Hungarian goulash

[polack]

Could someone please give me a good Hungarian goulash recipe?

Polack

[mnebergall]

I think you will find some good recipes in the PAPRIKA thread.

[zaelic]

Quite simple, really. Saute onions in lard or oil. Add cubed beef to brown, and then add lots of paprika - lots of it. A bit of marjoram is also traditional. Now add beef stock and boil until beef is almost done. Add chopped potatoes and maybe (this is kind of new-agey) a carrot. Cook until done, eat with bread.

I like to add egg and flour dropped dumplings (galushka) at the end, as well.

Notice that there aren't any quantities mentioned. You can probably find quantities on the net. What you want is essentially a simple, rich red broth with meat and potatoes. Soup, not stew.

I used to cook at a pub in Budapest and my recipe was the result of asking all the old guys and aunties that were hanging around in the afternoon how they liked their gulyas. Then I cooked up a batch according to the argument of the day. I used an entire cow spine for stock, though. It is getting hard to find an honest gulyas in restaurants in Budapest these days and the idea at our pub was to shame all the other restaurants into gulyas submission.

[Redsugar]

Thank you, Zaelic – I do appreciate the principles of someone who acknowledges authenticity!

A retired friend of mine is Slovakian: He and his (German) wife are avid gastromomes; they generally prepare German, Swiss, Hungarian, and Czechoslovakian fare. I generally have followed Mrs. B.’s instructions for preparing Gulyas Leves (the classic goulash soup), served with small dumplings which are cooked in it….

I heat the fat and brown the onions; sprinkle in paprika and add the cubed brisket of beef along w/ chopped red-bell pepper; pour in stock (she uses dry wine) and cook slowly until tender. I boil potatoes separately (she drops them in boiling water because she contends that the flavor is ruined otherwise), then add them to the meat w/ sufficient potato liquid to make a good soupish consistency.

Referring to Woltner & Teubner’s Spezialitäten der Welt köstlich wie moch nie, we find recipes for two well-seasoned versions of goulash: Magyar Gulyás (for which either Potato or Bread Dumplings are recommended inclusions), and Székely (or Szeged) Gulyás, which contains drained sauerkraut and is thickened with a sour-cream-&-flour paste. Also, preparation methods are provided for Borjupaprikás (Veal Papika) and Debreceni Rostélyos, aka the famous Debrecin Steak; fried, of course, with lard, and further cooked with sweet paprika, potatoes, green peppers, tomatoes, and frankfurters.

Another hearty paprika-spiced dish is Bohemian Pork Stew – which I have served with freshly boiled spätzle.

[Pan]

I don't remember bell peppers in the gulyasleves I had in Budapest. Is it in fact common to use bell peppers in gulyasleves in Hungary?

[lovebenton0]

Thank you, Zaelic – I do appreciate the principles of someone who acknowledges authenticity! 

A retired friend of mine is Slovakian:  He and his (German) wife are avid gastromomes; they generally prepare German, Swiss, Hungarian, and Czechoslovakian fare.  I generally have followed Mrs. B.’s instructions for preparing Gulyas Leves (the classic goulash soup), served with small dumplings which are cooked in it….

I heat the fat and brown the onions; sprinkle in paprika and add the cubed brisket of beef along w/ chopped red-bell pepper; pour in stock (she uses dry wine) and cook slowly until tender.  I boil potatoes separately (she drops them in boiling water because she contends that the flavor is ruined otherwise), then add them to the meat w/ sufficient potato liquid to make a good soupish consistency.

Referring to Woltner & Teubner’s Spezialitäten der Welt köstlich wie moch nie, we find recipes for two well-seasoned versions of goulash: Magyar Gulyás (for which either Potato or Bread Dumplings are recommended inclusions), and Székely (or Szeged) Gulyás, which contains drained sauerkraut and is thickened with a sour-cream-&-flour paste.  Also, preparation methods are provided for Borjupaprikás (Veal Papika) and Debreceni Rostélyos, aka the famous Debrecin Steak; fried, of course, with lard, and further cooked with sweet paprika, potatoes, green peppers, tomatoes, and frankfurters.

Another hearty paprika-spiced dish is Bohemian Pork Stew – which I have served with freshly boiled spätzle.

