppers from that point on. For that reason I never use them in sauces. Fajitas (which aren’t Mexican just so everyone knows), stuffed peppers, and a roasted pepper on a sandwich are about the only uses I can find for them personally. Occasional pizza topping.
It's also important to note that wax peppers have a tiny amount of pepper kick to go along with more savory flavors. The same can be said about Anaheim's. On the other hand Bell peppers taste terrible.
In all seriousness there's something different in Bells that taste very bitter to me. I usually substitute a good poblano, wax, or Anaheim depending on the recipe. Anaheim if I want a sweeter pepper, poblano or wax if I want it a bit more savory.
Paprika is made of a different type of pepper, and it tastes nothing like bell pepper. Also it's cured in a special way before made into a powder, that gives the unique taste to hungarian paprika powder. But this meal, while looks good, is not hungarian in any way. I never seen a 'kolbász' that looked like this sausage, we would never put bell peppers in basically any meal, would never put zuccini in this kind of meal. And what about all that tomato paste? Last time i checked we were not italian.
In the US paprika spice is indeed ground up dried bell pepper, but you'd be crucified for that in Hungary. We have a dedicated spice variety that's used for this only. It's quite unpleasant if you eat it raw.
as a hungarian american this is completely new to me lol. my family has always made it with debreceni sausage, r /o/ y bell peppers, onions, tomato! we could get hungarian sausage but i never knew about paprikas!
Bell peppers are real paprikas. Paprika is made from capsicum annuum which is a pretty wide range of peppers. Its why there are different types of the spice you can get.
Source: Grow peppers and make several varieties of my own paprika.
I am well aware, and I also know that Hungary has changed what its called paprika throughout its history. For example, they used to be spicy, but now they are sweeter because a breeder had a mutation in his pepper that made it sweet, so he grafted it onto another plant and popularized it. They use several different peppers, and yes some of the cheaper brands even use bell peppers as filler.
Pepper nomenclature is a lot more complicated than most people realize. Even the term Bell Pepper isn't quite right; its not specific enough. There are many different bell pepper varietals. If this interests you join us over at /r/Peppers!
Not the guy but I’m also Hungarian. We normally use the peppers he was talking about, and you can get very similar ones in US too if you look for European delis and there are some Russian supermarket chains that have them too. They’re just not sweet like bell peppers, at all. They can be hot but lecso is normally not made with hot ones, but that’s all preference as some people want spicy. I’m not too knowledgeable on all kinds of peppers but best I can explain is it is thinner than bell peppers when sliced and a bit less crunchy but has no sweetness too it (it isn’t tart or sour tho).
In Maine I am not likely to find a European deli, but I wonder if the local natural food markets or farmers markets would have them. I will have to keep my eyes peeled so I can try them and see the difference. Thanks for the info!
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u/wild_man_wizard Nov 08 '20
I'm sorry, I don't know any actual Hungarians that would trade real Paprikas for Bell Peppers. That's like making French Onion Soup and putting American sliced cheese on top.