Paprika: I'd skip McCormicks and go for Szeged. I;ve had luck even with the paprika in the clear plastic bags hunging in the exican section given store has good turnover. The bitter note sorta screams a too high heat/scorch issue.
On a humerous note my stepmother thinks she is the goulasch queen. A while back she bought Spice Islands smoked paprika. Smelled harsh to me. She saw the word spice and thought it meant spicy! The woman is 92 and has been in the US sice she was 18 - incapable of deciphering labels. She used it yesterday with a pork goulasch, had the heat blasting, burned it to the point of tossing whole thing includng the pot. The smell! It was very chilly here but I had to open every window and door on that end of hiuse. Plus it was lean cubed loin which would have been done in 1/2 hour or less and she blasted it for a long time "to make it soft" !!!