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Redsugar, for the Székely (or Szeged) Gulyás, which contains drained sauerkraut and is thickened with a sour-cream-&-flour paste: Is that a basic beef/potato/onion/paprika gulya with the drained sauerkraut added near the end of cooking before the sour cream/flour paste addition? Any other particular spices added?

[Redsugar]

Székely (or Szeged) Gulyás, which contains drained sauerkraut and is thickened with a sour-cream-&-flour paste: Is that a basic beef/potato/onion/paprika gulya with the drained sauerkraut added near the end of cooking before the sour cream/flour paste addition? Any other particular spices added?

Judith: SzékelyGulyás: Green bell peppers, garlic, and (slightly)crushed caraway seeds added to simmering boneless pork; tomato paste then stirred in for further 20 minutes cooking; drained sauerkraut added to cook about 30 minutes. Flour & sour cream combined, slaked with some of the cooking liquid, then used to bind the stew. You may review another recipe for Szekely Gulyás.

Gulyás (*shortened form of gulyashus, "herdsman's meat") unqualified refers to either a soup or a stew (Gulyás Leves, mentioned in my original post, above) made from beef and almost without paprika. It’s interesting to note that pörkölt is the Hungarian name for the dish English-speaking cooks call Goulash.

Version containing meats other than beef include Bográc Gulyás and Csángó Gulyás.

*The Oxford Companion to Food provides clarifying etymological insight: "In Hungary, the word 'goulash' today refers to the cattle driver, the 'cowboy.' The only place on a Hungarian menu where you would find a goulash...would be among the soups, and it would be called gulyas leves, meaning 'the soup of the cowboy.'" [p. 415]

[Boris_A]

I just want to add that the onions oftenly get cut in half and then sliced, hence you will get onion stripes. After browning the onions, when adding and roasting the paprika powder (called "paprizieren" in German, aka "to paprizise"), heat should be lowered to carefully avoid any burnt paprika powder.

"Das grosse Sacher Kochbuch" (Vienna) is naming about 25-30 different variants of Gulyàs.

[Redsugar]

Thank you, Boris_A, for the contributive details! Your instruction cautioning against burning the paprika powder is duly noted.

I very much enjoy Viennese cuisine – although Znaimer (in which finely chopped sour pickles are added during the last 10 minutes of cooking) is the only Austrian version of goulash that I’ve eaten. Thirty regional variants of the classic dish. Yes, a thoroughly believable number for this enduringly popular dish which has such outstanding flavor impact and nourishment.

I shall excerpt the recipe for the Sacher Hotel's Gulyássuppe from Das Grosse Sacher Kochbuch (Schuler Verlagsgesellschaft mbH; 1984):

500 grams stewing beef

60g pork lard

250g onions

20g paprika

salt

Marjoram

1 pinch caraway seeds

1 clove garlic

10g (or more) flour

2-3 small boiling potatoes

about 1.5 liter beef stock

[Post edited for an addendum]

Edited November 6, 2004 by Redsugar (log)

[Boris_A]

I very much enjoy Viennese cuisine – although Znaimer (in which finely chopped sour pickles are added during the last 10 minutes of cooking) is the only Austrian version of goulash that I’ve eaten. Thirty regional variants of the classic dish.  Yes, a thoroughly believable number for this enduringly popular dish which has such outstanding flavor impact and nourishment.

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Admittedly, some variants have only very small differences. Yet, many of them got own names and the Gulyàs-aficionados (much like with the different cuts of Austrian boiled beef) insist in the correct preparation of their preferred Gulyàs variant.

It's maybe also worth noting that "Viennese" cuisine (during the centuries of the Austrian-Hungarian k.u.k monarchy) imported a very, very large number of Bohemian, Hungarian, Moravian, rural Austrian, etc. dishes. Therefore, many "Viennese" recipes are nothing else than blueprints of regional dishes. For example, Znaim is a small town in Moravia near the contemporary Austrian border.

Enough of the nitpicking.

[zaelic]

Hmmm... Viennese goulasch is a bit different than the gulyas we eat once you cross the border at Nickelsdorf. Viennese is more of a stew served alongside spaetzl, and I think that the "goulash" known in the US and Germany probably comes from the Viennese version. Hungarians never add flour or use garlic and caraway. Czech goulash is similar - served with steamed bread dumplings.

