The Paprika Story: A Spice Of Variety

The mise en scene: a "typical" restaurant in Budapest, described in the course of a New Yorker report on the first postwar Grand Prix in an Eastern European country. The personnel: reporters, drivers and miscellaneous hangers-on: " ' What is this red powder?' asked someone at a table of Italians. 'They call it paprika,' answered another Italian informatively. 'They eat it here. It is ver-y, ver-y strong. They have perhaps given it to us to test our virility.' "

Americans, accustomed to thinking of paprika - when they think of it at all - as something good only for testing one's immunity to boredom, may well be surprised at this exchange. Yet the truth is that most of our paprika is but a pale shadow of a spice the food authority George Lang has described as ''synonymous with 'Hungarian,' " saying,"Paprika is to the Hungarian cuisine as wit is to its conversation - not just a superficial garnish, but an integral element, a very special and unique flavor instantly recognizable."

In one sense, paprika is simple, just a brick-red powder made by grinding dried capsicum peppers, no different from cayenne or unblended chili. In another sense, it is far more; the peppers in question being special varieties, carefully bred over centuries, super-flavorful types that grow best in certain parts of southern Hungary, especially around the cities of Szeged, Kalosca, Cegled and Szentes. They are also very carefully processed, to bring out flavor as well as preserve color.

Like all capsicums, chilies, sweet bell peppers and all their cousins, paprika peppers have a hot factor, capsiacin, in their veins and seeds. From their introduction in the 16th or 17th century until a century ago, all paprika was a hot product because the dried peppers were ground whole, veins and seeds included.

Then, in 1859, a pair of brothers by the name of Palffy, denizens of Szeged, discovered a way to separate veins and seeds from the meat of the dried peppers. Their invention made possible the "noble rose" paprika that made the spice a universal favorite in its homeland and that is the imported paprika most familiar to Americans.

There are, however, many other types, from an "exquisite delicate" through semi-sweet to downright hot. The stronger types are seldom imported, but they can be mimicked by mixing noble rose with a small amount of cayenne, or, as in the recipe below, combining it with a bit of hot cherry pepper, a favorite addition in some parts of Hungary.