Goulash

Hungarian Goulash

My sister, Laura, and I were texting the other day about our Grandma Vogel and her cooking. Grandma was a German, born in the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, and one of the dishes she loved was goulash. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of ever having a serving of goulash at her home. We often went there for holidays, so I remember turkey dinners and ham. She always served a plate of fresh cut vegetables and I scarfed down the fresh radishes. I also have a distinct memory of the celery stalks stuffed with cream cheese or peanut butter. I remember her talking about goulash, but I don’t recollect ever eating it.

For years now, I have thought that goulash was made with ground beef, elbow macaroni and tomato sauce. There are a large number of recipes on line that are like that, but I know now that they are an Americanization of real Hungarian goulash. As I searched for recipes for goulash, I find that the main ingredients are stew beef, paprika, potatoes and a beef broth. There are many variations, but the one I am going to make is from the Central European Cooking book that I have from ‘Round the World Books Inc., by Eva Bakos and Albert Kofranek, published in 1973. Now, I must tell you that I maintain all my favorite recipes in a MasterCook file. One of my “rules” is that I don’t enter recipes that just interest me. I must first cook them successfully before they get entered in my database. So this one is untried, but I will get around to cooking it. Here goes…

Gulyas Leves (Hungarian Soup in Magyar)

6 servings

4 Tablespoons butter
2 Onions, coarsely chopped
1 ½ pounds of beef, cubed
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon paprika
6 cups of beef broth
1 ½ pounds of potatoes, peeled and diced
2 Tomatoes, peeled, seeded and sliced

Heat the butter in a large, heavy saucepan and sauté the onions until golden brown. Add the beef, salt, paprika and about ¼ cup of broth. Lower the heat, cover and simmer about 30 minutes. Add the remaining broth gradually. Cover and continue simmering for 1 hour. Add the potatoes and tomatoes and simmer 20 minutes more. Many recipe variations call for hot peppers and then a sour cream topping at the end to cool the taste. Cooked noodles may be used in place of the potatoes. I will begin to experiment and research this dish.

Lecture faite.

Chicken Paprikas

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 medium Onions, sliced julienne
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon paprika
½ teaspoon cumin
1 small fryer chicken, deskinned and cut up
½ teaspoon salt
1 can chicken broth
2 carrots, sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom dutch oven and sauté the onions and garlic until golden brown. Stir in the paprika and cumin, cook one minute. Arrange the chicken pieces on top and sprinkle with salt. Pour in the broth and add carrots. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and simmer covered another 25 minutes until chicken is tender.
Serve over country noodles or other pasta.

Comments:

This comes from “Round the World Cooking Library: Central European Cooking”, by Eva Bakos and Albert Kofranek, 1974. This book features original recipes from Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Rumania. I think of my Donauschwaben grandparents from the Banat when I read this book. I am sure that this Hungarian dish is something that they would have cooked. My mother said her mother-in-law would have made this with dumplings, something I have not yet tried to do.

I used a whole small, fryer chicken for this dish. I cut the fryer into small serving pieces and discarded the back, skin and all the fat I could peel off. This is the most economical ways to buy chicken. A bird that cost me $3.40 the other day provided four generous portions.