However, if you want to rile a Magyar, argue about goulash. They will tell you (and tell you, and tell you again) that gulays is a soup, and not the (delete one of any of seventy five Hungarian expletives) stuff they eat in Vienna.

I have never seen bell peppers in any gulyas served in Hungary. I like 'em, but it would be like serving bell peppers in pumpkin pie for thanksgiving: the intended audience would not get the joke.

Porkolt, however, is not gulyas, it is stew, made with little (west Hungarian) or no(Great Plains) added liquid. Bogracs gulyas is simply gulyas cooked in a bogracs (hanging kettle) for outdoor picnics, or served in cute little kettles in restaurants.

Szekely porkolt is pork stew (onions, paprika, pork, I add water) to which chopped sauerkraut is added for the last half hour of cooking. "Csango" porkolt is some food writer's idea of doing the same using lamb, but Csangos (one of the Hungarian minority groups in Romania) never eat it, and I have never seen it on a menu. Actually, the Transylvanian Hungarian minority known as Csangos don't cook much with paprika but use strong garden herbs like tarragon a lot. "Szekely Porkolt" gets its name from a librarian named Szekely who used to request it at one particular Pest restaurant in the 1920s, and the name stuck.

If there is any gulyas aesthetic, it is probably that "simpler is better."

[Redsugar]

If there is any gulyas aesthetic, it is probably that "simpler is better."

"There is no delight without the details." ~ Vladimir Nabakov

Zaelic: Thank you for your informative entry. I more-or-less agree with your observations re gulyás – especially, your concluding statement, quoted above. Cheers for both simplicity and authenticity! As I had alluded in my original post in this discussion-thread, Gulyas Leves, the classical thick goulash soup (usually served w/ small dumplings cooked in it), is a strong contender as the bona fide gulyas -- that is, a soup rather than a stew. Elek Magyar likewise insists that the dish is really a soup, in contrast to its close relative, pörkölt, which he identifies as a thick Paprika Stew.

A recipe for Goulash Soup (in Die Oesterreichische Kueche) lists the following ingredients: 1 med-sm onion (sliced thin & chopped), pork fat, 1 tsp. paprika, ½ lb. diced beef, salt, garlic, caraway seed, marjoram (no amounts specified). Brown the meat, then add "some" water or stock to cover, and 1 T tomato paste, and simmer till meat is soft. 3 potatoes, diced. Add with 3 cups water or stock and simmer till it's soup. In my version of this soup, I cubed brisket of beef, mild paprika, dry white wine, potatoes, and yes, sometimes I add coarsely chopped red pepper. My goal, as with any soup I prepare, is to get all the flavours intermingled properly.

George Lang (The Cuisine of Hungary) wrote: “The chief difference between pörkölt and paprikás is that paprikás is usually finished with sweet or sour cream, sometimes mixed with a little flour .... You may never use cream of any kind for gulyás or pörkölt.” However, to be strictly authentic, flour is not used in gulyás!

Karoly Gundel has further explicated on the subject: “Paprikás differs from pörkölt mainly in that it is made with white meat only, with the addition of sour cream or a mixture of cream and sour cream. One takes a bit more onions and paprika. One can say that it's a more refined variant of pörkölt.

According to the article in The Oxford Companion to Food by Louis Szathmary (the extraordinary restaurateur, author, food historian, culinary archivist without equal -- 9,000 volumes in his home library -- and "chef laureate"), "the difference between the Hungarian pïrkïlt, known all over the world except in Hungary as ‘goulash,’ and goulash soup, is the amount of liquid added to the meat, and whether potatoes and pasta are included. In the real pïrkïlt and paprikás…there are no other ingredients except beef, pork, veal, or chicken, fat (almost always from pork), paprika, onions, and once in a while selected herbs, spices, or condiments.” Earlier, Szathmary remarks upon an intriguing technique: “To get a [paprika-crusted] piece of meat is described by the Hungarian verb pïrkïlt, which means to slightly burn the surface. The meat treated with this spice reaches this taste without the actual burning.” (pp.415f.)

