Sonkás kocka is an old member of the Hungarian pasta repertoire, which has lost some of its glamour lately. The noodles are not only cooked, but also baked, topped with a savory ham-sour cream mixture. I prepared this dish on the base of the recipe of Károly Gundel, who published it in his coobook “Kis magyar szakácskönyv” in 1937.

According to the practice of that era Gundel used homemade pasta, but today it is hardly to be expected that you knead, roll and cut your own noodles each time you want to eat them. Therefore, store-bought pasta is an acceptable alternative, you should only pay attention to one thing: the more eggs the pasta contains, the more it resembles the homemade version.

In the original recipe egg yolks are beaten with lard, but feel free to replace lard with butter. Cheese is not prescribed, but it won’t mess up the dish if you add some to the noodles.