BEFORE TRAVELING TO Budapest a couple of years ago, I diligently read up on Hungarian cuisine. By the time I arrived, my appetite was primed for gulyás and paprikás, dumplings and sausages, strudels ...

This recipe for lecsó (LEH-tcho), a traditional sausage, tomato and bell pepper stew from Hungary, is made with beer for a deep, rich flavor.

Few cuisines are quite so intertwined with a single ingredient as Hungary’s is with paprika — the spice that gives some of the country’s best-known dishes their intense orange colour and ...