When peppers were first introduced into Hungary, they were known as Turkish peppers, later as paprika peppers. In the mid-19th cent., the Palffy family of Szeged developed a technique for producing ground paprika pepper -- a new spice which was red and sweet, rather than hot. Paprikás is more likely to be made with “sweet” paprika, such as édes-nemes or különleges. Other varieties, such as rósza or erös, aren't really hot and spicy, either, and they are moreoften used to season an already prepared dish.

In the realm of food, it can be argued that the Hungarians were more dominant than the Austrians: Many famous dishes claimed today as Austrian (and, in particular, Viennese), are in fact of Hungarian origin, such as the Dobòs torta. Historically, the great Magyar families of Transylvania maintained the tradition of perpetuating adherence to genuine ancient dishes of Hungary. Throughout the centuries, Hungary kept its own style of cooking with its emphatic Magyar influence of robust recipes, including those gypsy-style stews.

I should like to propose a culinary thought-experiment: Drawing from the distinction you noted re pörkölt, would it be suitable to compare it with, e.g., chili, rather than gulyás? After all, gulyás is plainly more soupish in its usual preparation (Szekely gulyás excepted). Obviously, there are some variations that are almost stew-like (gulyáshús), but even those dishes are not usually made with a variety of meats, generally using beef solely (though, according to both Gundel & Lang, there is also gulyás made of lamb or mutton). Pörkölt, on the other hand, can indeed be made with almost any kind of meat or poultry.

I must acquire additonal sources of authenticated knowledge on this subject: Such as copies of the Paprikas-Weiss Hungarian Cookbook & Susan Derecsky's book.

[lovebenton0]

Székely (or Szeged) Gulyás, which contains drained sauerkraut and is thickened with a sour-cream-&-flour paste: Is that a basic beef/potato/onion/paprika gulya with the drained sauerkraut added near the end of cooking before the sour cream/flour paste addition? Any other particular spices added?

Judith: SzékelyGulyás: Green bell peppers, garlic, and (slightly)crushed caraway seeds added to simmering boneless pork; tomato paste then stirred in for further 20 minutes cooking; drained sauerkraut added to cook about 30 minutes. Flour & sour cream combined, slaked with some of the cooking liquid, then used to bind the stew. You may review another recipe for Szekely Gulyás.

Gulyás (*shortened form of gulyashus, "herdsman's meat") unqualified refers to either a soup or a stew (Gulyás Leves, mentioned in my original post, above) made from beef and almost without paprika. It’s interesting to note that pörkölt is the Hungarian name for the dish English-speaking cooks call Goulash.

Version containing meats other than beef include Bográc Gulyás and Csángó Gulyás.

*The Oxford Companion to Food provides clarifying etymological insight: "In Hungary, the word 'goulash' today refers to the cattle driver, the 'cowboy.' The only place on a Hungarian menu where you would find a goulash...would be among the soups, and it would be called gulyas leves, meaning 'the soup of the cowboy.'" [p. 415]

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Thank you, Redsugar! Makes much more sense to me now with the pork.

And will indeed have to try this one.

[zaelic]

Yes, Redsugar, porkolt comes closest to a good, simple texas chili - without beans or tomato. I like to bring some dried mexican chilis and cumin with me when I visit friends in Transylvania and make "Navaho" chili for them (mutton is cheap there) which they have taken to calling "Texasi porkolt."

A few years ago the Museum of Folklore in Budapest had an exhibition on the creation of "national symbols" in Hungary, which was quite enlightening and amusing as well - one of the symbols treated was gulyas soup and the idea of paprika as a Hungarian symbol. The word itself comes from Turkish, and paprika was not widely used until well into the 19th century. Karoly Gundel had a big hand in popularizing paprika as well when he was chosen to cook at international exhibitions in Paris and Brussells in the 1890s - paprika was considered "spicy" and his signiture dishes, such as chicken paprikas became the ethnic food fads of the 1890s. Old style Hungarian cooking is still the norm in Transylvania - herb flavored white sauces and souring agents such as csibere - fermented wheat bran.

