Gyula Schneider

was born in Temesvár, Transylvania, on October 17, 1931. The family came to Szeged in Hungary in 1939. From 1950 to 1955 Schneider studied chemistry at the University of Szeged. Afterwards he was assistant under the guidance of L. von Cholnoky at the Chemical Department of the Medical School of Pécs, where he received his Ph.D in 1959. He started his habilitation at the University of Szeged and obtained it in 1966. In the year 1989 he received the D.Sc. title of the Hungarian Academy. He was visiting researcher in 1963 with E. Schmitz at the Central Institute of Organic Chemistry in Berlin-Adlershof (GDR) and in 1979 with E. Zbiral at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the University of Vienna. After the change of the political régime in Hungary in 1989, he finally received the title of a professor. In 1990 he was Alexander von Humboldt fellow and visiting professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Georg-August-University, Göttingen. During the years 1994–1996 he was the head of the Department of Organic Chemistry of the University of Szeged.

In 1996 Gyula Schneider obtained the Zemplén-Géza-Award of the Hungarian Academy and a Széchenyi professor scholarship from the Ministry of Education (1999–2002). His research in the field of carotenes and steroids is documented in some 150 publications and several books.

Scientific Sketch

The major part of the scientific interests of Gyula Schneider is focused on neighboring group participations. Ester-carbonyl interactions with the intermediate formations of 1,3-dioxenium ions have been investigated in detail during the solvolysis of cis- and trans-2-p-tolyl-sulfonyloxymethyl-cyclohexyl acetate and ben-zoate (Proc. Chem. Soc. 1963, 374; J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1965, 202; 1967, 13). These processes were characterized as (AcO-6) and (BzO-6) participations (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Neighboring group participation.

Another useful application of a neighboring group participation is the configuration determination of the four possible 16-hydroxyme-thyl-17-hydroxy isomers in androstane and es-trane series. Their 16-p-tolylsulfonyloxymethyl esters undergo either cyclization, characterized by the general symbol (O–4), or fragmentation under solvolysis conditions, depending on their configuration (Fig. 2, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1968, 1030; Liebigs. Ann. Chem. 1988, 267; 1988, 679; 1989, 263).

Figure 2. Determination of configurations.

The oxetane condensed to ring D of the stera-ne skeleton, or the fragments were useful syn-thons for the preparation of heterocyclic steroid systems (Fig. 3, J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1972, 713; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1998, 37, 2469; 1999, 38, 200; Eur. J. Org. Chem. 1999, 3013).

Figure 3. Preparation of heterocyclic steroid systems.

Tiszai halászlé (Tisza Fisherman’s Soup)

Starting materials (serves 4):

500 g small fish

1 carp and/or other large fish 1–1.2 kg

salt

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp slightly sharp paprika

1 tomato, peeled and chopped

½ cherry paprika (optional)

1 pointed sharp green pepper

Clean and gut, and wash the fish. Catch the blood and set it aside, together with the roe or milt, in a cold place. Cut off the head and tail of the carp, and cut the body into strips about 3 cm wide - if the strips are narrower, they can easily disintegrate during cooking. Lightly salt the fish, cover it, and leave it for 1–2 hours in a cold place. Put the head and tail of the carp into a saucepan with the small fish. Add the onion and the reserved blood, pour in enough cold water to just cover the fish, and simmer gently for about 1 hour until it is reduced to a pulp. Strain through a fine sieve – don’t press! – and pour in about 1 L cold water; bring to the boil. Add the paprika, the tomato, the cherry paprika (if desired), the salted fish slices, and the reserved roe or milt and cover the pan and cook over low heat for 10–15 minutes until the fish is tender. It is not a good idea to stir the soup – it is better to give the saucepan a gentle shake occasionally.

The finished soup should be served in the saucepan if possible, to avoid the fish breaking up. You can add a garnish of green pepper rings.

Note: Be careful when using cherry paprika. Not everyone likes its burning sharp taste; also, if it is very sharp, the characteristic fish flavor is lost. The remedy for burning hellfire in your mouth as a result of an overdose of sharp paprika is not to drink water, but to eat a few mouthfuls of bread (the middle, not the crust!).

Hungarian Cuisine

«A fresh green patch on the map of Europe embraced by the Alps and the Carpathians this is Hungary, lying at the crossroads of migration, caravan and campaign routes, a bridge extending between the Eastern and the Western world. The occupying Magyars had the right idea when they got out of the saddle to settle here, because this is a good place to live - but they never suspected that some “transit passengers” would also like the place enough to stay for over 150 years, others for a shorter time...

One winner in all this is unquestionably the Hungarian cuisine, which has absorbed and accepted the best flavors and finest traditions of the fiery herdsman and the monks in the monastery gardens, of the Turks and the Armenians, of the Italians and the French, the Transylvanians and the neighboring peoples, of the cuisine of the old Austro-Hungarian empire -tempering and harmonizing them, adjusting them a little to its own image, but preserving them in place. This most probably explains why Transylvanian (Hungarian) cuisine ranks alongside that of France and China.

But what is Hungarian cooking like? What makes it different from the rest? What are the features which characterize it and it alone? Do any such features indeed exist?

I am reminded of our foreign friends and acquaintances who, depending on which part of the world they came from and the local eating habits, either eloquently praise the flavors and variety of Hungarian foods or disapprove of them out of concern for their health. But most agree that although it is a little difficult, and might use paprika (sometimes sharp paprika) to excess, all in all, Hungarian cooking is a heavenly and unique experience.

Hungarians like to do things with style - for themselves and even more so for their guests, using good ingredients to prepare food and drink with pleasure and enthusiasm.»

Gyula Schneider