Even without the incredible puns, goulash is really amazing. I've been so hooked this week that I've made it twice. TWICE! I'm not sure what led me to pull the card from the recipe deck last weekend, but I did, and it's really working its magic around here. And, DEAR GOD, it is so good as a leftover!
Points to note about goulash:
•It doesn't look appetizing. At all. And that's just all there is to it.
•It requires a fair amount of cooking time in order to properly do its thing. Weekend-style low and slow works best, but cooking it fast and hard also totally works if you want to make it on a weeknight.
•It's greatly improved by adding vegetables, but be selective! I'm hesitant to move beyond carrots, bell peppers, and celery.
•The recipe I use is my mother's, by way of her mother and her mother's mother. Quite a path.
•Hungary. Let's be honest. I don't know anything about Hungary except goulash.
•It needs to be a little spicy. I used to do cayenne, but now I have a new and improved variation which involves using jalapeño ketchup (rather than standard ketchup) for the heat.
•Goulash loves spaetzle, and so do I, but Andy is not a fan, so we go with egg noodles around here. Wide egg noodles, please. The egg pappardelle from Trader Joe's is amazing, but nearly any kind of egg noodles will work.
•I do believe you can make it with lamb or pork or veal, but I've always used beef. Cut it into very small pieces if you will be cooking it for under an hour. If you have the time to cook it for longer, then you can use bigger pieces because they will break down during the cooking process.
•This just in! Goulash is not just about Hungary, although it is their national dish. It's popular in ALL of these places: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Free Territory of Trieste, Germany, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and some regions of Italy.
Say what! It's as common as a hamburger, for crying out loud!
•Using tomatoes in traditional goulash is completely forbidden by many Hungarian chefs. I would imagine, then, that ketchup would really be looked down upon, but that is what I use, so please don't tell Hungary. I suspect that my goulash is quite Americanized, but if you do some research, you will find that there are a zillion variations out there for goulash, just like any other dish that has any degree of popularity. So I won't feel too bad about it.
•You can put potatoes in it! Or bacon! Or beans!
•Use really good paprika if you can. And go with the sweet paprika.
•Make it right now!
Goulash
2 T olive oil
1 pound boneless beef stew meat, cut into small chunks
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
3 or 4 carrots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 C ketchup (I love jalapeño ketchup, as I mentioned, and Heinz makes a great one)
2 t sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 t dry mustard powder
2 t salt
1 T brown sugar
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 C water
2 T flour
another 1/4 C water
In a dutch oven, brown your onions in a few tablespoons olive oil. After about 10 minutes, add meat, garlic, celery, and carrots and cook until everything starts to caramelize. Add water in small splashes as needed (in order to make sure the whole lot doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot). Scrape up all those nice brown bits as you go! Add paprika, salt, and dry mustard and stir until vegetables are coated. Add a little more water and cook another minute or two, or until paprika is fragrant. Add brown sugar, Worcestershire, ketchup, and 1 1/2 C water. Simmer for at least 30-40 minutes, or up to 3 hours. Blend flour and 1/4 C water and add to the pot, mixing it in to thicken the goulash.
Serve atop egg noodles, spaetzle, gnocchi, potatoes, polenta, or bread. We love it with egg noodles around here, as I mentioned, and sometimes we have garlic bread with it, too -- it's a great sauce sopper-upper.
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