The acceptance of soups and stews - such as gulyas - began more in urban Pest around 1800 than in countryside cooking. Gulyas means a cowherder - especially the guys with big hats around the Hortobagy plains near Debrecen, and of course their soup was called "gulyas. Most peasants, however, couldn't afford much meat, and continued eating starchy paps and mushes until the 1950s - the real Hortobagy cowboy food was slamboc (pron.: shlambotz) which is bacon and onions browned in paprika, and then cooked into a mush with big, lasagna-like dried laska noodles. It is quite good, but you will never see it in a restaurant.

My mother and aunt remember a slew of dishes - puliszka (polenta/mamaliga), hajdina kasa, dodolle, rantott leves (roux soup) that nobody eats anymore, since they are all associated with poverty and the low staus of being a peasant. Meat was eaten rarely, even in our family where my Grandfather was a butcher. Fresh meat (as opposed to smoked meat or bacon) was simply too valuable for everyday eating. After the second world war meat became more common in the national diet of Hungarians, until today it absolutely dominates.

[polack]

I want to thank everyone for their recipe's and I will try some of them in the next few weeks.

Polack

[chow guy]

I'm slated to do, "authentic" Hungarian Goulash for a group of ex pat Hungarians. I was told it's never served with noodles and there is not a drop of sour cream involved. I'd love to get some help with this. Any: cardinal rules? Brand names for paprika? Tomatoes or not, caraway seeds or not? Which cut of beef? Any helpful tips, will be greatly appreciated.

[srhcb]

Goulash is a rather broad category, like stew. It's "authenticity" probably varies depending on where your grandmother is from.

One thing, (about the only thing), they all have in common is paprika. Penzeys is a good source.

[srhcb]

Brand names for paprika?

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This Brand was highly recommended on another thread today.

[ludja]

There are variations, but I think there is a classic Hungarian beef goulash as well.

My mom is Austrian, from the area near Hungary and has made a great goulash all her life. I compared her recipe to that from George Lang's comprehensive book on Hungarian Cooking and they are quite close.

I think a traditional beef cut is beef chuck. Sometimes people add in other types of meat but my Mom makes it with straight chuck.

5 Tbs fat (lard is best and authentic, else vegetable oil)

4 med onions, coarsely chopped

3 lb beef chuck, cut into 2 inch cubes

2 Tbs paprika* (Nobel Rose, a type that is between semi-sweet and sharp; is good)

salt and pepper

1 Tbs vinegar

1 garlic clove

caraway seeds (1/2 tsp)

marjoram (1/2 tsp)

2 cups water

1 tsp flour (optional, see comments below)

* try to get a Hungarian brand if at all possible. I'm temporarily out, and I can't recall the brand I usually have.

Saute coarsely chopped onion in fat over low heat so as to soften but not brown.

As onions begin to soften add beef, and brown the meat, stirring occasionally for about 10 min.

Meanwhile, mash garlic and combine with caraway seeds and marjoram. Take the pot off the heat and add the garlic/carway mix, the paprika., salt and pepper and vinegar. Stir quickly to mix the spices with the juices and fat. Then, slowly add in ~ 2 cups of water, stirring to blend the spice mixture with the water into a smooth blend.

Simmer, covered over low heat for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender. Add more water as needed to maintain a soupy consistency. The final consistency is not thick; more soupy, you'll definately need to serve this in a bowl.

Now--at the end my mom sprinkles about a tsp of flour over the top and blends this in. Lang states that flour is never added... I think a small amount adds a nice texture but it is something to go easy on.

You can serve it with or without potatoes. My mom usually parboils potatoes in another pot. Peel and cut them into chunks that are about half the size of the beef cubes. Add them into the goulash for the last 30 min of cooking. You don't want them to thicken the sauce too much; just a little. At this time you can also add (or not) *one* peeled chopped tomato and/or some thinly sliced green pepper.

The one tomato adds a nice flavor and I usually use it if I have some on hand. However, it is not a tomato-based stew so I wouldn't recommend adding more than one. When you add the potatoes and/or tomato, add some additional water, if necessary, to maintain a thinnish stew consistency and as mentioned above, simmer for 30 more minutes.

Taste at the end to see if you want more s&p and/or any other of the spices.

