click for larger imageHungarian Goulash (December 2007) - original recipe by Barry L. Kramer
(last modified 28 Oct 2012)
Preparation time: about 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes attended, then an additional 3 hours of simmering.
10 on a scale of 1 to 10. This is really amazing and easy.
click for larger image
After a hell of a lot of research in goulash, goulaschsuppe, and similar recipes, and a number of iterations, I finally have this one perfected. It takes a while to cook it, but it is actually quite easy, very forgiving of measurement errors and one of my very best recipes.
5 cups of onion in large cubes about 3/4" inch on a side [image]
(about 3 or 4 medium sized cooking onions)
2 thick slices of bacon
about 2 T olive oil for cooking
1 lemon to make 2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 T tomato paste - measure accurately and don't use more than this
2 T Pride of Szeged brand Hungarian sweet paprika (image)
1/2 T Pride of Szeged brand Hungarian hot paprika (more than this will make
it too hot)
1 T crushed or finely chopped fresh garlic
1/2 T kosher salt
1/4 t dried marjoram - rub it to make it less coarse
1/8 t caraway seeds
5 small whole peeled canned tomatoes (Roma)
1 fresh green pepper, cleaned and cut into 1/2" strips
a large can of beef broth, or about 4 cups fresh made beef broth - the amount
is not absolutely critical
or use 4C water and
1T + 1/4 t Minors beef base. That works rather well.
about 2.5 to 3 lbs. beef roast or stewing meat (chuck cubes)
1. If using roast, trim the bones, excess fat, and tough membranes from the beef (reserve the scraps). I used two beef roasts about 2 inches thick when I first made this, but because it is simmered until tender, any cut designed for long slow cooking should work just fine. Chuck cubes work very well too (more expensive, but less work).. Cut the beef into 3/4" or 1" cubes (image) and very lightly and evenly sprinkle the cubes with salt and some fresh ground black pepper.
2. Put the beef scraps into a saucepan, cover with about 3.5 C water, and boil it for about a half hour. This simple stock will be used later. Continue on with the recipe while it boils down to about half its original volume.
3. Locate a 6 quart cooking pot or dutch oven with tight fitting lid that will hold the final recipe. Put the bacon in and fry it without any oil, turning a few times, until it is nicely browned (image). The bacon is not used in the recipe, so you can eat it. If there is a lot of bacon fat, you can remove some of it, but keep at least half of it in the pan, if not all. It's important.
4. Put the 5 cups of very coarse onions and about 1/2 T to 1 T olive oil into the pot. Stir thoroughly at the beginning. The onions should all be shiny if enough oil is present. Cook the onions on medium to medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are softening and become golden but not brown. When they are evenly golden, remove them and cover with foil to keep them warm.
5. Heat about 4C of beef broth in a saucepan or the microwave so it becomes hot while the next step is executed.
6. Put about 2 t olive oil into the empty pot and add half of the beef cubes, and cook them on medium to medium-high heat, stirring regularly to make it cook evenly (image) and keep them from sticking together. Cook until it is nicely brown on all sides (about 10 minutes because juice is released at the beginning). Don't cook it dry. When it is brown but still moist (image), remove it (it can go into the same container as the onions) and keep warm. Repeat this step for the second half of the beef, adding a little water at the beginning if needed to prevent burning. Use the cooking time to prepare the combined ingredients that will be used in the next step (image).
7. When the second half of the beef is also brown but still moist, add the hot beef broth directly to the pot (image), and add all of the remaining ingredients except the canned tomatoes and the green pepper, repeated here for convenience:
the cooked onions and beef that had been removed
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice - measure accurately and don't use more than
this
2 T tomato paste - measure accurately and don't use more than this
2 T Szeged brand sweet Hungarian paprika (image)
1/2 T Szeged brand hot Hungarian paprika
1 T crushed or finely chopped fresh garlic
1/2 T kosher salt
1/4 t dried marjoram - rub it to make it less coarse
1/8 t caraway seeds
8. If applicable, pour off the broth that was made from the beef trimmings into a separator (it isn't necessary to strain it), and pour all of the liquid (about 1 C or so - the amount is not critical) into the pot. Discard the fat and feed the cooked beef trimmings to your pets if you have any.
9. Mix everything in the pot thoroughly (image1, image2)and heat it just to boiling, then reduce the heat to very low. Cover tightly. Simmer, just boiling, for one hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. I needed to stir about every 15 or 20 minutes.
10. After one full hour of simmering, add the sliced green pepper and 3 whole peeled canned Roma tomatoes plus only the outside flesh (not the seeds, pulp,or juice) of one or two more (oddly, canned is better than fresh for this application). Continue simmering, just boiling, for an additional 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally. Extra beef broth can be added at anytime if it becomes too thick, but there was plenty of liquid at the end of the 2.5 hours when I did it. Break up the whole tomatoes into pieces with the mixing spoon when they are soft and beginning to fall apart.
11. After a total of 2.5 hours of simmering, the beef should be very tender. Remove the lid. Continue simmering to reduce until it achieves the desired consistency. I cooked it this way for another half hour, to the point where it was beginning to thicken - like a thick stew rather than a soup (image).
This reheats extremely well in the microwave and might actually be better the
next day.
It is good with spätzle.
Notes:
a. Most of the ingredients can be measured during cooking and put
all together into a bowl so they can be added all at once when ready. Measure
carefully. I don't recommend adding any more of anything. I tried several variations
of this recipe increasing various ingredients and it didn't improve.
b. The first part of this recipe is cooked at a fairly high heat so it doesn't
take very long (except for the simmering, of course).
c. It is very flavorful and somewhat hot due to the hot paprika.
d. The amounts of liquids are not critical because it is reduced
to the desired consistency at the end.