I don't usually add in the green pepper. You can omit the garlic if you like, but I think it adds a nice flavor. Another variation Lang reports is to add some thinly sliced hot cherry peppers in the last 30 min of cooking to add some heat.

While packaged egg noodles are a later 'invention', it is a traditional variation to serve this with little dumplings, which I think are called, "Galuska"* or small pinched dumplings made from flour and eggs and salt. The little dumplings are cooked directly in the goulash.

We usually just have it with the potatoes alone.

*There happens to be a recipe for Galuska in the October Saveur...

edited to add: Thanks to the moderators for merging the two different Hungarian goulash threads. Zaelic's concise description is great and it looks like my Mom's and Swisskaese's MIL's recipe are also very similar.

Edited September 27, 2006 by ludja (log)

[Swisskaese]

My MIL is Hungarian. She was born and raised in Budapest and always made her soup with bell peppers. Here is a recipe for Gulyasleves (Gulash Soup):

3 medium onions

4 tbsp goose fat or lard

1 1/2 kg beef, cut into medium size cubes

1 garlic clove

1/4 tsp carraway seeds

salt

2 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika

10 cups hot water

1 ripe tomato

2 green peppers

1/2 kg potatoes

Dumplings (optional)

Peel and coarsely chop the onion; brown it in the fat over a low flame, when transparent, add the meat. Stir and brown for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the garlic, salt to taste and carraway and grind in a mortar and pestle. Take the pot off the flame, add the garlic mixture and paprika, stir. As soon as the paprika is absorbed, add the hot water. Put the pot back on a low flame, cover and cook for an hour.

Cut the tomato into large cubes, clean the green peppers or hot peppers, if you prefer. Slice them into rings.

Cut the potatoes in medium size cubes and place in a a bowl of cold water. Add the tomatoes and peppers in the pot, together with enough water to make a thick soup. Add a little salt, cover and continue to cook on a low flame 30 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender. The soup should be fairly thick. If it is too water, cook uncovered until some of the water is evaporated. If it is too thick, add more water.

Serves 8 people or 1 hungry Hungarian

Edited September 26, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[The Hersch]

Peel and coarsely chop the onion; brown it in the fat over a low flame, when transparent, add the meat. Stir and brown for about 10 minutes.

←

I don't see how this procedure is workable. How could the meat possibly brown using this technique? On the other hand, I don't think that browning the meat is traditional in Hungarian goulash.

[Swisskaese]

Peel and coarsely chop the onion; brown it in the fat over a low flame, when transparent, add the meat. Stir and brown for about 10 minutes.

←

I don't see how this procedure is workable. How could the meat possibly brown using this technique? On the other hand, I don't think that browning the meat is traditional in Hungarian goulash.

←

I dare you to go and tell an 89-year-old Hungarian woman that her Gulash is not traditional and I want to watch it. Remember Zsa Zsa and the policeman.....

The meat doesn't get that brown. It is more to sear the meat. I was translating the recipe from another language. I will go back tonight and look at the sentence again.

Edited September 27, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[Pan]

I was led to understand that a name for dumplings for goulash is nokedli. Is that right?

[kiteless]

I was led to understand that a name for dumplings for goulash is nokedli. Is that right?

←

I'm not sure about that being the dumpling specifically for goulash (for some reason my grandmother never really made goulash), but it definitely is the small flour and egg dumpling used in Hungarian cooking (I used to eat it with chicken paprikash).

My grandmother and father were both born in Hungary; they came to the US when my father was around 10. I don't know which region they're from (they never really discussed their time in Europe, ever), but my grandmother uses Pride of Szeged sweet Paprika. Of course, that's the best that was available at the store, so I don't know if she uses that because it's good, or because it's what was available.

I've found June Meyer's website to be a fairly good online resource for traditional Hungarian fare. Not everything is listed (specifically nokedli, the spaetzle she listed is not the same), but I've found it to be a fairly good resource nonetheless.

As a side note, I did grow up having roux soup with caraway and buttery skilled-fried croutons on occassion, so I guess that hasn't died out completely

[Swisskaese]

I was led to understand that a name for dumplings for goulash is nokedli. Is that right?

←

They are called nokerli. Unfortunately, I do not have a recipe.